Digital Interventions in Neuro-Rehabilitation: Gotcha!

NCT04570215 | Completed Results DMC

• 1 other identifier: 18/0071
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 48
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Aims and background Everyone forgets the names of people they should know at times. Having dementia makes this problem worse. People with dementia have told expressed they forget the names of people they care about and this can be upsetting and embarrassing. However, evidence shows that if people get enough practice, they can re-learn these names. The investigators, along with people with dementia and their carers, have created a fun therapy for people to get lots of practice so they can remember the names of people that are important to them. The main aim of the study is: To prove that Gotcha! therapy can help people with dementia to improve their ability to remember names. Another aim is: To find out if using the therapy is related to any changes in the brains of people with dementia. Design and methods Participants are provided with a computer tablet to practise at home. Participants are required to think of 6-10 familiar people (family and friends) whose names they forget and want to remember better. Participants also need to practise every day for about 30 minutes over a 6 week period so they get a large amount of therapy. Participants will have 7 testing appointments over 12 months. At three of these appointments participants will need to have a brain scan. These scans are carried out by trained University College London professionals and will take no longer than 30 minutes each. For the appointments where participants do not need to have a brain scan home testing can be arranged. The investigators organise and pay for all journeys to and from University College London. Participants Participants can get involved in our research if they:

• Have ever experiences seeing a familiar person but can't remember their name
• Have a diagnosis of dementia (Alzheimer's disease or mixed dementia).
• Want to be part of an important and exciting research journey. Unfortunately a diagnosis of other any other types of dementia not mentioned above is not suitable for this study Patient and Public involvement The investigators have engaged with people from the Alzheimer's Society and local dementia carers groups, run many focus groups and interviewed people with dementia and their carers to co-design the therapy. At the end of our research participants are invited to University College London to learn about the results of the study.

Conditions

Dementia; Alzheimer Disease; Anomia

Keywords

Digital Therapy; Digital intervention; Therapy app

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Gotcha! Outcome Measure

  The GOM is a free naming test using images of the participants' 6-10 personalized faces that they wanted to practice on. The test was completed in person at the main time points (T1-T4) and remotely during the weekly pre-therapy and therapy blocks. It was delivered via the app and consisted of the horizontally flipped versions of the photos that appeared as training items in order to reduce the effects of identity priming (Schacter, et al. 2004). The images were displayed for 6 seconds with a 2 second fade out. Responses were audio recorded and checked for accuracy with each attempt scoring either 1 or 0. As the number of items in the GOM varied across participants, these raw scores were converted into percentages ((correct responses/total number of stimuli)\*100). The Famous Faces were tested using the same parameters at T1-T4 using a PowerPoint presentation.

  T1 (baseline = initial assessment) to T4 (immediately following 6 weeks of Gotcha! therapy)

Study Arms (2)

Gotcha! Therapy Application

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will receive the Gotcha therapy daily for six weeks.Participants are required to use the app everyday for a maximum of 45 minutes. After this time they enter a twelve week block with no therapy or maintenance of therapy (see Gotcha maintenance arm). This aim of this arm is to invesitgate the efficacy of the Gotcha therapy for proper-noun anomia in mild-moderate patients with dementia (Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia and mixed)

Other: Gotcha! Therapy application

Gotcha! Therapy Application: Maintenance

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will receive the Gotcha therapy for six weeks as described in the Gotcha arm. After this time they enter a twelve week block of maintenance of therapy gains made in the initial six week therapy block. The maintenance block consists of a weekly test of the Gotcha outcome measure to monitor the therapy gains made during the therapy block. If any previously correctly named person is incorrectly named during these weekly tests then the participant must complete a 'top-up' therapy session. They will then be tested again the following week. The aim of this arm is to compare Gotcha maintenance with Gotcha, to see if extra testing and therapy is required to maintain gains made during an initial intense therapy block.

Other: Gotcha! Therapy application; Other: Gotcha Therapy application: Maintenance

Interventions

Gotcha! Therapy application OTHER

Gotcha! will provide an app-based therapy for people with dementia who have difficulty naming people they know well. The therapy element works via mass practice and feedback to the users on a trial-by-trial basis. The DNI is very simple in a way; it just presents a long series of pictures for users to name. This DNI will use speech recognition (SR) software in order to make a binary decision as to whether the user said the correct word or not. This affects what the next trial (object to name) is and what auditory cue (if any) is provided the next time the user has to name the same item.

Also known as: Gotcha!

Gotcha! Therapy Application; Gotcha! Therapy Application: Maintenance

Gotcha Therapy application: Maintenance OTHER

Gotcha! Maintenance therapy is identical to Gotcha! but takes place over a longer period of time in an attenuated form.

Also known as: Gotcha Maintenance

Gotcha! Therapy Application: Maintenance

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Person with mild/moderate dementia
• Self-reported proper naming difficulty which we will then assess at Time Point 1 English as their dominant language
• Able to tolerate MRI brain scan
• Able to give informed consent
• Able to use the DNI (app)

You may not qualify if:

• No diagnosis of developmental language disorders
• No diagnosis of severe dementia or primary progressive aphasia
• No major co-existing neurological or psychiatric diagnosis
• No contraindications to brain scanner (e.g. the presence of ferromagnetic implants or other metallic or electronic objects in the body, weight over 24 stone, claustrophobia or pregnancy).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University College, London: lead

Study Sites (1)

University College London

London, WC1E6BT, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Dementia; Alzheimer Disease; Anomia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Mental Disorders; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Prof Alexander Leff
• Organization: UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology

a.leff@ucl.ac.uk

+442076791129

Study Officials

• Alexander P Leff, Professor

  University College, London

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 29, 2020
• First Posted: September 30, 2020
• Study Start: September 17, 2019
• Primary Completion: December 4, 2024
• Study Completion: December 4, 2024
• Last Updated: January 22, 2026
• Results First Posted: January 22, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)