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Effects of Brain Stimulation on Cognition, Oscillations and GABA Levels in Schizophrenia

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Studies of Cognition, Oscillations and GABA Levels in Schizophrenia

Who can join

As published by the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. "Not stated" means the study hasn't said — ask the study team.

Age
18 Years to 47 Years
Sex
All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Compensation
Not stated

Other requirements are listed under Eligibility below. Only the study team can confirm whether you can join.

What to expect

No one can promise a trial will help you personally — that is what the research is trying to find out.

What participation involves

Not stated in the study description — ask the study team about visits and procedures.

Compensation
Not stated
  • Study-related exams and procedures are typically provided at no cost. This is how many trials work in general — confirm the details for this study with the study team.
  • Participants are monitored closely by the research team throughout the study.
  • Some participants may receive access to an investigational treatment, which is still being studied.
  • Your participation helps researchers learn whether this approach could help future patients.

About this study

In plain language

This study tests whether a small electrical current applied to the head can help with attention, learning, and memory in people with schizophrenia. It compares stimulation during a task or rest, and at the front or back of the head, and checks changes in a brain chemical called GABA. It includes people with schizophrenia-related disorders and healthy volunteers, but is not meant to diagnose, cure, or treat disease.

People with schizophrenia often have problems with attention, learning and memory and other cognitive abilities that interfere with their work and school performance. Unfortunately, even our best treatments often do not significantly reduce these cognitive problems. The current study investigates whether or not delivering a very small electrical current to people's foreheads (called, transcranial direct current stimulation; (tDCS)) might improve functioning in the front part of the brain and reduce these cognitive problems in people with schizophrenia. tDCS is non-invasive and has been shown to improve cognitive functioning in some preliminary studies. The current study will investigate whether giving tDCS during a task is more effective than giving it during rest (Aim 1), whether delivery of tDCS to the front of the head is more effective than delivery to the back of the head (Aim 2), and whether tDCS delivery will alter levels of a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain (GABA; Aim 3) that is important to cognitive functioning and may be disrupted in people with schizophrenia. Although this study is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat schizophrenia or any other disease, if results are positive it will encourage future large-scale studies to determine if tDCS can become an effective treatment for cognitive problems in people with schizophrenia.

Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.

Eligibility

Who can join

  • Everyone must speak and understand enough English to complete thinking tasks.
  • Everyone must be able to understand the study and agree to join.
  • Patients must have schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, or schizoaffective disorder—related mental health conditions.
  • Patients must have had no medicine changes in the past month and expect none in the next month.
  • Patients must be in stable outpatient care or a partial hospital program, rather than full-time hospital care.
  • Patients must score above 70 on an IQ test, which measures thinking skills.
  • Patients must not be taking clozapine, a medicine for mental health symptoms.

Who can't join

  • A pacemaker, implanted defibrillator, implanted brain or spine electrical stimulator, or metal implant.
  • Skin damage, skin conditions such as eczema, or a hairstyle that blocks placement of the pads that deliver the current.
  • A skull condition, head injury, or intellectual disability.
  • Any history of a brain or nerve disorder, including seizures, ALS, MS, stroke, cerebral palsy, or autism.
  • For healthy volunteers: a mental health disorder covered by the study's diagnostic rules.
  • Vision problems not corrected enough to do the thinking tests, including color blindness when a task requires telling colors apart.
  • Pregnancy.
  • Drug or alcohol dependence in the past 6 months, or drug or alcohol abuse in the past month.

Simplified for readability. The official criteria below are what the study team uses.

Official eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Participants must be able to sufficiently speak and understand English so as to be able to understand and complete cognitive tasks. * All subjects must have the ability to give valid informed consent. Inclusion Criteria for Patients with Schizophrenia Only: * Diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform or schizoaffective disorder * No medication changes in the prior month * No medication changes anticipated in the upcoming month * Stable outpatient or partial hospital status * Normal IQ (\>70; IQ will be measured by administering the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of * Intelligence (WASI) test) * Must not be currently taking the antipsychotic clozapine Exclusion Criteria: * Pacemakers * Implanted electrical (brain and spinal) stimulators * Implanted defibrillator * Metallic implants * Skin damage or skin conditions such as eczema at the sites where electrodes will be placed * Hair styles hindering the placement of electrodes * Cranial pathologies * Head trauma * Epilepsy * Mental retardation * Any known history of neurological disorders (including epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke, cerebral palsy, any DSM-5 axis I psychiatric disorder (for healthy control subjects), autism) * Uncorrected vision problems that would hinder cognitive testing (this also pertains to subjects with color blindness in tasks where discriminating colored objects/items is necessary for successful performance) * Pregnancy * Substance dependence in the past six months * Substance abuse in the past month

Study sites (1)

CA