Postural Control During Concurrent Cognitive Tasks During Optic Flow Stimulation

NCT ID: NCT05117463

Last Updated: 2024-08-27

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

RECRUITING

Total Enrollment

72 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-07-01

Study Completion Date

2025-02-28

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to investigate brain activity during current visual and auditory tasks for balance control. The participants will perform cognitive, gait, and balance measures before the data collection to exclude people with neurological disorders. The participants will wear VR headset which provides visual tasks. The participants will need to maintain balance while performing concurrent visual and auditory tasks. The brain activities, reaction time, and eye-tracking data will be collected during doing our experimental tasks.

Detailed Description

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Virtual reality (VR), defined as an interactive system including computers and media peripherals, creates an environment similar to a real-world and also provides audio and video feedback to users. Recently, the virtual reality technology is able to make a headset displaying 360 degrees VR environment and locate the headset in the space. This improvement of VR technology significantly reduces the cost of VR equipment and enhances the application of VR technology in the field of balance assessment and treatment.

Optic flow (OF) has been used to study the effect of visual input on balance control. Most of the studies displayed OF on a screen rather than using 360 degrees visual field environment. Therefore, the subjects could obtain reference inputs for balance adjustment. The new VR headset makes it possible to play OF in a 360-degree visual field in which the subject will not able to obtain any reference inputs rather than using somatosensory and/or vestibular systems. It is unclear how the effect of aging and attention relocation affects postural control with concurrent visual and auditory attention tasks. In this study, fNIRS will be used to detect the brain activity of healthy adults in the prefrontal and temporal-parietal junction as they complete concurrent cognitive and visual tasks displayed by a VR headset. This work will focus on age and test positions (sitting vs standing). As age can play a role in brain activation levels, the investigators will compare results among younger adults (25-35 years), older adults (65-85 years), and older adults with the risk of falls. All the subjects will undergo concurrent auditory reaction time tasks and visual tracking tasks. The investigators will compare the brain images from the test conditions between the age groups and investigate if brain activity differs during the performance of reaction time tasks and visual tacking tasks. The goal of this study is to examine the effect of concurrent visual and auditory tasks on brain activation and postural control.

Conditions

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Aging Postural Balance

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

CASE_CONTROL

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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Healthy Younger Adults

Healthy younger adults without any neurological and orthopedic disorders.

Optic Flow Stimulation

Intervention Type OTHER

The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.

Auditory Reaction Time

Intervention Type OTHER

Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.

Healthy Older Adults

Healthy older adults without any neurological and orthopedic disorders.

Optic Flow Stimulation

Intervention Type OTHER

The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.

Auditory Reaction Time

Intervention Type OTHER

Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.

Older Adults with higher risk of falls

Older adults with a history of falls or poor balance based on the clinical balance and gait assessment.

Optic Flow Stimulation

Intervention Type OTHER

The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.

Auditory Reaction Time

Intervention Type OTHER

Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.

Interventions

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Optic Flow Stimulation

The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.

Intervention Type OTHER

Auditory Reaction Time

Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* must not have any vestibular, orthopedic or neurological disorders, knee or hip replacements, reports of dizziness, low visual acuity (corrective vision less than 20/40) or require the use of an assistive device for ambulation.
* Right-handed

Exclusion Criteria

* Healthy group: have a low fall risk profile based on current available clinical balance and gait assessment tools, such as the MiniBEST and STEADI fall risk self-assessment tool and normal cognitive status using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA \> 26/30)
* Fall risk group: other medical issues rather than balance problems
Minimum Eligible Age

25 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

85 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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National Institute on Aging (NIA)

NIH

Sponsor Role collaborator

Chia-Cheng Lin, PhD, PT, MSPT

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Chia-Cheng Lin, PhD, PT, MSPT

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Brain Sylcott, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

East Carolina University

Locations

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East Carolina University

Greenville, North Carolina, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Brian Sylcott, PhD

Role: CONTACT

252-737-4652

Chia-Cheng Lin, PhD

Role: CONTACT

252-744-6231

Facility Contacts

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Chiacheng Lin, PhD

Role: primary

252-744-6231

References

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Hinderaker M, Sylcott B, Williams K, Lin CC. Aging Affects the Ability to Process the Optic Flow Stimulations: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectrometry Study. J Mot Behav. 2020;52(4):466-473. doi: 10.1080/00222895.2019.1645639. Epub 2019 Jul 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31361196 (View on PubMed)

Berard JR, Fung J, McFadyen BJ, Lamontagne A. Aging affects the ability to use optic flow in the control of heading during locomotion. Exp Brain Res. 2009 Apr;194(2):183-90. doi: 10.1007/s00221-008-1685-1. Epub 2009 Jan 13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19139863 (View on PubMed)

Dijkstra BW, Bekkers EMJ, Gilat M, de Rond V, Hardwick RM, Nieuwboer A. Functional neuroimaging of human postural control: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 Aug;115:351-362. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.04.028. Epub 2020 May 11.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32407735 (View on PubMed)

Lin CC, Barker JW, Sparto PJ, Furman JM, Huppert TJ. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging of multi-sensory integration during computerized dynamic posturography in middle-aged and older adults. Exp Brain Res. 2017 Apr;235(4):1247-1256. doi: 10.1007/s00221-017-4893-8. Epub 2017 Feb 14.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 28197672 (View on PubMed)

Hoppes CW, Sparto PJ, Whitney SL, Furman JM, Huppert TJ. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy during optic flow with and without fixation. PLoS One. 2018 Mar 7;13(3):e0193710. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193710. eCollection 2018.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 29513720 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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R21AG070300

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

Interventional

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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