At-home Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation During Multitasking

University of California, San Francisco47 enrolled

Overview

The goal is to replicate in-lab results from transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) with at-home tACS.

Participants will be assessed in-lab on multitasking and sustained attention abilities. Participants will be sent home with a tACS device to be used at-home for five days while engaged in a multitasking paradigm that is different from the multitasking outcome measure used pre/post tACS. After the at-home stimulation is complete, participants return to UCSF for a final in-lab assessment of multitasking and sustained attention ability.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Multitasking Behavior

Interventions

Transcranial alternating current stimulationDEVICE

Transcranial alternating current stimulation across the prefrontal cortex using electrodes F3 and F4.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 35 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * English speaking * Grade 12 or more education * Normal or corrected to normal vision and hearing * Ability to complete cognitive tasks * Ability to cooperate and comply with all study procedures * Ability to tolerate tACS Exclusion Criteria: * Neurological or psychiatric disorders * Family history of epilepsy * History of seizures * Prior head trauma * Pregnant * Implanted electronic devices (e.g., pacemaker) * IQ \< 80 * Taking psychotropic medication * Taking anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication * Substance abuse * Color blind * Glaucoma * Macular degeneration * Amblyopia * Strabismus

Locations (1)

Sandler Neurosciences Center

San Francisco, California, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Multitasking Performance Cost (Neuroracer Performance Change From Baseline)

Assessment of multitasking ability using change from baseline scores in d' cost (metric of discriminability). Discrimination performance (d') was measured for each participant by comparing hit (correct responses to target signs) rates and false alarm (responses to non-targets) rates and calculated as d' = Z (hits) - Z (false alarms). d' cost was then calculated as the ratio of d' during single task target discrimination task to multitask target discrimination, expressed as percentage cost.

Time frame: Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

Single Task Performance Change

Discrimination performance (d') was measured during single task performance for each participant by comparing hit (correct responses to target signs) rates and false alarm (responses to non-targets) rates and calculated as d' = Z (hits) - Z (false alarms). Performance data was collected during the single task condition.

Time frame: Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

Multitask Performance Change

Discrimination performance (d') was measured while multitasking for each participant by comparing hit (correct responses to target signs) rates and false alarm (responses to non-targets) rates and calculated as d' = Z (hits) - Z (false alarms). Performance data was collected during the multitask condition.

Time frame: Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

Secondary Outcomes

Continuous Performance Test RT Change (Test of Visual Attention / Sustained Attention)

Assessment of sustained attention ability using response time (in ms) during the continuous performance test

Time frame: Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

Continuous Performance Test RTV Change (Test of Visual Attention / Sustained Attention)

Assessment of sustained attention ability using response time variability (standard deviation of response times in ms) during the continuous performance test

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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