Frontopolar Cortex and Motivation in Healthy Older Adults

NCT03197181 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: FPC-17-AGING-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 26
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Motivation represents a core aspect of goal-directed behavior as it determines how much effort individuals are willing to invest to reach their goals. While research on effort-based decision-making focuses mainly on effort preferences in younger adults, loss of motivation might be a key component of the apathetic tendencies frequently seen in older adults. However, an open question refers to which brain mechanisms underlie motivational processes in older adults. The investigators have recently shown that the frontopolar cortex plays a crucial in motivating the exertion of rewarded effort in younger adults. The goal of the current study is to determine whether frontopolar cortex plays a crucial role for motivation also in older adults and may thus be a promising target for improving the motivation deficits in healthy aging. Participants perform computer-based experimental tasks measuring the propensity to exert cognitive or physical effort for monetary rewards. During task performance, participants receive anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over their frontopolar cortex. The study tests whether tDCS over frontopolar cortex allows modulating participants' motivation to engage in rewarded effort.

Conditions

Motivation in Healthy Older Adults

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• participants' decisions to exert cognitive or physical effort for monetary rewards

  The project seeks to test the causal role of FPC in discounting of cognitive and physical effort in healthy older adults. For that purpose, participants perform a task on a computer which requires the participants to decide whether the participants are willing to exert cognitive or physical effort for a monetary reward. Participants perform this task both under anodal and under sham stimulation. It is tested whether anodal, relative to sham, stimulation increases participants' willingness to engage in rewarded cognitive or physical effort.

  All participants perform this decision-making task in both experimental sessions (i.e., both the anodal and the sham stimulation session) for 20 min while receiving anodal or sham stimulation.

Study Arms (2)

anodal transcranial direct current stimulation

EXPERIMENTAL

anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (current strength: 1 mA, duration: 20 min) over the frontopolar cortex

Device: transcranial direct current stimulation

sham transcranial direct current stimulation

SHAM COMPARATOR

sham transcranial direct current stimulation (current strength: 1 mA, duration: 0.5 min) over the frontopolar cortex

Device: transcranial direct current stimulation

Interventions

transcranial direct current stimulation DEVICE

Participants receive anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation while performing effort-based decision tasks.

anodal transcranial direct current stimulation; sham transcranial direct current stimulation

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age 65-80 years
• Informed consent as documented by signature
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
• Cognitive and language ability to understand study content and procedure
• Normal cognitive functioning (assessed by MMST)
• BDI-II score \< 20

You may not qualify if:

• Negative response to TMS/tDCS in past
• History of seizure
• History of stroke or heart attack
• History of head injury
• Psychiatric or neurological disorder
• Metal in body/head
• Implanted medical products like pacemaker, medical pumps, heart catheter
• Headache
• Tinnitus
• Currently taking medication affecting the central nervous system
• Insufficient sleep in preceding night
• Excessive consumption of alcohol within last 24 hours

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Zurich: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Zurich

Zurich, 8006, Switzerland

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Electric Stimulation Therapy; Therapeutics; Convulsive Therapy; Psychiatric Somatic Therapies; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Electroshock; Psychological Techniques

Study Officials

• Philippe N Tobler, Prof.

  University of Zurich

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: The participants are blind to whether the participants receive anodal or sham stimulation in a session.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: In two separate sessions, participants receive either anodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation while the participants are performing a decision-making task on the computer.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 20, 2017
• First Posted: June 23, 2017
• Study Start: January 16, 2018
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2020
• Study Completion: June 30, 2020
• Last Updated: April 29, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CH (1)