Impact of Challenging Engagement on Cognition in Older Adults

Summary

The study will enroll 90 participants in the "Impact of Challenging Engagement" study and assign them to one of three groups: high-demand photography, moderate-demand photography, and active placebo. These initial groups will allow us to collect data and address the feasibility of converting the project into a full trial. Participants will participate in one of three different engagement conditions for 15 hours per week, based on successful results from the initial Active Interventions for the Aging Mind (AIM) study - approved by University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Institutional Review Board (IRB) #072010-144. In the Impact of Challenging Engagement study, the lab will expand on the results of the AIM study to determine if high-demand activities result in any observable brain changes when compared to moderate demand or placebo activities. Behavioral and neural measures of cognitive change will be assessed, providing considerable insight into mechanisms of change. Participants will be characterized thoroughly in terms of behavioral tests of cognitive function, and a subset of subjects who meet neuroimaging criteria will undergo a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) procedure.

Conditions

• Cognitive Change

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

High-Demand Photography

The high-demand photography group will receive 2.5 hours of instruction, twice a week, in a structured high-demand digital photography course plus 10 hours per week working on a special project at the research site without any formal instruction.

BEHAVIORAL

Moderate-Demand Photography

The moderate-demand photography group will receive 2.5 hours of instruction, twice a week, in a structured moderate-demand digital photography course plus 10 hours per week working on a special project at the research site without any formal instruction.

BEHAVIORAL

At-Home Engagement

The placebo control group will engage, alone at home, in tasks that are relatively low in intellectual engagement such as listening to music and radio or completing work-books that rely primarily on activation of knowledge.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Southern Methodist University

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• The University of Texas at Dallas

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Denise Park, PhD · University of Texas at Dallas

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-06-01

Primary Completion

2020-02-06

Completion

2020-02-06

Countries

• United States

Study Locations