MemoryMemSNCT04021797
Autonomic Mechanisms of Sleep-dependent Memory Consolidation
A study testing transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in people with Memory and Sleep, run by University of California, San Francisco at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The goal of the proposed project is to identify the impact vagal activity during sleep for memory formation. Nearly 100 years of research contends that sleep plays a critical role in memory consolidation (i.e. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 64 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- What is being tested?
- transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
- How many people
- 12 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 15 Oct 2019to 15 Mar 2020
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 64 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- Healthy, adult volunteers between the ages of 18-64.
- English speaking
- Self-reported napping
Who cannot join
- Aged greater than 64 years
- Lack of adherence to sleep/wake schedule of at least 7 hours a night for 5-days prior to study and during study timeline.
- Body mass index of 35 or above
- Presence of any clinical sleep disorder, including insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- Presence of medical or psychiatric condition that is likely to affect sleep/wake function or cardiovascular functioning, including doctor diagnosed arrhythmia, bradycardia, hypertension, congestive heart failure, major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Medication use that is likely to affect sleep/wake function or cardiovascular functioning, including antidepressants, anxiolytic or soporific medication, and beta-blockers.
Show all 13Show fewer
- Pregnancy
- Epilepsy
- head trauma
- alcoholism
- migraines
- metal pieces in the body (may confound tVNS delivery)
- history of substance abuse
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute
San Francisco, California, 94143
About this study
The goal of the proposed project is to identify the impact vagal activity during sleep for memory formation. Nearly 100 years of research contends that sleep plays a critical role in memory consolidation (i.e. the transformation of recent experiences into stable, long-term memories), yet much of this literature has focused on the central nervous system and technologies like electroencephalography (EEG) to unpack neural correlates involved in memory processing. Sleep is also a unique period of autonomic variation and an expansive literature has indicated the critical importance of the autonomic nervous system for memory formation. This project would be amongst the first to examine the autonomic nervous system during sleep as a critical, causal pathway linking sleep to memory processing. The investigators will assess the impact of non-invasive, transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation on sleep and post-sleep memory performance. Autonomic physiology, including electrocardiography and impedance cardiography, will be gathered at baseline, before the memory task and continuously during sleep to examine vagal tone (i.e. heart rate variability) and sympathetic activation (i.e. pre-ejection period) in response to both active and sham stimulation conditions. Polysomnography will also be gathered during the nap to examine sleep architecture. The proposed research will address a critical gap in the literature by: 1) examining the causal role of the ANS for memory functioning in humans, 2) extending the current understanding of sleep's impact on memory processing, and 3) set the groundwork for novel, sleep-based interventions with the goal of improving cognitive health.
Read the detailed description
Poor sleep is associated with significant cognitive health decline. Recently, sleep disturbances have emerged as notable predictive and exacerbating factors in the onset and development of neurodegenerative disease. Decades of research have implicated that sleep plays a critical role in memory consolidation (i.e. the transformation of recent experiences into stable, long-term memories), the decline of which is critical in the early stages of dementia. This literature affords that sleep, a period of reduced external interference, provides an optimal window for memory consolidation and that electrophysiological features that emerge during sleep are integrally involved in the consolidation process. Most of this literature has focused on the central nervous system and technologies like electroencephalography (EEG) to unpack neural correlates involved in memory processing. However, little impact from this work has translated into practical treatments and recent reviews of the literature question these sleep - memory associations. This lack of clarity suggests that there may be other factors critical to our understanding of sleep-dependent memory consolidation that have not been given due consideration. This proposal suggests that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) during sleep may reflect a critical, though understudied, pathway linking sleep and memory.
An expansive body of research has supported the role of the ANS for memory formation. Rodent studies have found that the storage of new information in memory is either enriched or impaired following learning acquisition by directly modifying peripheral activity through the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is responsible for communicating information about peripheral excitation and arousal via projections to the brainstem, which then projects to memory-related areas including the amygdala complex, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Indeed, in humans, researchers have demonstrated that direct stimulation of the vagus nerve, via surgical implants, can enhance declarative memory in epileptic patients and in patients with Alzheimer's Disease. Recently, in a sample of healthy older adults, non-invasive (transcutaneous) vagal nerve stimulation during wake boosted memory for face-name associations. Importantly, previous research has demonstrated the predominance of parasympathetic/vagal activity during sleep, particularly during slow wave sleep, which has received critical attention for its causal role in declarative memory consolidation. More so, the PI's work has shown that sleep acts as a regulatory influence over vagal activity and that vagally-mediated activity during sleep can predict post-sleep memory improvement. Yet, few investigations have examined the causal impact of vagal activity during sleep for memory outcomes, which is the central aim of this application.
In this project, the investigators will utilize a within-subject, sham-controlled, counterbalanced design to determine the impact of active (inside of left ear) vs. sham (left earlobe) transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) on: 1) sleep architecture, 2) autonomic activity during sleep, and 3) memory performance post-sleep. To this end, the investigators will utilize a daytime nap protocol, a common methodological tool used to assess the role of sleep for cognition. A nap approach allows for strict circadian-control of cognition and provides for an examination of tVNS's impact on a full cycle of sleep that includes both NREM and REM stages. The researchers will assess declarative memory performance, using a word-pair associates task, before and after the nap period for both the active and sham stimulation conditions. Autonomic physiology, including electrocardiography and impedance cardiography, will be gathered at baseline before the word-pairs task and continuously during sleep to examine vagal tone (i.e. heart rate variability) and sympathetic activation (i.e. pre-ejection period) in response to both the active and sham stimulation conditions. Polysomnography will also be gathered during the nap to examine sleep architecture.
- Being tested
- transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulationDevice
The transcutaneous stimulator engages the cymba conchae in the left inner ear, compared to the left earlobe in the sham stimulation condition.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Sham | Sham comparator | For the sham condition, the electrodes will be attached to an ear location that has not been shown to engage the vagus nerve. The stimulation frequency, intensity and duration will be aligned with the same parameters presented for the active tVNS condition (8Hz frequency, 5.0 mA electrical current and 200 ms pulse width). Receives: Device: transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation |
| Active | Experimental | For the active condition, the electrodes will be attached to the ear at a place previously demonstrated to stimulate the vagus nerve. The stimulation frequency, intensity and duration will be aligned with the same parameters presented for the sham condition (8Hz frequency, 5.0 mA electrical current and 200 ms pulse width). Receives: Device: transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Delayed Memory Percent Accuracy
In this task, subjects will be visually presented with 40 word pairs (e.g. table-hot) on a computer screen. During encoding, each word pair will be presented 3x for 4000ms. At test, participants are presented with one of the word pairs and prompted to type, using the keyboard, the previously matched word.
Performance will be calculated as percent accuracy at each retrieval test (# of items correct / 20).
Measured: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Secondary outcomes (4)
Minutes in Slow Wave Sleep
Sleep staging was performed in 30-second epochs on the recorded polysomnography. Total time spent in each sleep stage was computed across the entire 90-minute nap opportunity. Slow wave sleep stages were aggregated and the total minutes spent in that sleep stage are reported.
Measured: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Delta EEG Power
Absolute band power (µV²) was calculated in the delta frequency band (0.5-3.5 Hz) within Stage N2 and N3 of NREM sleep.
Measured: measured on day 6 and on day 12
High Frequency Heart Rate Variability
Consecutive, artifact-free periods of uninterrupted sleep were chosen during the nap to study RR, HR, and frequency-domain HRV measurements throughout each sleep stage. Each window lasted for three minutes, and there were no stage shifts or movement artifacts during the 2 minutes that preceded the window or the full three minutes of the window. The absolute spectral power (ms2) in the HF-HRV (0.15-0.40 Hz; ms2) frequency bands is reported.
Measured: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Sympathetic Activity
The pre-ejection period was calculated as the time delay in the heart between ventricular electrical activity and the pumping of blood.
Measured: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted16 Jul 2019
- Study start15 Oct 2019
- Primary completion15 Mar 2020
- Study completion15 Mar 2020
Why it stopped: Study stopped due to COVID-19
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Publications (8)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for MemoryStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, San FranciscoThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Crossover
- Model description
- We will employ a within-subjects, crossover, sham-controlled design. Each participant will be exposed to both active and sham conditions over two visits (5-days apart).
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 12 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, San Francisco
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Lauren N Whitehurst, PhD, Principal investigator, University of California, San Francisco
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04021797
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- Memory+Stimulation
- Other IDs
- A127552
- Acronym
- MemS
- Status last verified
- Aug 2026
- First submitted
- 9 Jul 2019
- Last updated
- 15 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- Yes
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Clark KB, Naritoku DK, Smith DC, Browning RA, Jensen RA. Enhanced recognition memory following vagus nerve stimulation in human subjects. Nat Neurosci. 1999 Jan;2(1):94-8. doi: 10.1038/4600.
PubMed 10195186Whitehurst LN, Cellini N, McDevitt EA, Duggan KA, Mednick SC. Autonomic activity during sleep predicts memory consolidation in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jun 28;113(26):7272-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1518202113. Epub 2016 Jun 13.
PubMed 27298366Whitehurst LN, Naji M, Mednick SC. Comparing the cardiac autonomic activity profile of daytime naps and nighttime sleep. Neurobiol Sleep Circadian Rhythms. 2018 Mar 15;5:52-57. doi: 10.1016/j.nbscr.2018.03.001. eCollection 2018 Jun.
PubMed 31236511Kreuzer PM, Landgrebe M, Husser O, Resch M, Schecklmann M, Geisreiter F, Poeppl TB, Prasser SJ, Hajak G, Langguth B. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: retrospective assessment of cardiac safety in a pilot study. Front Psychiatry. 2012 Aug 7;3:70. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00070. eCollection 2012.
PubMed 22891061Diekelmann S, Born J. The memory function of sleep. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010 Feb;11(2):114-26. doi: 10.1038/nrn2762. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
PubMed 20046194Ghacibeh GA, Shenker JI, Shenal B, Uthman BM, Heilman KM. The influence of vagus nerve stimulation on memory. Cogn Behav Neurol. 2006 Sep;19(3):119-22. doi: 10.1097/01.wnn.0000213908.34278.7d.
PubMed 16957488Cellini N, Whitehurst LN, McDevitt EA, Mednick SC. Heart rate variability during daytime naps in healthy adults: Autonomic profile and short-term reliability. Psychophysiology. 2016 Apr;53(4):473-81. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12595. Epub 2015 Dec 16.
PubMed 26669510Clancy JA, Mary DA, Witte KK, Greenwood JP, Deuchars SA, Deuchars J. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in healthy humans reduces sympathetic nerve activity. Brain Stimul. 2014 Nov-Dec;7(6):871-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2014.07.031. Epub 2014 Jul 16.
PubMed 25164906
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 15 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Autonomic Mechanisms of Sleep-dependent Memory Consolidation
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04021797
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- MemS / Memory+Stimulation
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- TerminatedReason stopped: Study stopped due to COVID-19
- Enrolment
- 12 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, San FranciscoUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
- Study start
- 15 Oct 2019 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 15 Mar 2020 (actual)
- Study completion
- 15 Mar 2020 (actual)
- First posted
- 16 Jul 2019 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 15 Sep 2026
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of the proposed project is to identify the impact vagal activity during sleep for memory formation. Nearly 100 years of research contends that sleep plays a critical role in memory consolidation (i.e. the transformation of recent experiences into stable, long-term memories), yet much of this literature has focused on the central nervous system and technologies like electroencephalography (EEG) to unpack neural correlates involved in memory processing. Sleep is also a unique period of autonomic variation and an expansive literature has indicated the critical importance of the autonomic nervous system for memory formation. This project would be amongst the first to examine the autonomic nervous system during sleep as a critical, causal pathway linking sleep to memory processing. The investigators will assess the impact of non-invasive, transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation on sleep and post-sleep memory performance. Autonomic physiology, including electrocardiography and impedance cardiography, will be gathered at baseline, before the memory task and continuously during sleep to examine vagal tone (i.e. heart rate variability) and sympathetic activation (i.e. pre-ejection period) in response to both active and sham stimulation conditions. Polysomnography will also be gathered during the nap to examine sleep architecture. The proposed research will address a critical gap in the literature by: 1) examining the causal role of the ANS for memory functioning in humans, 2) extending the current understanding of sleep's impact on memory processing, and 3) set the groundwork for novel, sleep-based interventions with the goal of improving cognitive health.
Detailed description
Poor sleep is associated with significant cognitive health decline. Recently, sleep disturbances have emerged as notable predictive and exacerbating factors in the onset and development of neurodegenerative disease. Decades of research have implicated that sleep plays a critical role in memory consolidation (i.e. the transformation of recent experiences into stable, long-term memories), the decline of which is critical in the early stages of dementia. This literature affords that sleep, a period of reduced external interference, provides an optimal window for memory consolidation and that electrophysiological features that emerge during sleep are integrally involved in the consolidation process. Most of this literature has focused on the central nervous system and technologies like electroencephalography (EEG) to unpack neural correlates involved in memory processing. However, little impact from this work has translated into practical treatments and recent reviews of the literature question these sleep - memory associations. This lack of clarity suggests that there may be other factors critical to our understanding of sleep-dependent memory consolidation that have not been given due consideration. This proposal suggests that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) during sleep may reflect a critical, though understudied, pathway linking sleep and memory.
An expansive body of research has supported the role of the ANS for memory formation. Rodent studies have found that the storage of new information in memory is either enriched or impaired following learning acquisition by directly modifying peripheral activity through the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is responsible for communicating information about peripheral excitation and arousal via projections to the brainstem, which then projects to memory-related areas including the amygdala complex, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Indeed, in humans, researchers have demonstrated that direct stimulation of the vagus nerve, via surgical implants, can enhance declarative memory in epileptic patients and in patients with Alzheimer's Disease. Recently, in a sample of healthy older adults, non-invasive (transcutaneous) vagal nerve stimulation during wake boosted memory for face-name associations. Importantly, previous research has demonstrated the predominance of parasympathetic/vagal activity during sleep, particularly during slow wave sleep, which has received critical attention for its causal role in declarative memory consolidation. More so, the PI's work has shown that sleep acts as a regulatory influence over vagal activity and that vagally-mediated activity during sleep can predict post-sleep memory improvement. Yet, few investigations have examined the causal impact of vagal activity during sleep for memory outcomes, which is the central aim of this application.
In this project, the investigators will utilize a within-subject, sham-controlled, counterbalanced design to determine the impact of active (inside of left ear) vs. sham (left earlobe) transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) on: 1) sleep architecture, 2) autonomic activity during sleep, and 3) memory performance post-sleep. To this end, the investigators will utilize a daytime nap protocol, a common methodological tool used to assess the role of sleep for cognition. A nap approach allows for strict circadian-control of cognition and provides for an examination of tVNS's impact on a full cycle of sleep that includes both NREM and REM stages. The researchers will assess declarative memory performance, using a word-pair associates task, before and after the nap period for both the active and sham stimulation conditions. Autonomic physiology, including electrocardiography and impedance cardiography, will be gathered at baseline before the word-pairs task and continuously during sleep to examine vagal tone (i.e. heart rate variability) and sympathetic activation (i.e. pre-ejection period) in response to both the active and sham stimulation conditions. Polysomnography will also be gathered during the nap to examine sleep architecture.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Crossover
- Masking
- Double blind (participant, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- We will employ a within-subjects, crossover, sham-controlled design. Each participant will be exposed to both active and sham conditions over two visits (5-days apart).
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Sham | Sham comparator | Device: transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulationFor the sham condition, the electrodes will be attached to an ear location that has not been shown to engage the vagus nerve. The stimulation frequency, intensity and duration will be aligned with the same parameters presented for the active tVNS condition (8Hz frequency, 5.0 mA electrical current and 200 ms pulse width). |
| Active | Experimental | Device: transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulationFor the active condition, the electrodes will be attached to the ear at a place previously demonstrated to stimulate the vagus nerve. The stimulation frequency, intensity and duration will be aligned with the same parameters presented for the sham condition (8Hz frequency, 5.0 mA electrical current and 200 ms pulse width). |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 64 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Healthy, adult volunteers between the ages of 18-64.
- English speaking
- Self-reported napping
Key exclusion criteria (13 listed)
- Aged greater than 64 years
- Lack of adherence to sleep/wake schedule of at least 7 hours a night for 5-days prior to study and during study timeline.
- Body mass index of 35 or above
- Presence of any clinical sleep disorder, including insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- Presence of medical or psychiatric condition that is likely to affect sleep/wake function or cardiovascular functioning, including doctor diagnosed arrhythmia, bradycardia, hypertension, congestive heart failure, major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulationThe transcutaneous stimulator engages the cymba conchae in the left inner ear, compared to the left earlobe in the sham stimulation condition. | Device | Active, Sham |
Primary outcome
Delayed Memory Percent Accuracy
Time frame: measured on day 6 and on day 12
In this task, subjects will be visually presented with 40 word pairs (e.g. table-hot) on a computer screen. During encoding, each word pair will be presented 3x for 4000ms. At test, participants are presented with one of the word pairs and prompted to type, using the keyboard, the previously matched word. Performance will be calculated as percent accuracy at each retrieval test (# of items correct / 20).
4 secondary outcomes
Minutes in Slow Wave Sleep
Time frame: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Delta EEG Power
Time frame: measured on day 6 and on day 12
High Frequency Heart Rate Variability
Time frame: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Sympathetic Activity
Time frame: measured on day 6 and on day 12
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 15 Sep 2026.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Background: PubMed 10195186Clark KB, Naritoku DK, Smith DC, Browning RA, Jensen RA. Enhanced recognition memory following vagus nerve stimulation in human subjects. Nat Neurosci. 1999 Jan;2(1):94-8. doi: 10.1038/4600.
- Background: PubMed 27298366Whitehurst LN, Cellini N, McDevitt EA, Duggan KA, Mednick SC. Autonomic activity during sleep predicts memory consolidation in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jun 28;113(26):7272-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1518202113. Epub 2016 Jun 13.
- Background: PubMed 31236511Whitehurst LN, Naji M, Mednick SC. Comparing the cardiac autonomic activity profile of daytime naps and nighttime sleep. Neurobiol Sleep Circadian Rhythms. 2018 Mar 15;5:52-57. doi: 10.1016/j.nbscr.2018.03.001. eCollection 2018 Jun.
- Background: PubMed 22891061Kreuzer PM, Landgrebe M, Husser O, Resch M, Schecklmann M, Geisreiter F, Poeppl TB, Prasser SJ, Hajak G, Langguth B. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: retrospective assessment of cardiac safety in a pilot study. Front Psychiatry. 2012 Aug 7;3:70. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00070. eCollection 2012.
- Background: PubMed 20046194Diekelmann S, Born J. The memory function of sleep. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010 Feb;11(2):114-26. doi: 10.1038/nrn2762. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
- Background: PubMed 16957488Ghacibeh GA, Shenker JI, Shenal B, Uthman BM, Heilman KM. The influence of vagus nerve stimulation on memory. Cogn Behav Neurol. 2006 Sep;19(3):119-22. doi: 10.1097/01.wnn.0000213908.34278.7d.
- Background: PubMed 26669510Cellini N, Whitehurst LN, McDevitt EA, Mednick SC. Heart rate variability during daytime naps in healthy adults: Autonomic profile and short-term reliability. Psychophysiology. 2016 Apr;53(4):473-81. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12595. Epub 2015 Dec 16.
- Background: PubMed 25164906Clancy JA, Mary DA, Witte KK, Greenwood JP, Deuchars SA, Deuchars J. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in healthy humans reduces sympathetic nerve activity. Brain Stimul. 2014 Nov-Dec;7(6):871-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2014.07.031. Epub 2014 Jul 16.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
Related trials for Memory
Not yet recruitingPhase 3
Women Who Are Victims of Violence: Treatment of PTSD Through Reactivation of Traumatic Memories Using Propranolol
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD
RecruitingPhase 1
Lm-LLO-TT and Gemcitabine in Unresectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Pancreas Cancer, Duct Cell Adenocarcinoma, Pancreatic Cancer
RecruitingObservational study
Studies of Blood Flow to the Brain During Thought
Healthy Volunteer
Not yet recruitingObservational study
Prospective Research on Identification of Dementia in Early Stages (P.R.I.D.E)
Mild Cognitive Impairment, Memory Disorders
Active, not recruitingObservational study
A Study of Attention and Memory Processes in Breast Cancer Survivors
Breast Cancer Survivors
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Lauren N Whitehurst, PhD principal investigator
University of California, San Francisco
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in people with Memory and Sleep, run by University of California, San Francisco at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 13 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 15 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 15 Sep 2026). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Delayed Memory Percent Accuracy (time frame: measured on day 6 and on day 12). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT04021797, which also lists 8 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 15 Sep 2026.