Scientists map attention in damaged brains
NCT ID NCT01087281
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Aug 25, 2026 · Updated 14 times
Summary
This study looks at how people with certain types of brain damage process what they see and pay attention. Researchers will compare them to healthy volunteers using brain scans like fMRI and MEG. The goal is to better understand which brain areas are involved in visual attention.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Participants
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About 300 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2012
- Lead sponsor
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A government research agency
The lead sponsor is the US National Institutes of Health.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
Who is studied
Healthy volunteers 18 years of age or older who are neurologically normal and in good general health. Patients 18 years of age or older with unilateral or bilateral focal lesions of prefrontal, parietal, occipital or temporal cortex, or amygdala.
- Ages
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18 to 100 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
* 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.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
RECRUITINGBethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
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