Frontopolar Cortex and Motivation in Healthy Older Adults

NCT ID: NCT03197181

Last Updated: 2021-04-29

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 26 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-01-16
• Study Completion Date: 2020-06-30

Brief Summary

Motivation represents a core aspect of goal-directed behavior as it determines how much effort individuals are willing to invest to reach their goals. While research on effort-based decision-making focuses mainly on effort preferences in younger adults, loss of motivation might be a key component of the apathetic tendencies frequently seen in older adults. However, an open question refers to which brain mechanisms underlie motivational processes in older adults. The investigators have recently shown that the frontopolar cortex plays a crucial in motivating the exertion of rewarded effort in younger adults. The goal of the current study is to determine whether frontopolar cortex plays a crucial role for motivation also in older adults and may thus be a promising target for improving the motivation deficits in healthy aging. Participants perform computer-based experimental tasks measuring the propensity to exert cognitive or physical effort for monetary rewards. During task performance, participants receive anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over their frontopolar cortex. The study tests whether tDCS over frontopolar cortex allows modulating participants' motivation to engage in rewarded effort.

Detailed Description

Motivation represents a core aspect of goal-directed behavior as it determines how much effort individuals are willing to invest to reach their goals. While research on effort-based decision-making focuses mainly on effort preferences in younger adults, loss of motivation might be a key component of the apathetic tendencies frequently seen in older adults. However, an open question refers to which brain mechanisms underlie motivational processes in older adults. The investigators have recently shown that the frontopolar cortex plays a crucial in motivating the exertion of rewarded effort in younger adults (Soutschek et al., 2018, Biological Psychiatry). The goal of the current study is to determine whether frontopolar cortex plays a crucial role for motivation also in older adults and may thus be a promising target for improving the motivation deficits in healthy aging. 30 older participants (65-80 years) perform computer-based experimental tasks measuring the propensity to exert cognitive or physical effort for monetary rewards. During task performance, participants receive 1 mA anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over their frontopolar cortex. The study tests whether tDCS over frontopolar cortex allows modulating participants' motivation to engage in rewarded effort.

Conditions

Motivation in Healthy Older Adults

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

anodal transcranial direct current stimulation

anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (current strength: 1 mA, duration: 20 min) over the frontopolar cortex

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

transcranial direct current stimulation

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Participants receive anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation while performing effort-based decision tasks.

sham transcranial direct current stimulation

sham transcranial direct current stimulation (current strength: 1 mA, duration: 0.5 min) over the frontopolar cortex

Group Type: SHAM_COMPARATOR

transcranial direct current stimulation

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Participants receive anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation while performing effort-based decision tasks.

Interventions

transcranial direct current stimulation

Participants receive anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation while performing effort-based decision tasks.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age 65-80 years
• Informed consent as documented by signature
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
• Cognitive and language ability to understand study content and procedure
• Normal cognitive functioning (assessed by MMST)
• BDI-II score < 20

Exclusion Criteria

• Negative response to TMS/tDCS in past
• History of seizure
• History of stroke or heart attack
• History of head injury
• Psychiatric or neurological disorder
• Metal in body/head
• Implanted medical products like pacemaker, medical pumps, heart catheter
• Headache
• Tinnitus
• Currently taking medication affecting the central nervous system
• Insufficient sleep in preceding night
• Excessive consumption of alcohol within last 24 hours

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 80 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Zurich

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Philippe N Tobler, Prof.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Zurich

Locations

University of Zurich

Zurich, , Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Other Identifiers

FPC-17-AGING-01

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id