Closed-Loop Brain Stimulation as a Potential Intervention for Cognitive Decline

Summary

The goal of this clinical study is to investigate the effectiveness of non-invasive stimulation to enhance cognitive control abilities in older adults with and without cognitive impairment. The main questions it aims to answer are: * whether it is possible to restore various cognitive functions in older adults by delivering theta burst stimulation (TBS), a form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, and * whether closed-loop TBS is able to induce therapeutic benefits that outperform open-loop TBS. Participants play a cognitive video game while a brain-computer interface (BCI) analyzes their electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and decodes the presence or absence of the contingent negative variation (CNV) potential, a marker of cognitive control. The BCI triggers TBS when its outputs indicate that the participant is not engaged properly in the video game. Researchers will compare the effects of closed-loop and open-loop TBS using the outcome metrics described below to see how much cognitive restorations is achievable with each stimulation modality.

Eligibility

Age range

18–90 years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Device
  Closed-loop TBS

  A BCI records and analyzes the participant's EEG as they perform cognitively demanding video game tasks. The BCI delivers TBS with a real coil when its output indicates that the participant is not properly engaged in the video game.

• Device
  Open-loop TBS

  A BCI records and analyzes the participant's EEG as they perform cognitively demanding video game tasks. TBS with the real coil is delivered irrelevant of the BCI decoder output.

Location