Cardiac-Control Affecting Learning Through Mindfulness (CALM)
Who can join
As published by the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. "Not stated" means the study hasn't said — ask the study team.
- Age
- 50 Years to 70 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 daily mindfulness and breathing practice with heart rate feedback to make heart rate swings larger or smaller. It looks at effects on attention, memory, and blood markers linked to Alzheimer's disease. It is for Black/African-American or White/European-American adults ages 50–70.
Some types of meditation lead heart rate to become more steady as breathing quiets whereas others lead to large heart rate swings up and down (oscillations) as breathing becomes deeper and slower. The current study is designed to investigate how daily mindfulness practice with heart rate biofeedback during breathing in a pattern that either increases or decreases heart rate oscillation affect attention and memory and blood biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.
Eligibility
Who can join
- Be 50–70 years old and Black/African-American or White/European-American.
- Speak English fluently.
- Not be pregnant and have had no menstrual periods for at least one year.
- Have normal vision and hearing, with glasses or other aids if needed.
- Have reliable Wi-Fi access.
- Have an email account you check often and a phone that receives texts.
- Agree to give blood and urine samples at two campus visits.
- Agree to spend up to 50 minutes a day on the study for 10 weeks and attend two campus visits.
Who can't join
- Have a health problem that makes the breathing practice hard, such as an uneven heartbeat or trouble breathing.
- Have problems with thinking or memory.
- Have regularly played Lumosity games in the past 6 months.
- Have claustrophobia, or fear of closed spaces, that makes MRI unsafe.
- Have worked or had a hobby grinding metal, or had an eye injury involving metal.
- Have metal in your body or devices listed as unsafe for MRI, such as a pacemaker, pump, implant, clip, wire, stent, shunt, catheter, or IUD.
- Have tattooed eyeliner or eyebrows, or hair implants that use metal or staples.
- Have piercings, foil medicine patches, a wig, hearing aids, dentures, or retainers that cannot be removed for MRI.
Simplified for readability. The official criteria below are what the study team uses.
Official eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria * Fluent in English * Black/African-American or White/European-American * Aged between 50-70 years old * Non-pregnant and non-menstruating (for at least the past year) * Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing * Have reliable access to wifi * Have an email account that you check regularly * Have a phone that receives text messages * Agree to provide blood and urine samples at two campus visits * Agree to devote up to 50 minutes daily to this study for 10 weeks as well as attend two campus visits Exclusion criteria * Have a disorder that would impede performing the breathing intervention (e.g., abnormal cardiac rhythm, arrhythmia, dyspnea) * Have cognitive impairment * Have regularly played Lumosity games in the past 6 months * Have any conditions listed below that are not safe for MRI * \*Metal in any parts of your body * Claustrophobia * Have worked as a machinist, metal worker, or in any profession or hobby grinding metal? * Have had an injury to the eye involving a metallic object (e.g., metallic slivers, shavings, or foreign body) * Cardiac pacemaker * Implanted cardiac defibrillator * Aneurysm clip or brain clip * Carotid artery vascular clamp * Neurostimulator * Insulin or infusion pump * Spinal fusion stimulator * Cochlear, otologic, ear tubes or ear implant * Prosthesis (eye/orbital, penile, etc.) * Implant held in place by a magnet * Heart valve prosthesis * Artificial limb or joint * Other implants in body or head * Electrodes (on body, head or brain) * Intravascular stents, filters * Shunt (spinal or intraventricular) * Vascular access port or catheters * IUD * Transdermal delivery system or other types of foil patches (e.g., Nitro, Nicotine, Birth control, etc.) that cannot be removed for MRI * Shrapnel, buckshot, or bullets * Tattooed eyeliner or eyebrows * Body piercing(s) that cannot be removed for MRI * Metal fragments (eye, head, ear, skin) * Internal pacing wires * Aortic clips * Metal or wire mesh implants * Wire sutures or surgical staples * Harrington rods (spine) * Bone/joint pin, screw, nail, wire, plate * Wig or toupee that cannot be removed for MRI * Hair implants that involve staples or metal * Hearing aid(s) that cannot be removed for MRI * Dentures or retainers that cannot be removed for MRI
Study sites (1)
CA
- University of Southern California · Los Angeles, CA 90089Emotion & Cognition Lab Coordinator · Study contact · 213-740-9543 · matherlab@usc.eduMore trials in Los Angeles