Can a smartphone app sharpen memory in schizophrenia? new trial aims to find out.
NCT ID NCT07659938
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests whether a mobile app that trains specific brain waves can improve working memory in adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Thirty participants will use the app at home twice a week for 12 weeks. Half get real neurofeedback, half get a placebo version. The goal is to see if the app is feasible and helps memory.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- frontal gamma coherence neurofeedback (a brain-training app using EEG signals)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a convenient, at-home way to boost working memory for people with schizophrenia.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small, early-stage trial with only 30 participants. The placebo group also gets a fake version, so the real benefit may be small or none. The app requires consistent use and may not work for everyone.
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.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 30 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Apr 2027
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Jun 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A company
The lead sponsor is a pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical-device company.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 55 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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: 1. Voluntary informed consent to participate and capacity to consent as measured by the University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent (UBACC1) instrument; 2. Age 18 to 55; 3. Meet DSM-5 criteria for a current diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder based on a SCID-5 interview and available medical record review; 4. Clinically stable as operationalized by (a) not having been admitted to a psychiatric hospital within the three months prior to assessment, (b) having had no change in antipsychotic medication dosage within four weeks prior to the baseline assessment, and (c) ascertained to be clinically and medically stable by one of the study investigators Exclusion Criteria: 1. Electroconvulsive therapy within six months of the baseline assessment; 2. Medical conditions that can impact cognition, including self-reported history of seizure disorder; multiple sclerosis; stroke or major vascular disease; HIV/AIDS; brain cancer; prior head injury involving loss of consciousness; 3. Current (but not past) major depression; 4. Substance use disorder other than nicotine or caffeine in the past year; 5. Inability to read or speak English (with corrected vision or hearing if needed); 6. Unable to adequately see or manually manipulate a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device; 7. Uncooperativeness with the laboratory assessment protocol leading to missing data; 8. Color blindness that interferes with assessment; 9. Testing in the past 6 months on the cognitive measures
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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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University of California San Diego
La Jolla, California, 92093, United States
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- New schizophrenia drug goes Head-to-Head with standard antipsychotics in Long-Term trial
- Five-Year safety check for experimental schizophrenia drug
- A shot every few weeks? new drug tested for schizophrenia