BID WM Digital Intervention in Aging

March 31, 2026 updated by: University of California, San Francisco

Behavioral Intervention Development Core - Working Memory Digital Intervention in Aging

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if engaging with an digital intervention may improve cognitive function. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  1. Does engagement in with a digital intervention improve working memory?
  2. Does engagement in with a digital intervention improve inhibitory control?

Researchers will compare two different digital interventions to assess whether they may be helpful in improving cognitive function.

Participants will conduct study activities remotely (e.g., at-home):

  1. Baseline Assessment. Complete a series of cognitive assessments and surveys.
  2. Intervention. Engage in a digital intervention for up to 8 weeks.
  3. Post Intervention Assessment. Complete the same cognitive assessments and surveys as the Baseline Assessment.
  4. Follow-Up Assessment. Six months after the intervention ends, participants will complete the same cognitive assessments and surveys as the Baseline Assessment.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

During the Baseline Assessment, participants will complete web-based cognitive assessments and surveys. The assessments will address various cognitive functions including working memory, long-term memory, inhibitory control, and sustained attention. Surveys will include a characterization of expectancy for the intervention, ratings of stress, and background health information. The Baseline Assessment will take up to 120 minutes and can be completed across more than one session.

During the Intervention, participants will be provided an iPad tablet to engage with the assigned intervention app. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two intervention apps. Regardless of the assigned intervention, participants will engage with the app for 25-45 minutes of training per day, 5 days a week for up to 8 weeks for a total of 1000 minutes of training.

After the intervention, participants will complete a Post Intervention Assessment and 6 month later, a Follow-Up Assessment. Both of these assessment periods will consist of the same cognitive assessments and surveys as conducted during the Baseline Assessment.

Upon completion of all study activities, participants will be able to keep the iPad as a gift for their voluntary participation.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

150

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94621
        • Recruiting
        • University of California, San Francisco

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Minimum of 12 years of education
  • English fluency
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
  • Medically healthy older adults including those with below-average cognitive performance or mild cognitive impairment patients without dementia

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Under the age of 60
  • Clinical diagnosis of neurological or psychiatric disorder
  • Visually or hearing impaired without correction to normal
  • Clinical diagnosis of dementia or AD8 score of >3
  • Regularly (one or more times per week) practicing an instrument within the last year
  • 10 or more years of formal musical instrument training

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Coherence Intervention
Participants in this arm will engage with the Coherence Intervention.
Behavioral: Coherence
Coherence is a music-based rhythm training app.
Active Comparator: Worder Intervention
Participants in this arm will engage with the Worder intervention.
Behavioral: Worder
Worder is a word search app.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Working Memory
Time Frame: Immediately before the intervention, Immediately after the intervention, 6 months after the intervention
Working memory performance will be assessed with a delayed match-to-sample task.
Immediately before the intervention, Immediately after the intervention, 6 months after the intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Inhibitory Control
Time Frame: Immediately before the intervention, Immediately after the intervention, 6 months after the intervention
Inhibitory control will be assessed with the Stroop task.
Immediately before the intervention, Immediately after the intervention, 6 months after the intervention
Inhibitory Control
Time Frame: Immediately before the intervention, Immediately after the intervention, 6 months after the intervention
Inhibitory control performance will be assessed by distractors within a delayed match-to-sample task.
Immediately before the intervention, Immediately after the intervention, 6 months after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Collaborators

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Theodore Zanto, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 15, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 24, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 1, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 9, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 31, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 24-42925
  • P30AG086635 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified data to be shared includes demographic, cognitive assessments, survey, and behavioral outcomes.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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