A Neuropsychological Test Battery for the Assessment of Time Deficits

NCT ID: NCT04419818

Last Updated: 2023-09-25

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

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Total Enrollment

96 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-02-01

Study Completion Date

2023-01-13

Brief Summary

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Time processing involves different abilities - i.e. estimating the duration of an event and moving in past and future time - and it is a fundamental ability in everyday life. For these reasons the assessment and the rehabilitation of time deficits in brain damaged patients is extremely important.

The ability to estimate and reproduce time processing is usually evaluated using computerized tasks and it is influenced by aging: young participants overestimate and elderly participants underestimate time durations.

Virtual Reality is an ecological approach that has recently been used for the assessment of cognitive deficits. Here we use Virtual Reality to study the ability to estimate time duration of an action execution and perception in a simulated everyday activity.

Detailed Description

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Time processing involves different abilities - i.e. estimating the duration of an event and moving in past and future time - and it is a fundamental ability in everyday life. However, in neuropsychology, time processing is routinely neglected in the assessment of cognitive deficits in brain-damaged patients. The discrepancy between the importance of time processing and the lack of instruments for the diagnosis of time deficits in brain damaged patients can be mainly due to the fact that time difficulties fail to emerge in a hospital context where daily activities are routinely scheduled by careers. Thus, time deficits become critical only when patients return home and, for younger patients, when they go back to working activities. For these reasons the assessment and the rehabilitation of time deficits in brain damaged patients is extremely important.

Interestingly, recent evidence has begun to demonstrate that our perceptions and sensations are influenced by motor movements and actions. Further, there is also evidence suggesting that movement not only biases perceived time, but can enhance it, suggesting the motor system directly influences temporal perception.

The ability to estimate and reproduce time in actions is usually evaluated using computerized tasks and it is influenced by aging: young participants overestimate and elderly participants underestimate time durations.

Virtual Reality is an ecological approach that has recently been used for the assessment of cognitive deficits. Here we use Virtual Reality to study the ability to estimate time duration of an action execution and perception in a simulated everyday activity.

The primary aim of the project is to measure the impact of time deficits and its effects on everyday life: a neuropsychological battery assessing time processing (Time Estimation, Time Reproduction, Mental Time Travel) is tested using both computerized and virtual reality tasks.

Moreover, the project aims also to investigate i) the correlation between Time Reproduction in a computerized task and the ability to reproduce the duration of an executed action in Virtual Reality; ii) the correlation between Time Estimation in a computerized task and the ability to estimate the duration of an executed action in Virtual Reality.

Conditions

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Brain Damage Health Behavior

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

CASE_CONTROL

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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Left brain damaged patients

A group of 20 left brain damaged (LBD) patients will perform:

* a computerized test battery to measure time abilities (Mental Time Travel, Time Estimation and Time Reproduction);
* a neuropsychological screening (Mini Mental State Examination and Token Test) to assess inclusion/exclusion criteria;
* questionnaires to evaluate the time needed to execute actions and the ability to locate daily activities in time.

Virtual Reality

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Virtual Reality task consists of a 3D computer-generated virtual environment that will be displayed on a desktop VR computer monitor. A joystick will provide the graphical interface for patients by allowing user-friendly exploration of virtual scenarios. Participants will be presented 16 actions, with dynamic simulations of real life situations. They will verbally estimate and reproduce the duration of each previously presented action.

Right brain damaged patients

A group of 20 right brain damaged (RBD) patients will perform:

* a computerized test battery to measure time abilities (Mental Time Travel, Time Estimation and Time Reproduction);
* a neuropsychological screening (Mini Mental State Examination and Token Test) to assess inclusion/exclusion criteria;
* questionnaires to evaluate the time needed to execute actions and the ability to locate daily activities in time.

Virtual Reality

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Virtual Reality task consists of a 3D computer-generated virtual environment that will be displayed on a desktop VR computer monitor. A joystick will provide the graphical interface for patients by allowing user-friendly exploration of virtual scenarios. Participants will be presented 16 actions, with dynamic simulations of real life situations. They will verbally estimate and reproduce the duration of each previously presented action.

Healthy controls

A group of 40 (20 young and 20 elderly) healthy controls (HC) will perform:

* a computerized test battery to measure time abilities (Mental Time Travel, Time Estimation and Time Reproduction);
* a neuropsychological screening (Mini Mental State Examination) to assess inclusion/exclusion criteria;
* questionnaires to evaluate the time needed to execute actions and the ability to locate daily activities in time.

Virtual Reality

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Virtual Reality task consists of a 3D computer-generated virtual environment that will be displayed on a desktop VR computer monitor. A joystick will provide the graphical interface for patients by allowing user-friendly exploration of virtual scenarios. Participants will be presented 16 actions, with dynamic simulations of real life situations. They will verbally estimate and reproduce the duration of each previously presented action.

Interventions

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Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality task consists of a 3D computer-generated virtual environment that will be displayed on a desktop VR computer monitor. A joystick will provide the graphical interface for patients by allowing user-friendly exploration of virtual scenarios. Participants will be presented 16 actions, with dynamic simulations of real life situations. They will verbally estimate and reproduce the duration of each previously presented action.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* patients with focal right and left brain-damage

Exclusion Criteria

* generalized cognitive impairment (score lower than 24 at the Mini Mental State Examination)
* psychiatric disorders
* additional neurological disorders
* abusive use of alcohol or illicit drugs
Minimum Eligible Age

20 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

85 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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University of Bologna

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Francesca Frassinetti, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS

Locations

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ICS Maugeri IRCCS, U.O. di Rieducazione e Recupero funzionale di Castel Goffredo

Castel Goffredo, Mantova, Italy

Site Status

Countries

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Italy

References

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Anelli F, Avanzi S, Arzy S, Mancuso M, Frassinetti F. Effects of spatial attention on mental time travel in patients with neglect. Cortex. 2018 Apr;101:192-205. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.01.012. Epub 2018 Feb 2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 29482017 (View on PubMed)

Anelli F, Avanzi S, Damora A, Mancuso M, Frassinetti F. Mental time travel and functional daily life activities in neglect patients: Recovery effects of rehabilitation by prism adaptation. Cortex. 2019 Apr;113:141-155. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.12.003. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30660953 (View on PubMed)

De Renzi E, Faglioni P. Normative data and screening power of a shortened version of the Token Test. Cortex. 1978 Mar;14(1):41-9. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(78)80006-9.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16295108 (View on PubMed)

Della Sala S, MacPherson SE, Phillips LH, Sacco L, Spinnler H. How many camels are there in Italy? Cognitive estimates standardised on the Italian population. Neurol Sci. 2003 Apr;24(1):10-5. doi: 10.1007/s100720300015.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 12754651 (View on PubMed)

Demeurisse G, Demol O, Robaye E. Motor evaluation in vascular hemiplegia. Eur Neurol. 1980;19(6):382-9. doi: 10.1159/000115178.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 7439211 (View on PubMed)

Espinosa-Fernandez L, Miro E, Cano M, Buela-Casal G. Age-related changes and gender differences in time estimation. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2003 Mar;112(3):221-32. doi: 10.1016/s0001-6918(02)00093-8.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 12595147 (View on PubMed)

Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res. 1975 Nov;12(3):189-98. doi: 10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 1202204 (View on PubMed)

Frassinetti F, Magnani B, Oliveri M. Prismatic lenses shift time perception. Psychol Sci. 2009 Aug;20(8):949-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02390.x. Epub 2009 Jun 22.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19549081 (View on PubMed)

Patane I, Farne A, Frassinetti F. Prismatic Adaptation Induces Plastic Changes onto Spatial and Temporal Domains in Near and Far Space. Neural Plast. 2016;2016:3495075. doi: 10.1155/2016/3495075. Epub 2016 Feb 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26981286 (View on PubMed)

Wiener M, Zhou W, Bader F, Joiner WM. Movement Improves the Quality of Temporal Perception and Decision-Making. eNeuro. 2019 Aug 20;6(4):ENEURO.0042-19.2019. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0042-19.2019. Print 2019 Jul/Aug.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31395616 (View on PubMed)

Cantarella G, Vianello G, Vezzadini G, Frassinetti F, Ciaramelli E, Candini M. Time bisection and reproduction: Evidence for a slowdown of the internal clock in right brain damaged patients. Cortex. 2023 Oct;167:303-317. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.05.024. Epub 2023 Jul 25.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 37595392 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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ICS Maugeri CE 2194-Ob2B

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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