Modulating Brain Activity to Improve Goal-directed Physical Activity in Older Adults
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04278560. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Modulating Brain Activity to Improve Goal-directed Physical Activity in Older Adult
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Although the majority of older adults are aware of the compelling evidence that regular exercise is critical to the maintenance of health into old age, most do not meet recommendations for daily exercise. This lack of engagement in 'goal-directed' physical activity stems from numerous interrelated factors including lack of motivation, depressed mood, and cognitive "executive" impairments that diminish one's ability to regulate behavior over time. Intriguingly, each of these factors has been linked to the function of brain networks that include the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive and safe means of modulating the excitability of specific brain regions and their connected neural networks. tDCS designed to facilitate the excitability of the left dlPFC has been shown to improve motivation, mood, and multiple aspects of executive function in healthy adults. The investigators thus hypothesize that tDCS holds promise to increase goal-directed physical activity in older adults. This project aims to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial on the feasibility and effects of a 2-week, 10-session tDCS intervention targeting the left dlPFC, combined with behavioral intervention aimed at increases daily physical activity, on physical activity over a two-month follow-up period, in relatively sedentary older adults without overt illness or disease.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT04278560
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 34 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) Device
- Sham stimulation Device
- Behavioral intervention to increase physical activity Behavioral
Device · Behavioral
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 65 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Feb 11, 2020
- Primary completion
- Nov 2, 2022
- Completion
- Nov 2, 2022
- Last update posted
- May 15, 2024
2020 – 2022
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hebrew Rehabilitation Center | Roslindale | Massachusetts | 02131 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04278560, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted May 15, 2024 · Synced Sep 2, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT04278560 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.