Top-Down Attentional Control of Visual-Processing

Launched by NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH (NIMH) · Mar 13, 2010

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how different parts of the brain help us pay attention to what we see. Researchers want to compare how individuals with specific brain injuries, like those from strokes or surgeries, process visual images compared to healthy people. The goal is to learn more about the brain's role in attention and visual processing.

To participate, individuals must be at least 18 years old and either have had damage to certain brain areas or be healthy volunteers. Participants will make 4 to 10 visits to the NIH Clinical Center over 1 to 2 years, with each visit lasting about 2 hours. During these visits, they will undergo health screenings, cognitive tests to assess thinking and memory, and some may take part in brain imaging tests like fMRI or MEG to see how their brains respond during specific tasks. It's important for potential participants to be in good health and able to understand the study procedures.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• * INCLUSION CRITERIA:
• • All Subjects
• • 1. All subjects will be 18 years of age or older and have at least a high school education.
• • 2. Capacity to provide their own informed consent, understand and cooperate with study procedures.
• • 3. Able to read and write in English to guarantee understanding of all written and spoken instructions, which are in English.
• Patients:
• • 1. Unilateral or bilateral focal lesions of prefrontal, parietal, occipital or temporal cortex, or amygdala.
• • 2. At least three months post-stroke, lobectomy and or neurosurgical resection.
• Healthy volunteers:
• • 1. Neurologically normal and in good general health.
• • EXCLUSION CRITERIA
• Patients:
• • 1. Any neurological or psychiatric disorder not related to the focal lesion (e.g., epilepsy, schizophrenia, etc.). Epilepsy patients who have undergone surgery and as a result are seizure free may be recruited.
• • 2. Previous head injury.
• • 3. Present or past (within past 6 months) drug or alcohol abuse or addiction as determined by a qualified study neurologist/psychiatrist.
• • 4. Radiation treatment to the brain during a three-month period prior to the experiment..
• Healthy Volunteers:
• • 1. Any neurological or psychiatric disorder (e.g., epilepsy, schizophrenia, etc.)
• • 2. Previous head injury.
• • 3. Present or past (within past 6 months) drug or alcohol abuse or addiction based on DSM-5 criteria as determined during History and Physical exam.
• ADDITIONAL EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR MRI SCAN:
• Patients and Healthy volunteers:
• • 1. Women who are pregnant and women of child-bearing potential who refuse to undergo a urine pregnancy test will be excluded from fMRI experiments.
• 2. Subjects who have contraindications to MRI scanning will be excluded from fMRI experiments but included in cognitive experiments. These contraindications include:
• • 1. central nervous system aneurysm clips;
• • 2. implanted neural stimulator;
• • 3. implanted cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator;
• • 4. cochlear implant;
• • 5. ocular foreign body (e.g., metal shavings);
• • 6. insulin pump;
• • 7. metal shrapnel or bullet;
• • 8. any implanted device that is incompatible with MRI.
• • 3. Conditions that preclude scanning, e.g., morbid obesity, claustrophobia.
• ADDITIONAL EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR TASKS INVOLVING COLOR DISCRIMINATION:
• Patients and Healthy volunteers:
• • Subjects who are determined during screening or history and physical exam to be color-blind will be excluded from participating in certain tasks that involve color discrimination.