At-home Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation During Multitasking
- Conditions
- Multitasking Behavior
- Interventions
- Device: Transcranial alternating current stimulation
- Registration Number
- NCT04231825
- Lead Sponsor
- University of California, San Francisco
- Brief Summary
The goal is to replicate in-lab results from transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) with at-home tACS.
- Detailed Description
Participants will be assessed in-lab on multitasking and sustained attention abilities. Participants will be sent home with a tACS device to be used at-home for five days while engaged in a multitasking paradigm that is different from the multitasking outcome measure used pre/post tACS. After the at-home stimulation is complete, participants return to UCSF for a final in-lab assessment of multitasking and sustained attention ability.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 47
- English speaking
- Grade 12 or more education
- Normal or corrected to normal vision and hearing
- Ability to complete cognitive tasks
- Ability to cooperate and comply with all study procedures
- Ability to tolerate tACS
- Neurological or psychiatric disorders
- Family history of epilepsy
- History of seizures
- Prior head trauma
- Pregnant
- Implanted electronic devices (e.g., pacemaker)
- IQ < 80
- Taking psychotropic medication
- Taking anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication
- Substance abuse
- Color blind
- Glaucoma
- Macular degeneration
- Amblyopia
- Strabismus
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Frequency Control Transcranial alternating current stimulation This group will receive 1-Hz tACS Verum Stimulation Transcranial alternating current stimulation This group will receive 6-Hz tACS
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Multitasking Performance Cost (Neuroracer Performance Change From Baseline) Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later) Assessment of multitasking ability using change from baseline scores in d' cost (metric of discriminability). Discrimination performance (d') was measured for each participant by comparing hit (correct responses to target signs) rates and false alarm (responses to non-targets) rates and calculated as d' = Z (hits) - Z (false alarms). d' cost was then calculated as the ratio of d' during single task target discrimination task to multitask target discrimination, expressed as percentage cost.
Single Task Performance Change Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later) Discrimination performance (d') was measured during single task performance for each participant by comparing hit (correct responses to target signs) rates and false alarm (responses to non-targets) rates and calculated as d' = Z (hits) - Z (false alarms). Performance data was collected during the single task condition.
Multitask Performance Change Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later) Discrimination performance (d') was measured while multitasking for each participant by comparing hit (correct responses to target signs) rates and false alarm (responses to non-targets) rates and calculated as d' = Z (hits) - Z (false alarms). Performance data was collected during the multitask condition.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Continuous Performance Test RT Change (Test of Visual Attention / Sustained Attention) Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later) Assessment of sustained attention ability using response time (in ms) during the continuous performance test
Continuous Performance Test RTV Change (Test of Visual Attention / Sustained Attention) Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later) Assessment of sustained attention ability using response time variability (standard deviation of response times in ms) during the continuous performance test
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Sandler Neurosciences Center
🇺🇸San Francisco, California, United States