Virtual Reality Study - COVID-19 Protocol

Targeted Physical and Cognitive Activity in a VR Environment - COVID-19 Protocol

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04678778

Acronym

NRVR

Enrollment

Registered

2020-12-22

Start date

2019-03-19

Completion date

2021-02-19

Last updated

2021-04-29

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

Conditions

Healthy Aging

Keywords

Virtual Reality, VR, Cognitive Activity, Physical Activity, Bike, Cycling, Intervention, USC, Brain Health

Brief summary

The overarching goal of this pilot clinical trial is to use a novel virtual reality (VR)-based intervention that simultaneously engages physical and cognitive activity aimed at improving brain and cognitive outcomes in older adults. Physical activity is a promising lifestyle intervention for mitigating cognitive decline or delaying onset of dementia. However, to fully leverage beneficial brain effects of physical activity, training the brain to learn and engage in a cognitively stimulating environment may be the key to enhanced brain and cognitive outcomes.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALPhysical and Cognitive Activity

There are three sessions a week for the course of 12 weeks. Each session consists of 5 trials.

Study design

Allocation

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

50 Years to 85 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* 50-85 Years Old * Able to Walk Without Assistance * Fluent in English * No Ferromagnetic Metal in Body * Able to Participate in Moderate Aerobic Physical Activity

Exclusion criteria

* Severe Brain Injury/ Head Trauma * Pacemakers or Metal Implants * Claustrophobia * Contradictions to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)/ Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Brain Scans * Opposition to Blood Draws

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) brain scan of hippocampal volume (cubic mm)	12 weeks	The hippocampus has been shown to be a selectively vulnerable region in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and several studies, including our own, identified a dysfunctional brain signal in the hippocampus in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients. We propose to examine the effects of exercise on remediating this hyperactive signal exhibited in MCI patients.
Mnemonic Similarity Task for visual memory performance - discrimination index	12 weeks	With the study's primary focus on hippocampal function, we will use the Mnemonic Separation Task (MST), a hippocampus-dependent discrimination test of similar objects, as our primary cognitive outcome.

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026