The Role of the Locus Coeruleus in Age-related Distractibility

NCT05574634 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 19-514
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Aging; Alzheimer Disease

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in accuracy on the place-face selective attention task after two weeks

  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.

  Scan before and after attentional practice (2 weeks between scans)

• Change in fMRI LC-SN connectivity after two weeks

  An fMRI measure of LC-SN connectivity

  Scan before and after attentional practice (2 weeks between scans)

Study Arms (2)

Older adult participants

EXPERIMENTAL

Older 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

Behavioral: Tablet based adaptive multimodal attention practice program; Behavioral: Tablet based adaptive criterion task practice program

Younger adult participants

NO INTERVENTION

Younger adult participants in the study will complete one fMRI scan session featuring an attention task

Interventions

Tablet based adaptive multimodal attention practice program BEHAVIORAL

An adaptive at-home tablet-based program that includes variants of the Flanker Task, the Stroop Task, and a Visual Tracking Task. Each session of practice will include up to ten minutes with each of these task types, and the tasks will increase in difficulty in a way that further taxes attention (such as through more distractors or more incongruent trials) as participant performance improves.

Older adult participants

Tablet based adaptive criterion task practice program BEHAVIORAL

An adaptive, at-home tablet-based variant of the criterion task, that is, the selective attention/distraction task used during the scanning portion of the human participant portions of the study, that takes up to 25 minutes to complete each session.

Older adult participants

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 75 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Healthy adult participants
• No younger than 18 and no older than 75 yrs of age
• Ability to provide written informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• History of surgery involving metal implants
• Possible metal fragments in the eyes
• Pacemaker
• A history of claustrophobia
• Braces
• Weighing over 250 pounds
• Pregnant or possibility of being pregnant.
• Severe medical or psychiatric conditions (e.g., blind or deaf, head trauma)
• Learning disabilities or developmental disabilities

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alzheimer Disease

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Dementia; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Tae-Ho Lee, PhD

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Tae-Ho Lee, PhD

CONTACT

540-231-6174; taehol@vt.edu

Benjamin Katz, PhD

CONTACT

540-231-9816; katzben@vt.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: The participant will not be aware that there are two alternate versions of the attention practice program.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 13, 2022
• First Posted: October 10, 2022
• Study Start: April 11, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027
• Last Updated: August 19, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)