Changes in neural representations over time and in mild cognitive impairment

Michigan Neural Distinctiveness Project Renewal: Investigating age-related neural dedifferentiation longitudinally and in Alzheimer’s pathology

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN16528440

Enrollment

250

Registered

2024-11-11

Start date

2021-09-21

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2024-12-02

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Understanding mechanisms of aging, healthy and MCI groups, longitudinally Not Applicable

Interventions

The MiND Renewal Study investigates neural distinctiveness, GABA levels, and behavior, longitudinally and its relationship with Alzheimer’s pathology. In order to investigate longitudinally, partici

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: Healthy older adults: 1. MRI scan compatible 2. Aged 65 years and older 3. Normal (or corrected-to-normal) vision, hearing, and motor control 4. Right-handed 5. Native English speaker Mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) adults: 1. MRI scan compatible 2. 65 years and older

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Healthy older adults: 1. Use of hearing aids 2. Color blindness 3. Motor control problems 4. Psychotropic medication 5. Use of estrogen therapy 6. Current depression/anxiety or occurrence within the past 5 years 7. Concussion with unconsciousness for 5 minutes or more 8. Drinks more than 7 alcoholic drinks per week 9. History of drug or alcohol abuse or addiction 10. Weight greater than 250 lbs 11. MRI scan incompatibility 12. Familiar with languages with auditory task (Sinhalese, Macedonian, Marathi/Hindi, Persian, Ukrainian, Swahili) Mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) adults: 1. MRI scan incompatibility

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
1. Neural distinctiveness is determined from fMRI data at baseline during Session 2. Each participant will complete the fMRI scan each time they participate and will complete a visual, auditory, motor, and memory task that is then used to calculate their distinctiveness score. Neural distinctiveness score is calculated at the end of their participation. Neural distinctiveness is a subtraction of activation correlations, specifically: the difference between the average within-condition correlation and the average between-condition correlation. The researchers gather the activation data from the fMRI scan tasks and the condition blocks from each task. They calculate the within-condition by computing correlations to estimate how similar activation patterns are to the same stimulus type (activation patterns stimulated by different face blocks). Then, all the within-condition correlations are averaged to estimate within-condition similarity. Between-condition activation patterns are calculated by computing correlations between different conditions (face block vs house block) and then all values are averaged to get an estimate of between-condition similarity. 2. GABA levels are determined from MRS data at baseline during Session 3. Each participant will complete the MRS scan each time they participate and their GABA level measures are calculated at the end of their participation. To quantify GABA, the researchers utilize the Gannet 3.3.1 MATLAB toolbox for each of the seven MRS voxels collected during the MRS scan. 3. Cognitive and behavior test scores are determined according to behavioral testing at baseline, done at all three sessions. The NIH toolbox, NACC battery, AudioConsole testing and in-house created tasks are all administered. Behavioral performance, fMRI task neural distinctiveness, and GABA level associations are assessed once each participant finishes their sessions.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Neural distinctiveness is determined from fMRI data at baseline during Session 2. Each participant will complete the fMRI scan each time they participate and will complete a visual, auditory, motor, and memory task that is then used to calculate their distinctiveness score. Neural distinctiveness score is calculated at the end of their participation. Neural distinctiveness is a subtraction of activation correlations, specifically: the difference between the average within-condition correlation and the average between-condition correlation. The researchers gather the activation data from the fMRI scan tasks and the condition blocks from each task. They calculate the within-condition by computing correlations to estimate how similar activation patterns are to the same stimulus type (activation patterns stimulated by different face blocks). Then, all the within-condition correlations are averaged to estimate within-condition similarity. Between-condition activation patterns are calculated by computing correlations between different conditions (face block vs house block) and then all values are averaged to get an estimate of between-condition similarity. 2. GABA levels are determined from MRS data at baseline during Session 3. Each participant will complete the MRS scan each time they participate and their GABA level measures are calculated at the end of their participation. To quantify GABA, the researchers utilize the Gannet 3.3.1 MATLAB toolbox for each of the seven MRS voxels collected during the MRS scan. 3. Cognitive and behavior test scores are determined according to behavioral testing at baseline, done at all three sessions. The NIH toolbox, NACC battery, AudioConsole testing and in-house created tasks are all administered. Behavioral performance, fMRI task neural distinctiveness, and GABA level associations are assessed once each participant finishes their sessions.

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Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. GLX: Glutamate + glutamine (GLX) levels are also measured from MRS data at baseline during Session 3 and the measures are calculated at the end of their participation. Gannet 3.3.1 MATLAB does this automatically alongside GABA calculations. 2. Demographic information: to observe behavioral variables, the researchers additionally collect demographic data via an online survey at baseline prior to starting their in-person sessions. They collect education levels, amount of exercise, average weekly alcohol intake and learned musical ability. 3. Emotions scales: to ascertain general emotional status and stress levels, the researchers administer an online survey during Session 1 at baseline. A raw score is generated via R script. 4. Brain volume: the researchers additionally calculate the volume for numerous different brain regions (mm^3) using FreeSurfer, from data collected from the MRI scan conducted in session 2 at baseline.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. GLX: Glutamate + glutamine (GLX) levels are also measured from MRS data at baseline during Session 3 and the measures are calculated at the end of their participation. Gannet 3.3.1 MATLAB does this automatically alongside GABA calculations. 2. Demographic information: to observe behavioral variables, the researchers additionally collect demographic data via an online survey at baseline prior to starting their in-person sessions. They collect education levels, amount of exercise, average weekly alcohol intake and learned musical ability. 3. Emotions scales: to ascertain general emotional status and stress levels, the researchers administer an online survey during Session 1 at baseline. A raw score is generated via R script. 4. Brain volume: the researchers additionally calculate the volume for numerous different brain regions (mm^3) using FreeSurfer, from data collected from the MRI scan conducted in session 2 at baseline.

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Countries

United States of America

Contacts

Public ContactThad Polk

tpolk@umich.edu+1 (0)734 763 0343

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026