Relationship Between Vestibular Function and Topographic Memory

Biomedical Development Corporation

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Normal Elderly Population

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Industry; Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT01780896

R43TR000645 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

121101-R43TR000645-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate visual and nonvisual topographic memory impairment and its relationship to vestibular function in humans. Topographic memory refers to the ability to remember current and past locations in topographic (navigational) space and to make and/or adjust to spatial transformations using such memories. Performance on each of these topographic memory tasks will be compared to performance on a set of comparable nontopographic memory tasks. Topographic impairments represent some of the earliest cognitive deficits observed in Alzheimer's Disease, and the brain areas involved in topographic memory are the first to show degenerative changes.

Enrollment: 50 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 70 to 85 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Males or females of all racial and ethnic groups between the ages of 70 and 85 years of age;
• Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) (http://www.mocatest.org) score of >24;
• No known history or current evidence of stroke, trauma, psychiatric illness, or other insult to the brain;
• No current use of psychoactive medicine other than caffeine (100 mg/day) or alcohol (1-2 drinks per night);
• Normal sleep (at least an average of 7 hours for four days prior to participation);
• Able and willing to comply with study requirements including following instructions to complete vestibular and neuropsychological testing; and
• Have full understanding of all elements of provide signature and dating of the written informed consent prior to the initiation of procedures specified in protocol.

Exclusion criteria

• <70 or >85 yrs of age;
• MOCA score of <25;
• History, or current evidence, of stroke, trauma, psychiatric illness, or other insult to the brain;
• Prior history of inner-ear balance problems;
• Current use of psychoactive medicine other than moderate caffeine or alcohol use;
• Acute or chronic sleep deprivation during the week prior to participation (<7 hours/night on average for four nights prior to participation).

Other Restrictions:

• No alcohol use on the night before the vestibular testing
• 7 hours minimum sleep the night before vestibular testing
• No eye make-up can be worn on the day of the vestibular test due to possible interference with vestibular-ocular reflex testing apparatus

Trial design

50 participants in 1 patient group

Study Group