tDCS Effects on Associative Learning in Older Adults of Retirement Age

Healthy Older Adults Clinical Trial

— TRAINSTIM2  

Official title:

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Associative Learning in Older Adults

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02839993
• Other study ID #: TRAINSTIM2.A
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 1, 2016
• Est. completion date: May 1, 2018

Study information

• Verified date: May 2021
• Source: Charite University, Berlin, Germany
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The aim of this study is to investigate whether a tDCS-accompanied training of audio-visual associative memory leads to a performance improvement in healthy older individuals.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 10
• Est. completion date: May 1, 2018
• Est. primary completion date: March 1, 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 66 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age: old-retired (=66 years).

• Right handedness

• unobtrusive neuropsychological screening

Exclusion Criteria:

• Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or other neurological diseases.

• History of severe alcoholism or use of drugs.

• Severe psychiatric disorders such as depression, psychosis (if not in remission) and severe untreated medical problems.

• Contraindication for MRI (claustrophobia, metallic implants, ferromagnetic metals in the body, disorders of thermoregulation, pregnant women)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Healthy Older Adults

Intervention

Device:
• tDCS

Behavioral:
• training

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Berlin

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Charite University, Berlin, Germany

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

References & Publications (3)

Breitenstein C, Jansen A, Deppe M, Foerster AF, Sommer J, Wolbers T, Knecht S. Hippocampus activity differentiates good from poor learners of a novel lexicon. Neuroimage. 2005 Apr 15;25(3):958-68. — View Citation

Breitenstein C, Knecht S. Development and validation of a language learning model for behavioral and functional-imaging studies. J Neurosci Methods. 2002 Mar 15;114(2):173-9. — View Citation

Flöel A, Rösser N, Michka O, Knecht S, Breitenstein C. Noninvasive brain stimulation improves language learning. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Aug;20(8):1415-22. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20098. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Performance in a verbal associative learning paradigm under anodal tDCS compared to sham tDCS.	Investigation whether anodal tDCS leads to improved performance accuracy in the Wernicko task compared to sham stimulation.	Performance is assessed within 1 day immediately after training period (several learning blocks) compared to sham
Secondary	Functional connectivity predictors	Connectivity as measured by resting-state fMRI during baseline as predictors for performance and tDCS responsiveness	assessed during baseline testing
Secondary	Structural predictors	Microstructure of white matter (Fractional Anisotropy) as measured by diffusion tensor imaging during baseline as predictors for performance and tDCS responsiveness	assessed during baseline testing
Secondary	Genotyping of learning related polymorphisms	To assess predictors of positive reaction to brain stimulation, genotyping of several learning related polymorphisms will be performed.	assessed during baseline screening
Secondary	Other cognitive outcomes: Attention performance	Digit span forward performance assessed before and after stimulation to test for tDCS effects on attention	Performance is assessed within 1 day before and after tDCS + training compared to sham
Secondary	Other cognitive outcomes: working memory	Digit span backwards performance assessed before and after stimulation to test for tDCS effects on working memory	Performance is assessed within 1 day before and after tDCS + training compared to sham