Behavioral and Physiological Effects of Visual Training

NCT ID: NCT00526942

Last Updated: 2007-09-11

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

PHASE1/PHASE2

Total Enrollment

54 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2007-08-31

Study Completion Date

2008-08-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the learnability of a 3 week, 40 minutes per day, 5 day per week, computer-based visual training exercise by healthy mature individuals undergoing normal aging.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Virtually all adults will suffer a decline in their cognitive capacities to some degree. Typically, cognitive decline is characterized by a slow, progressive decline in abilities (frequently in memory, attention, inhibition and speed of processing) relative to younger adults, commonly called normal aging, age-associated memory impairment, age-consistent memory impairment, benign senescent forgetfulness, late-life forgetfulness, ageing-associated cognitive decline, and the preferred term, age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) As virtually all adults experience a reduction in their cognitive abilities with age, ARCD has generally been considered to be a normal, inevitable, and irreversible part of aging; and the extremely severe forms of pathological cognitive decline (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, AD) have dominated therapeutic research in this area. However, ARCD represents an important cause of quality of life decline in almost every older adult, as the impact of forgetfulness and mental slowing increasingly change the abilities of individuals to successfully manage their day-to-day activities. Therapeutic approaches targeting the specific problems of ARCD in normal aging (as opposed to the pathological problems of AD) would unto themselves represent important clinical advances.

This trial investigates the effects of a computer-based visual training exercise built on the principles of positive brain plasticity and designed for use by healthy mature individuals. The program is specifically designed to improve the fidelity of sensory representations in early visual cortex.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Healthy

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

I

No contact control (NCC)

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

II

Computerized, SAAGE-designed, visual memory-based cognitive training

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

SAAGE-designed, visual memory-based cognitive training

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Training sessions take 40 minutes per day, five days per week for a total goal of 15, 40-minute sessions.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

SAAGE-designed, visual memory-based cognitive training

Training sessions take 40 minutes per day, five days per week for a total goal of 15, 40-minute sessions.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Discover alternative or legacy names that may be used to describe the listed interventions across different sources.

Hawkeye

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Age 60 or older at the time of consent.
* Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score of 26 or higher.
* Adequate visual capacity adequate to read.
* Adequate hearing capacity.
* Willing and able to commit to study time requirements.

Exclusion Criteria

* Self-report of current diagnosis or history of major neurological illness.
* Self-report of current diagnosis or history of psychiatric illness. c. History of psychiatric hospitalization in the past twenty years.
* History of a stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or traumatic brain injury within the past year; or lifetime history of stroke, TIA, or traumatic brain injury that has left residual expressive or receptive language problems. - Fibromyalgia or symptoms of severe tremor.
* Self-report of current substance abuse, including alcoholism.
* Current useof medications with substantial CNS effects. Inappropriate behaviors during screening or baseline visits.
* Inability to perform behavioral evaluations.
* Participant is not capable of giving informed consent or unable to comprehend and/or follow instructions.
* Participant is enrolled in a concurrent clinical study that could affect the outcome of this study.
Minimum Eligible Age

60 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

University of San Francisco

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Posit Science Corporation

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role lead

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Joseph L Hardy, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Posit Science Corporation

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Posit Science Corporation

San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

Central Contacts

Reach out to these primary contacts for questions about participation or study logistics.

Daniel Tinker, BS

Role: CONTACT

4153943100 ext. 3541

Cate Stasio, BA

Role: CONTACT

4153943100 ext. 3546

Facility Contacts

Find local site contact details for specific facilities participating in the trial.

Daniel Tinker, BS

Role: primary

415-394-3100 ext. 3541

Cate Stasio, BA

Role: backup

4153943100 ext. 3546

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Bischkopf J, Busse A, Angermeyer MC. Mild cognitive impairment--a review of prevalence, incidence and outcome according to current approaches. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2002 Dec;106(6):403-14. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-0447.2002.01417.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 12392483 (View on PubMed)

Fillit HM, Butler RN, O'Connell AW, Albert MS, Birren JE, Cotman CW, Greenough WT, Gold PE, Kramer AF, Kuller LH, Perls TT, Sahagan BG, Tully T. Achieving and maintaining cognitive vitality with aging. Mayo Clin Proc. 2002 Jul;77(7):681-96. doi: 10.4065/77.7.681.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 12108606 (View on PubMed)

Ahissar E, Nagarajan S, Ahissar M, Protopapas A, Mahncke H, Merzenich MM. Speech comprehension is correlated with temporal response patterns recorded from auditory cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Nov 6;98(23):13367-72. doi: 10.1073/pnas.201400998.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 11698688 (View on PubMed)

Park HL, O'Connell JE, Thomson RG. A systematic review of cognitive decline in the general elderly population. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2003 Dec;18(12):1121-34. doi: 10.1002/gps.1023.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 14677145 (View on PubMed)

Scarmeas N, Stern Y. Cognitive reserve: implications for diagnosis and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2004 Sep;4(5):374-80. doi: 10.1007/s11910-004-0084-7.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15324603 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

Access external resources that provide additional context or updates about the study.

http://www.positscience.com

Click here for more information about computerized cognitive training

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

RES-203-2007

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id