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Computerized Attention Training for Individuals With Acquired Brain Injury

NCT01641432 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 27

Last updated 2014-07-22

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Problems with attention are a common and debilitating consequence of brain injury. Studies show that poor attention is the number one predictor of poor cognitive functioning one year post-injury. This is due to the fact that attention is a necessary component of more complex cognitive functions such as learning \& memory, multi-tasking and problem solving. In many cases, individuals may exhibit problems with spatial attention known as 'hemi-spatial neglect syndrome' or simply 'neglect'. Many studies now show that the processing machinery of the brain is plastic and remodeled throughout life by learning and experience, enabling the strengthening of cognitive skills or abilities. The investigators own research has shown that brief, daily computerized cognitive training that is sufficiently challenging, goal-directed and adaptive enables intact brain structures to restore balance in attention and compensate for disruptions in cognitive functioning.

Conditions

  • Acquired Brain Injury
  • Stroke
  • Hemispatial Neglect

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Tonic and Phasic Attention Training

The Tonic and Phasic Alertness treatment task (TAPAT) consist of two consecutive rounds of a 12-minute continuous performance task in which continually varying, rich visual (e.g., scenes, objects, faces) or auditory stimuli (tones or complex sounds) are briefly displayed and participants are required to respond via a button press when they see a non-target item (90% of trials) or withhold button-press responding when the item is a pre-determined target item (10% of trials). Presentation of the target item is non-predictive and infrequent, disallowing the development of an executive strategy. Participants simply sustain attention to the task over a prolonged period of time (tonic attention), ignoring distractions, and inhibiting the pre-potent motor response when they see a target item (phasic attention). Following the 24 minutes of TAPAT treatment participants will undergo one additional computer-based cognitive exercise, Multiple Object Tracking (MOT), for an additional 12 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Active Comparator

Computer games chosen from a list of progressive visual/audiovisual games from the top-100 game list: sporcle.com. Training duration will be similar to that of experimental training.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Posit Science Corporation

    lead INDUSTRY

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
21 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2011-07-31
Primary Completion
2013-07-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01641432 on ClinicalTrials.gov