Interventions to Promote Brain Health Virtual Reality Study
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrollment
- 150
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- MST memory performance
Study Overview
Brief Summary
The Interventions for Brain Health Virtual Reality Study is a NIH-funded clinical research trial at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Health under the supervision of the study principal investigator Dr. Judy Pa. The overarching goal of this trial is to use a novel virtual reality (VR) based intervention that simultaneously engages physical and cognitive activity aimed at improving brain health and cognition in older adults. The investigators will compare 3 types of interventions: physical activity, VR cognitive activity, and combined VR physical and cognitive activity over 16 weeks to evaluate physical and brain health changes.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Factorial
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 50 Years to 85 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •50-85 years of age
- •Fluent in English
- •Can safely ride a stationary bike
Exclusion Criteria
- •History of a neurological disorder
- •Severe sensory deficits
- •Inability to perform intervention (e.g., inability to cycle safely)
- •Contraindications to MRI scan (e.g., pacemaker)
- •Fear of needles/ blood
- •Prior history of fainting due to sight of needles of blood
Arms & Interventions
Cognitive activity - VR spatial navigation only
VR spatial navigation program will consist of a spatial navigation program that increases difficulty and length per trial over time. Spatial navigation is the ability to navigate between multiple elements/landmarks widely used in computer games. A trial is a test of performance or quality of someone or something.
Intervention: Cognitive Activity (VR) (Behavioral)
Combined, simultaneous physical and cognitive activity
The combined physical and cognitive activity VR program will consist of a spatial navigation program that increases difficulty and length per trial over time.
Intervention: Physical and Cognitive Activity (Behavioral)
Physical activity - Cycling only
The physical activity program will consist of a stationary bike cycling program. Each day will consist of a cycling program of varying levels of difficulty for 20-50 minutes.
Intervention: Physical Activity (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
MST memory performance
Time Frame: 16 Weeks
With the study's primary focus on hippocampal function, we will use the Mnemonic Separation Task (MST), a hippocampus-dependent discrimination test of similar objects, as our primary cognitive outcome. The MST is a memory task designed to heavily tax memory processes for making fine discriminations between highly similar objects or unrelated objects.
Secondary Outcomes
No secondary outcomes reported
Investigators
Judy Pa
Co-Director of ADCS
University of California, San Diego