Skip to content

Brain Enhancement Training Towards Elders Resilience to Aging, Phase IIB

BETTER Aging Trial: Brain Enhancement Training Towards Elders Resilience to Aging, Phase IIB

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05599490
Acronym
BETTER Aging
Enrollment
135
Registered
2022-10-31
Start date
2023-12-14
Completion date
2026-01-28
Last updated
2026-02-19

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

Conditions

Age-related Cognitive Decline

Brief summary

This study aims to examine the longer-term benefits of a novel, neuroplasticity-based, computerized and web-deliverable training program (PACR-CT) five years from the initial 10 weeks of training from our Phase II study - Protocol #: PSC-0605-17 (Aim 1) and test the interactive effect of previous training and 10 weeks of booster training (Aim 2). Both the study and the software being investigated meet the criteria of Non-Significant Risk.

Detailed description

This study will employ a single arm, open label design with use of the PACR-CT with all participants who completed the Phase II study, as well as approximately 60 new participants (with a goal of 40 completers) who are age-matched and untrained older adults. After consent, only the new, untrained participants will complete the screening visit. Then all participants will perform the pre-training visit (cognitive and functional assessments, MRI/fMRI and blood draw), followed by 10 weeks of training, and then followed by post-training visit (cognitive and functional assessments and MRI/fMRI).

Interventions

Forty-two minutes of training on computerized exercises that targets processing speed, memory and attention.

Sponsors

Posit Science Corporation
Lead SponsorINDUSTRY
University of Iowa
CollaboratorOTHER
The University of Texas at Dallas
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Masking description

The Investigators and Assessors will be blinded to the previous treatment assignment of participants from the Phase II study.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
70 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Participant must be 70 years of age or older * Participant must be a fluent English speaker * Participant must have adequate sensorimotor capacity to perform the program, including visual capacity adequate to read from a computer screen at a normal viewing distance, auditory capacity adequate to understand normal speech, and motor capacity adequate to control a computer mouse * Participant must not have evidence of dementia as indicated by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

Exclusion criteria

* Participant with any medical illnesses, injuries or conditions predisposing to imminent functional and/or cognitive decline * Participant requiring caregiver assistance in dressing/personal hygiene * Participant with severe visual deficits (including visual neglect, partial field cuts, anopias) and/or severe hearing deficit that would prevent use of the computerized treatment program * Participant with recent participation of computer-delivered cognitive training within 2 years of consent * Participant with claustrophobia or any other contraindication to MRI scanning * Participant with inability to complete a 1-hour MRI * Pregnant women * Participant with any implanted devices above the waist (e.g., cardiac pacemaker or auto-defibrillators, neural pacemaker, aneurysm clips, cochlear implant, metallic bodies in the eye or central nervous system, any form of wires or metal devices that may concentrate radio frequency fields) * Participants with active suicidal ideation with specific plan and intent or suicide-related behaviors within 2 months of consent as measured by the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in performance on global cognitive composite scoreAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in performance on global cognitive composite score based on the average of all normalized assessment measures.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in performance on processing speed composite scoreAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in performance on processing speed will be measured using the composite score created by averaging the z-scores of Pattern Comparison, Letter Comparison, and Digit Symbol Coding tasks.
Change in performance on working memoryAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in performance on working memory will be measured using the composite score created by averaging the z-scores of Visual Short Term Memory and N-Back Tasks.
Changes in performance on episodic memoryAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in performance on episodic memory will be measured using the composite score created by averaging the z-scores of Selective Reminding Task and Face Name Task.
Change in performance on executive functionAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in performance on executive function will be measured using the composite score created by averaging the z-scores of Flanker Task and Task Switch (fMRI task).
Change in brain functionAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in resting state functional connectivity will be measured by resting State T2\*weighted EPI-BOLD, a 10-minute task-free BOLD contrast sequence consisting of 300 volumes (TR=2000 ms/TE=30ms) at 3.4mm3 in-plane resolution and 3mm slice thickness. Participants will be instructed to keep their eyes open and maintain attention on a central gray fixation cross on a black screen.
Change in brain structureAt 5 years and at 3 months3D T1-Weighted multi-echo MPRAGE. Morphometric analyses will be based on this MRI sequence (not accelerated because the reliability of acceleration for multi-site studies has not yet been established). We will achieve spatial resolution of 1 x 1 x 1 mm voxels.
Change in task-related brain activationAt 5 years and at 3 monthsChange in functional connectivity and brain activation will be measured while performing Task Switch.
Change in functional performanceAt 5 years and at 3 monthsBetween-group magnitude of change in sum time of all tasks in the Timed Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (TIADL). Higher scores indicate greater impairment in functional performance.
Change in Depressive SymptomsAt 5 years and at 3 monthsBetween-group magnitude of change in sum score using the self-report measure, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The scoring range is 0-60. Higher scores indicate the presence of more symptomatology.
Blood-based Biomarker for Alzheimer's DiseaseAt 5 yearsGroup differences in the P-tau181, Aβ1-42/Aβ1-40 concentrations

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORHyun Kyu Lee, PhD

Posit Science Corporation

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 20, 2026