Cortical Correlates of Spatial Navigation Skills in an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment

NCT06710301 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 1111
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 70
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to investigate the neural mechanisms that undergoes spatial navigation skills in children/adolescents aged between 8 and 17 years. These skills play an important role in daily life, as they allow us to orient ourselves in familiar and unfamiliar environments, locate objects, interact with them and memorize their position. Navigation abilities vary widely between individuals, change with age and might be affected by diseases, such as the cerebral palsy (CP). Previous studies have, in fact, demonstrated differences in the learning and adaptation methods of spatial navigation skills in children affected by CP compared to typically developing (TD) peers. Through the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) we want to shed light on the mechanisms that govern this ability with the aim of:

1. 1.better characterize spatial navigation skills in children/adolescents, both TD and affected by CP;
2. 2.investigate the origin of the differences found between the spatial navigation skills of TD children and those affected by CP, improving knowledge of the pathology and thus allowing, in the future, to identify more adequate rehabilitation interventions.

Conditions

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Keywords

Navigation skills; EEG; Virtual Reality; Cerebral Palsy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Power Spectral Density (PSD)

  Differences in power values between TD and CP subjects

  Once

• Navigation performance

  Navigation performance based on the following parameters: number of routes visited in each trial; total length of the path for each trial; error between distance traveled and ideal distance for each trial (identified as the minimum distance to reach the treasure from the starting point); angle of rotation of the viewer in each trial; duration of each trial.

  Once

Study Arms (1)

Navigation task

EXPERIMENTAL

Administration of the navigation task in an immersive virtual reality environment with recording of the EEG signal

Other: Preliminary assessment; Other: Navigation task with EEG recording

Interventions

Preliminary assessment OTHER

Evaluation of the cognitive level through the Raven test and of spatial navigation skills through the Corsi test and the maze sub-test of the WISC-III.

Navigation task

Navigation task with EEG recording OTHER

Administration of the navigation task in an immersive virtual reality environment and EEG signal recording. The participant will wear virtual reality viewers and EEG cap. The task consists in moving and orienting themselves inside a five-way maze in order to reach a treasure. The participant will be asked to carry out 30 trials lasting a maximum of 120s each.

Navigation task

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 8 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• typically developing subjects aged between 8 and 17 years;
• subjects with CP aged between 8 and 17 years;

You may not qualify if:

• subjects aged under 8 or over 17 years;
• subjects with epileptic problems;
• subjects with poor head control;
• subjects with visual problems that can not be corrected with prescription lens;

Sponsors & Collaborators

• IRCCS Eugenio Medea: lead

Study Sites (2)

IRCCS Scientific Institute E. Medea

Bosisio Parini, LC, 23842, Italy

RECRUITING

IRCCS Scientific Institute E. Medea

Conegliano, TV, 31015, Italy

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Cerebral Palsy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Brain Damage, Chronic; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases

Central Study Contacts

Emilia Biffi

CONTACT

+39031877862; emilia.biffi@lanostrafamiglia.it

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 25, 2024
• First Posted: November 29, 2024
• Study Start: November 14, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Last Updated: November 19, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

IT (2)