NCT05210608: RTA

Working Memory Training on Delay Discounting Among Cigarette Smokers

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 24 February 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Working Memory Training + Behavioral Intervention in Tobacco Use Disorder/Cigarette Smoking in 13 participants. Completed in 30 June 2022.

Timeline

30 November 2021

Primary endpoint
30 June 2022

30 June 2022

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Kansas Medical Center
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	na
Design	single group
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	13
Start date	30 November 2021
Primary completion	30 June 2022
Estimated completion	30 June 2022
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Working Memory Training + Behavioral Intervention

Conditions studied

• Tobacco Use Disorder/Cigarette Smoking — all drugs for Tobacco Use Disorder/Cigarette Smoking →

Sponsor

University of Kansas Medical Center

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Tobacco Use Disorder/Cigarette Smoking. 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.

Delay Discounting Primary · Baseline, Post-treatment, 1 month follow up

Delay Discounting (DD) was measured via an established computerized binary choice task in which participants choose between an amount of money available immediately and larger amount of money available after a specified delay (1 day to 25 years). A computerized algorithm adjusts the immediately available reward across seven trials to determine an indifference point (k) for each amount/delay pairing. Indifference points are then used to calculate a rate of delay discounting for a $50, $200, $1,000 "larger later" sum. Larger scores mean greater delay discounting. While there is no strict minimum

Baseline

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training + Behavioral Intervention	-5.21	-12.12 – -0.19

Post-treatment

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training + Behavioral Intervention	-6.57	-10.66 – -4.24

1 month follow up

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training + Behavioral Intervention	-7.13	-10.19 – -4.15

Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB): Number of Total Cigarettes Smoked Per Week Primary · Baseline, Post-treatment, 1 month follow up

The Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) for cigarette smoking is a self-report method used to assess an individual's smoking behavior over a specified period and specified as one week for this study. In this method, individuals are guided to recall their daily cigarette use by referencing events, routines, and cues that help them accurately track their smoking patterns. They are asked to document the number of cigarettes smoked each day, which provides a detailed, day-by-day account of their smoking habits. This data was then be summed to give a weekly total cigarettes smoked per week. The TLFB approa

Baseline

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	76.53	± 60.70

Post-treatment

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	38.83	± 40.15

1 month follow up

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	59.50	± 27.55

Carbon Monoxide Levels Primary · Baseline, Post-treatment, 1 month follow up

Participant reports of abstinence will be verified by expired carbon monoxide (\< 6 ppm cutoff for stated abstinence). CO levels are collected via a CO monitor.

Baseline

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	17.70	± 11.65

Post-treatment

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	17.67	± 9.44

1 month follow up

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	30	± 17.45

Working Memory Primary · Baseline, Post-treatment, 1 month follow up

Working memory was assessed by adding the scores of 3 different working memory measures: 1) the total achievement score in the Tower of Hanoi, 2) the total recall score of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test- Revised and 3) the total scaled score of the Letter Number Sequencing. These measures are commonly used to assess working memory. In this study, the composite score of all measures ranged between 36 and 89 with higher scores representing greater working memory,

Baseline

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	58.61	± 14.43

Post-treatment

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	61.33	± 11.13

1 month follow up

Group	Value	95% CI
Working Memory Training+ Behavioral Intervention	71.25	± 13.42

Sponsor's own description

Despite widespread awareness of significant negative health consequences, cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the US (Creamer et al., 2019; Jamal, 2018). Moreover, the highest rate of smoking and heaviest burden of smoking-related illness occurs among low-socioeconomic status (SES) individuals relative to higher SES groups (Businelle et al., 2010; Clegg et al., 2009). Low SES individuals are also 40% less likely to succeed in quitting smoking when they attempt to do so (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health, 2014). One potential explanation for the disparity in rate of smoking and successful quit attempts may be differences in individual rates of delay discounting (DD), i.e., the degree to which rewards loses their value as the delays to their receipt increase (Odum, 2011). A proposed way to reduce steep DD and, potentially, substance use has been computer training for working memory, which has shown favorable results in a sample of individuals with stimulant dependence (Bickel et al., 2011) and substance use broadly (Felton et al., 2019), with the latter even showing decreases in cigarette smoking in a subset of the sample.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.