Neurobiological Mechanisms of Aging and Stress on Prospective Navigation

Part of paid clinical trials in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sponsor
Georgia Institute of Technology
Study ID
NCT03896529
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Aging
  • Anxiety
  • Memory Impairment

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
65 Years - 80 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Anticipatory psychological stress — BEHAVIORAL
    Unpredictable delivery of low-level electrical stimulation to left ankle periodically throughout psychology tasks (virtual navigation). Established procedure for inducing anticipatory stress.

Study Details

Two hallmarks of both healthy aging and age-related disease are 1) memory and navigational deficits, particularly in orienting towards goal locations and planning how to navigate to them, and 2) increased susceptibility to stress and altered regulation of the stress response. However, there are marked individual differences in these age-related changes. The investigators' proposal will help characterize factors that contribute to this variability. Participants will be pseudorandomly assigned to stress-manipulated or control groups. The investigators will give both groups a novel immersive navigation task, validated by the PI in healthy young adults. This paradigm gives participants the opportunity to either (a) flexibly draw on spatial memory in order to plan efficient routes to goal locations, or (b) fall back on inefficient, but cognitively less-demanding, stimulus-response associations (i.e., habits). Using neuroimaging and behavioral measures, the investigators' protocol will test whether experimentally-induced stress leads individuals to bring fewer details about future locations to mind when route planning, and whether such restricted prospective thought ultimately biases participants towards relatively inflexible, habitual actions.

Key Dates

Start date
Sep 24, 2019
Status verified
Nov 2025
Primary completion
Sep 1, 2026
Completion
Sep 1, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
85 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • No Intervention: No-stress control group
    Participants in this group will perform the psychology tasks (virtual navigation) without any manipulation of psychological stress
  • Experimental: Stress group
    Participants in this group will perform the psychology tasks (virtual navigation) under manipulated psychological stress (anticipatory threat of shock)

Primary Outcome Measure

Behavioral probability of taking a shortcut between control and treatment groups [ Time Frame: Approximately 1.5 years ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Center for Advance Brain ImagingAtlantaGeorgia30318
Vishwadeep Ahluwalia, Ph.D.
[email protected]
404-385-8619
Brown Thackery, Ph.D (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)
Moffat Scott, Ph.D. (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)

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By research site
Center for Advance Brain Imaging· Atlanta, GA

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