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Enhancing Spatial Navigation Using Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation

NCT01958437 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 44

Last updated 2018-08-31

Study results available
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Summary

Remembering how to travel from one location to another is critical in everyday life, yet this vital ability declines with normal aging and can be further affected by conditions that disproportionately affect the elderly, such as vision loss or progressive dementia. Human and animal research has shown that two distinct memory systems interact during navigation. The first, referred to as allocentric navigation, is very flexible and uses spatial knowledge of key features or landmarks to develop and use a mental map of the environment. This approach involves brain regions that are critical for new learning and memory but that decline with age. The second, referred to as egocentric navigation, is inflexible and relies on "habit" memories that link specific features with specific directions. This approach relies on brain regions that are critical for "automatic" responses and that are relatively unaffected by age.

The main problem is that allocentric navigation declines with age and is accompanied increased dependence on egocentric navigation. This change increases the risk of becoming disoriented or "lost" when traveling in unfamiliar areas or even when traveling new routes in familiar areas. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to examine whether non-invasive brain stimulation, specifically transcranial direct current stimulation, can improve allocentric navigation in healthy older adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Participants will complete two functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions while learning new environments. Before one of these sessions, participants will receive active brain stimulation over the parietal cortex. Before the other session, participants will receive sham brain stimulation over the parietal cortex. The effects of this stimulation will be evaluated using both an allocentric and an egocentric memory test. Physiologic effects will be evaluated using both task-based and resting-state MRI.

Conditions

Interventions

DEVICE

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Active and/or sham; All participants receive both stimulation condition. Groups will be counterbalanced (half receiving active tDCS in the first session and sham in the second session; the other half receiving the opposite).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • VA Office of Research and Development

    lead FED

Principal Investigators

  • Benjamin M Hampstead, PhD · VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Max Age
88 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2013-10-01
Primary Completion
2017-03-23
Completion
2017-03-24
FDA Device
Yes

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 NCT01958437 on ClinicalTrials.gov