A new strategy to improve older adults' memory using cueing

ISRCTN	ISRCTN06686221
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN06686221
Secondary identifying numbers	N/A

Submission date: 02/05/2013
Registration date: 22/05/2013
Last edited: 23/05/2013

Recruitment status: No longer recruiting
Overall study status: Completed
Condition category: Nervous System Diseases

Prospectively registered

Protocol

Statistical analysis plan

Results

Individual participant data

Record updated in last year

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
Pre-stimulus cues seem to increase the ability to process things better and faster. However, the impact this may have on memory in older adults, has received little or no attention. Our study investigates whether pre-stimulus cueing has any effects on older adults memory and to what extent.

Who can participate?
The PRESTIcue study recruits about 30 younger (age>18 years) and 30 older (age>60 years) adults from the local community.

What does the study involve?
Participants will be invited to study a series of words that will be presented on a computer screen. Some of the words will be preceded by a cue (e.g. a signalling picture), while some others will be preceded by a blank screen. After a brief retention interval, they will be asked to recall all the words they can remember. All participants will study words with both pre-stimulus cueing and no cueing. The session will last about 40 minutes.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
We expect immediate and direct benefits on participants' memory as they should remember items that will be preceded by a cue better, when compared to items with no cue. This will indicate that pre-stimulus cueing may be a useful strategy to be used in older adults everyday memory tasks. No risks are involved.

Where is the study run from?
The PRESTIcue study has been set up by the Psychogerontology Centre at the University of Chieti.

When is study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
Recruitment starts in mid-May 2013. The study is expected to end by July 2013.

Who is funding the study?
University of Chieti (Italy)

Who is the main contact?
Professor Nicola Mammarella
n.mammarella@unich.it

Contact information

Prof Nicola Mammarella
Scientific

Department of Psychological Sciences
Via dei Vestini 31
Chieti
66100
Italy

Study information

Study design	Controlled pilot study
Primary study design	Interventional
Secondary study design	Non randomised controlled trial
Study setting(s)	Other
Study type	Quality of life
Participant information sheet	Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet
Scientific title	Improving older adults memory with a PRE-STImulus cueing-based behavioral intervention: a controlled pilot study
Study acronym	PRESTIcue
Study objectives	We hypothesise that older adults memory will be improved after a pre-stimulus cueing intervention vs no cueing. The null hypothesis is that there will be no difference in memory between conditions; this may arise if older adults are not sensitive to pre-stimulus cueing information.
Ethics approval(s)	Departmental Ethics Board; 22/05/2013; ref. number 001
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied	Aging and memory difficulties
Intervention	The study will involve 15 male and 15 female younger adults and 15 male and 15 female older adults. Participation will be tested on a memory task. This task will include a study phase during which a series of words will be either preceded by a cue (intervention trials) vs. no-cue (no intervention). After the study phase, participants will be asked to recall as many of the studied words they can remember. Male participants will be assigned to standard 12-week vs 10-week vs 8-week inter-donation intervals and female participants to 16-week vs 14-week vs 12-week intervals.
Intervention type	Other
Primary outcome measure	Cognitive: memory abilities measured immediately followingthe experimental stimuli presentation in a single session
Secondary outcome measures	No secondary outcome will be considered
Overall study start date	30/05/2013
Completion date	31/07/2013

Eligibility

Participant type(s)	Patient
Age group	Adult
Lower age limit	18 Years
Sex	Both
Target number of participants	60
Key inclusion criteria	1. Age range for younger adults >18 < 30 years 2. Age range for older adults >60 < 80 years 3. Half of participants will be male, the other half female 4. All participants must be native Italian speakers 5. Willing to participate in the study
Key exclusion criteria	1. Participants with history of head trauma, alcohol or drug abuse, or neurological or psychiatric disorders 2. Participants reporting taking medication affecting the central nervous system
Date of first enrolment	30/05/2013
Date of final enrolment	31/07/2013

Locations

Countries of recruitment

Italy

Study participating centre

Department of Psychological Sciences

Chieti
66100
Italy

Sponsor information

University of Chieti (Università degli Studi 'G. d'Annunzio' Chieti e Pescara) (Italy)
University/education

Via dei Vestini, 31
Chieti
66100
Italy

"ROR"	https://ror.org/00qjgza05

Funders

Funder type

University/education

University of Chieti (Italy)

No information available

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share	No
IPD sharing plan summary	Not provided at time of registration
Publication and dissemination plan	Not provided at time of registration
IPD sharing plan