NCT04231825

At-home Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation During Multitasking

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 21 March 2022

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Transcranial alternating current stimulation in Multitasking Behavior in 47 participants. Completed in 15 September 2020.

Timeline

15 October 2019

Primary endpoint
15 August 2020

15 September 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of California, San Francisco
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	triple
Primary purpose	basic science
Enrollment	47
Start date	15 October 2019
Primary completion	15 August 2020
Estimated completion	15 September 2020
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Transcranial alternating current stimulation

Conditions studied

• Multitasking Behavior — all drugs for Multitasking Behavior →

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Who can join

Adults 18 to 35, any sex, with Multitasking Behavior. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Multitasking Performance Cost (Neuroracer Performance Change From Baseline) Primary · Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

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.

Group	Value	95% CI
Verum Stimulation	45.3	± 0.31
Frequency Control	37.9	± 0.27

Continuous Performance Test RT Change (Test of Visual Attention / Sustained Attention) Secondary · Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

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

Group	Value	95% CI
Verum Stimulation	300	± 42
Frequency Control	303	± 31

Continuous Performance Test RTV Change (Test of Visual Attention / Sustained Attention) Secondary · Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

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

Group	Value	95% CI
Verum Stimulation	58	± 26
Frequency Control	56	± 21

Single Task Performance Change Primary · Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

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.

Group	Value	95% CI
Verum Stimulation	1.99	± 0.94
Frequency Control	2.70	± 1.07

Multitask Performance Change Primary · Pre-tACS and post-tACS (1 week later)

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.

Group	Value	95% CI
Verum Stimulation	1.17	± 0.76
Frequency Control	1.79	± 0.89

Adverse events — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Time frame: 10 months. Reporting threshold: 0%. Adverse-event reports describe events observed during the trial — not all are caused by the drug.

Verum Stimulation

Serious: 0/23 (0%)

Deaths: 0/23

Frequency Control

Serious: 0/24 (0%)

Deaths: 0/24

Other adverse events (1 terms — click to expand)

Reaction	System	Verum Stimulation	Frequency Control
Other (Not Including Serious) Adverse Event	Product Issues	—	—

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04231825 adverse events section.

Sponsor's own description

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

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Research outside the laboratory: Longitudinal at-home neurostimulation.
   Jones KT, Smith CC, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP. · · 2022 · cited 2× · PMID 35430325 · DOI 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113894