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Cognitive TrainingNCT05358145

The Training Effects of Tinkering Activities on Cognitive Flexibility in Older Adults From Communities

A study testing Tinkering Activities and Board Games Activities in people with Cognitive Training, run by National Taiwan University Hospital at 2 sites in Taiwan.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Aging has been a serious global-wise concern in public health. In particular, elders face declination of cognitive functions that threaten their quality of life. A good approach to slow down cognitive declination during aging processes is therefore in urgent need. According to the Successful Aging model (Rowe, J.W. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 65 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Cognitive Training
What is being tested?
Tinkering Activities and Board Games Activities
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
118 participants
Where
2 sitesTaiwan
Study dates
22 Feb 2021to 29 Jul 2024
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

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 65 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Literate in Mandarin and Taiwanese
  • Willing to participate entirely in this research.
  • Age >65

Who cannot join

  • Participated in cognitive-related training in the past two months.
  • Severe impairment of visual or auditory abilities.
  • Diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or Dementia
  • Severe psychological or behavioral disorder that would seriously interfere with the progress of activity
  • History of degenerative cognitive disorder (e.g., acute stroke, traumatic brain injury, unconscious), organic mental disorders, brain dysfunction, or other neurology-related diagnoses.

Trial locations and contacts

2 sites in 1 country.

Taiwan2 sites
  • College of Medicine, National Taiwan University

    Taipei, 10051

  • National Taiwan Science Education Center

    Taipei, 11165

Other trials in Taiwan

About this study

Aging has been a serious global-wise concern in public health. In particular, elders face declination of cognitive functions that threaten their quality of life. A good approach to slow down cognitive declination during aging processes is therefore in urgent need. According to the Successful Aging model (Rowe, J.W. and Kahn, R.L) participation in meaningful occupational activity may maintains high cognitive and body function. This sub-project is a part of the larger integrated project that will address the need for cognitive promotion by conducting cognitive training interventions on community older adults, utilizing the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) as the public recruiting site as well as intervention site. In this sub-project, a 12-week intervention will be carried out with three protocols: 1) Tinkering activities, 2)Controlled Tinkering Activities, and 3) Board Game intervention. Board games serve as a commonly seen cognitive training, with a growing series of literature continuing to support board games being the medium of cognitive promotion. Tinkering activities are primarily used in fields of education that comprise science, art, and technology. Through a series of themes objectives, participants can involve interestingly, creatively, and flexibly in the activity when the participants fulfill the goal with the materials retrievable at the site. The anticipation is that the elders participating in Tinkering activities may increase their cognitive flexibility as the participants involve in the elements hidden within the core of the training, such as problem exploration, active thinking and inference, trial and error, and problem-solving. The investigators target to obtain pre-and post-intervention behavioral and neurophysiological data, including electroencephalogram data in 40 experimental participants, 40 active control participants, and 40 passive control participants over a period of 3 years.

Being tested
Tinkering Activities, Control Tinkering Activities, Board Games Activities
Keywords
Task-Switching, Electroencephalogram, Cognitive Flexibility, Aging, Brain Imaging

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Tinkering ActivitiesBehavioural

    Tinkering activities are activities that comprise elements of science, art, and technology. Through a series of themes objectives, participants can involve interestingly, creatively, and flexibly in the activity when they fulfill the goal with the materials retrievable at the site. Participants will be trained as they involve in the elements hidden within the core of the training, such as problem exploration, active thinking and inference, trial and error, and problem-solving.

  • Control Tinkering ActivitiesBehavioural

    Controlled Tinkering Activities utilize the themes of Tinkering activities but eliminate the core of Tinkering training, hence implementing a new set of activities that emphasize participants strictly follow procedures to complete the similar objective of Tinkering activities. Each participant will end up with a similar piece of work as Tinkering Activities participants would without problem exploration, active thinking and inference, trial and error, and problem-solving.

  • Board Games ActivitiesBehavioural

    Board games are often constructed with concepts of different cognitive components, such as attention, working memory, planning, calculation; therefore serve as a commonly seen cognitive training, while more and more literature continues to support tabletop games being the medium of cognitive promotion.

Study groups in NCT05358145
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
TinkeringExperimentalNot described
Receives: Behavioral: Tinkering Activities
Control TinkeringActive comparatorNot described
Receives: Behavioral: Control Tinkering Activities
Board GamesActive comparatorNot described
Receives: Behavioral: Board Games Activities

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Changes of Event-related potential component (ERP): P2, N2, P3

    The EEG data is recorded while the participants are carrying out the task-switching paradigm. The data will then be analyzed in terms of Event-Related Potential(ERP), where the components' changes will be observed in terms of amplitude and latency.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  2. Changes of reaction time and accuracy of task-switching paradigm

    The task-switching paradigm will ask the participants to judge whether the number(stimulus) presented is 1) even or odd, OR, 2) more than or less than 5. The switching between these rules will induce a switch cost effect (the time when the rule changes, the reaction time will increase to compensate the cognitive process needed to make the change) if the reaction time decreases after intervention, it implies an improvement.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  3. Changes of Accuracy in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

    Score ranged 0-128, the higher the score, the better the executive function

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  4. Changes of Number of Categories Completed in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

    The number of sequences of 10 consecutive correct matches (maximum = 6), higher the score, the better the executive function

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  5. Changes of Trials to Complete First Category in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

    Total number of trials to complete first category, the less the score, the better the executive function

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  6. Changes of Percent Perseverative Errors in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

    The concentration of perseverative errors in relation to overall test performance (the number of trials given) multiplied by 100. The less the score, the better the executive function.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  7. Changes of Failure to Maintain Set in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

    When a participant makes five or more consecutive correct matches but then makes an error before successfully completing the category, the less the score, the better the executive function.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

Secondary outcomes (25)
  1. Changes of University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale

    score ranged 20-80, the higher the greater sense of loneliness in the participants.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  2. Changes of Geriatric Depression Scale

    Score ranged 0-15, the higher the score, the severe the depressive symptoms.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  3. Changes of Flow Scale

    Score ranged 1-5, higher the score, the better the flow experience the participant had.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  4. Changes of Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS)

    It is a 12-item 6-point scale in Likert format, the higher the score, the higher the participants' cognitive flexibility.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  5. Changes of Guilford's Alternative Uses Test (GAU)

    Scoring in terms of originality, fluency, elaboration and flexibility. The higher the score the better the creativity and divergent thinking.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  6. Changes of Color Trails Test (CTT)

    Measures in time, error, cues, near miss, and color error. The less time, error, cues, near miss and color error the participants take, the better the executive function, alternate and sustain attention.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  7. Changes of University of California, San Diego Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA-BRIEF)

    Score range 0-100, the higher the score, the better the function of activities of daily living.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  8. Changes of Remote Associates Test

    Score range 0-30. The higher the score, the better the ability of remote associate creativity.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  9. Changes of Neural functional activity during inferential processing

    Participants will undergo a Rule Inference functional magnetic resonance imaging task to infer underlying rules that map color configurations of circles in a triangular arrangement to a target color category within as few tries as possible under active or passive conditions. The goal for participants will be to infer the cue-category association rules using as few cues as possible. The primary outcome measure here is the degree of neural response estimate change in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal pre- and post-intervention.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  10. Changes of overall accuracy during inferential processing

    Changes from pre- to post-intervention in participant overall accuracy in identifying latent rules in the Rule Inference functional magnetic resonance imaging task.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  11. Changes of learning rate during inferential processing

    Changes from pre- to post-intervention in participant number of trials to criterion in the Rule Inference functional magnetic resonance imaging task.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  12. Changes of strategic performance during inferential processing

    Changes from pre- to post-intervention in participant coefficients of expression of modeled response strategies in the Rule Inference functional magnetic resonance imaging task will be assessed.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  13. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Logical Memory I & II

    Score range 0 - 75. Higher score indicates better verbal episodic memory.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  14. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Face Memory

    Score range 0 - 48. Higher score indicates better visual face memory.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  15. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Verbal Paired Memory

    Score range 0 - 32. Higher score indicates better verbal memory and learning.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  16. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Family Pictures I & II

    Score range 0 - 64. Higher score indicates better visual memory and learning.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  17. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Word Lists I & II

    Score range 0 - 36. Higher score indicates better verbal memory and learning. For II, recall score range is 0 to 8; recognition score range is 0 to 24.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  18. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Visual Reproduction I & II

    Score range 0 - 104. Higher score indicates better visual memory. For II, recall score range is 0-104; recognition score range is 0-48.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  19. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Spatial Span

    Score range 0 - 32. Higher score indicates better spatial memory.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  20. Change in Wechsler Memory Scale III Digit Span

    Score range 0 - 32. Higher score indicates better auditory memory.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  21. Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Vocabulary

    Score range 0 - 66. Higher score indicates better vocabulary.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  22. Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Digit Symbol

    Score range 0 - 133. Higher score indicates better processing speed.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  23. Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Block Design

    Score range 0 - 68. Higher score indicates better visual processing.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  24. Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Arithmetic

    Score range 0 - 22. Higher score indicates better mathematical computation ability.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

  25. Change in Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III Matrix Reasoning

    Score range 0 - 26. Higher score indicates better reasoning.

    Measured: Week 0, Week 12

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted3 May 2022
  2. Study start22 Feb 2021
  3. Primary completion29 Jul 2024
  4. Study completion29 Jul 2024

Resources

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
Parallel groups
Masking
Triple blind
Who is masked
Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
118 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05358145
Sponsor's protocol ID
202010050RINB
Status last verified
Dec 2024
First submitted
6 Apr 2022
Last updated
21 Sep 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: Data that can be shared include anonymized neuropsychological assessment scores, cognitive behavioral performance scores, brain imaging data that have been published.

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Tinkering Activities and Board Games Activities in people with Cognitive Training, run by National Taiwan University Hospital at 2 sites in Taiwan.

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 5 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: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 21 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 2 sites in Taiwan. 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. 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?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

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?

Changes of Event-related potential component (ERP): P2, N2, P3 (time frame: Week 0, Week 12). The study lists 7 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
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 21 Sep 2026.

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