Vagus Nerve Stimulation to Enhance Memory in Aging

Part of paid clinical trials in Stanford, California.

Sponsor
Stanford University
Study ID
NCT07214194
Status
Not Yet Recruiting

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Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 80 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) — DEVICE
    Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation will be delivered with a well-validated device. taVNS delivers stimulation on the left ear, with the placement of the stimulating electrode differing between the active and sham conditions. Stimulation will occur during each learning trial (total of 30 trials per phase).

Study Details

The aim of this study is to determine whether non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation enhances memory formation in cognitively healthy older adults and whether the effects of stimulation depend on gut and brain health.

Key Dates

Start date
Feb 28, 2027
Status verified
Oct 2025
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2028
Completion
Jul 31, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment
150 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Active vagus nerve stimulation
    Participants will receive active stimulation during memory encoding of picture-word pairs. Active stimulation will occur during two learning phases of the learning and memory task. The total duration of these two phases will be less than 30 minutes.
  • Sham Comparator: Sham stimulation
    Participants will receive sham stimulation during memory encoding of picture-word pairs. Sham stimulation will occur during two learning phases of the learning and memory task. The total duration of these two phases will be less than 30 minutes.

Primary Outcome Measure

Change in Recognition Memory (d-prime) [ Time Frame: post-active vs post-sham stimulation; up to 2 hours of task ]

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Stanford UniversityStanfordCalifornia94305-

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By research site
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