Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial for the Evaluation of a Novel Adaptive Attention Training in Healthy Adolescents
Condition: Healthy Adolescents
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This project will evaluate the neuro-cognitive outcomes of a novel, adaptive attention
      training in a healthy adolescent population.
    

Detailed description: 
      Aspects of cognitive control, such as attention and working memory, are critical for
      successful goal-directed behavior. Importantly, variability in cognitive control abilities
      can influence real-world functioning, such as scholastic success in children and adolescents.
      The primary goal of this project is to examine the outcomes of a novel, adaptive attention
      training that primarily targets aspects of sustained attention and secondarily targets
      delayed gratification in adolescents. As such, the investigators will validate the
      feasibility and efficacy of this novel training in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study.
      Specifically, healthy adolescents (age 12-16 years old) will be recruited for a longitudinal
      experiment in which they are randomly assigned to the adaptive attention training group
      ('Engage') or one of two expectancy-matched control groups. Depending on the assigned group,
      participants will complete 1 hour (low-dose control group) or 15 hours ('Engage' and active
      control groups) of training as well as pre-, post- and follow-up assessments of cognitive,
      neural, and behavioral measures. We hypothesize that completion of 'Engage' training will
      result in enhancement of fronto-parietal control functions that underlie sustained attention
      and suppression of ventral-striatal reward impulses, ultimately improving these abilities in
      a healthy adolescent population.
    

Intervention name(s): Adaptive Attention Training; Active Control; Low-dose Adaptive Attention Training
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The training is comprised of a time-based titration of rich audiovisual and sparse audio interactive environments. Training progressively transitions the participants from an immersive and rapid reward setting to a less immersive, sensory impoverished, and slower reward setting. Further, the participants' actions require delayed gratification decisions to accomplish play in the sparse setting, building fronto-parietal control through sustained attention and suppression of ventral-striatal reward impulses.; Participants in the expectancy-matched active control group will play a visuo-spatial iPad game, in which players use their finger to move an object to different successive square platforms. Expectancy matching to the adaptive attention training was pre-confirmed in 121 participants (18-20 years of age), using targeted surveys on MTurk about their expectations of either training exposure on our specific outcome measures. To balance expectations of potential benefits, this group will receive identical recruitment and experimental instructions as the adaptive attention training group.; Participants in the low-dose training group will play a reduced number of sessions as the Adaptive Attention Training group. Specifically, they will train for two 30-minute sessions at the start and middle of a six-week period. To balance expectations of potential benefits, this group will receive identical recruitment and experimental instructions as the adaptive attention training group.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Teen health; Teen development; Adolescent development; Memory; Attention; Reward processing