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The Role of the Locus Coeruleus in Age-related Distractibility

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Aging
Alzheimer Disease
Interventions
Behavioral: Tablet based adaptive multimodal attention practice program
Behavioral: Tablet based adaptive criterion task practice program
Registration Number
NCT05574634
Lead Sponsor
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Brief Summary

A growing body of research has highlighted the importance of frontal regions, at both the functional and structural levels, in age-related declines in attentional and cognitive processing. However, the underlying neurobiological pathophysiological changes in the brain that contribute to these declines are still largely unclear. The objective of this proposal is to investigate neural mechanisms of age-related attentional distractibility, focusing on the neural circuit initiated from the locus coeruleus (LC). In the current proposal, the investigators will test the hypothesis that the neural disconnectivity of LC with the salience network (SN) drives failures of ignoring distractors in older adults. The investigators will examine how LC-SN connectivity is associated with selective attention performance, and how improved LC-SN connectivity through a cognitive training program may lead to improved attentional performance.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
200
Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Older adult participantsTablet based adaptive multimodal attention practice programOlder adult participants in the study will complete one of two variants of an attention practice program and that will be preceded by, and followed by, an fMRI scan session featuring an attention task
Older adult participantsTablet based adaptive criterion task practice programOlder adult participants in the study will complete one of two variants of an attention practice program and that will be preceded by, and followed by, an fMRI scan session featuring an attention task
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change in fMRI LC-SN connectivity after two weeksScan before and after attentional practice (2 weeks between scans)

An fMRI measure of LC-SN connectivity

Change in accuracy on the place-face selective attention task after two weeksScan before and after attentional practice (2 weeks between scans)

During this task, participants will be presented to with target place stimuli overlaid on nonexpressive faces) and be asked to identify categories of place images ('building' to 'house') selectively as soon as possible while ignoring overlapped faces. The investigators will also include place only images to measure participants' baseline neural activation when there is no distractor. Each image condition will be presented in a mixed event related design that includes 15 blocks for each condition as a function of image type (overlaid vs. place-only). The block order will be counterbalanced and each block will be separated by a 10-s blank screen.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

🇺🇸

Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

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