Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) AmnesticNCT07718945
Mental Strategy Training in Mild Cognitive Impairment
A study testing Mental Strategy Training in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Amnestic and Mild Cognitive Impairment, run by Jessica Peter at 1 site in Switzerland.
Trial summary
This study aims to reduce hippocampal activity in people at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and aims to examine whether this improves their episodic memory performance. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 60 to 80 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Amnestic, Mild Cognitive Impairment
- What is being tested?
- Mental Strategy Training
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 55 participants
- Where
- 1 siteSwitzerland
- Study dates
- 13 Feb 2024to 22 Oct 2025
- 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 60 to 80 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment
- between 60 - 80 years of age
- fluent in German
- normal or corrected-to-normal vision
- normal or corrected-to-normal hearing
Who cannot join
- any history of seizures
- current psychotropic medication
- other severe neurological or psychiatric disease
- current or lifetime drug or alcohol abuse
- severe brain damage other than atrophy in the hippocampus or the medial temporal lobe
- claustrophobia
- magnetisable implants (e.g., cardiac pacemakers, brain stimulator)
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
Switzerland1 site
Universitäre Psychiatrische Dienste Bern
Bern, Canton of Bern, 3000
About this study
Official title: Reducing Hippocampal Hyperactivity in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment
This study aims to reduce hippocampal activity in people at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and aims to examine whether this improves their episodic memory performance. We apply mental strategy trainings with strategies extracted from our previous study that applied real-time fMRI neurofeedback to reduce hippocampal activity. Participants take part in mental strategy trainings 2, 4, or 6 times. At baseline and after each 2 trainings, we assess their hippocampal activity as well as their episodic memory performance using an fMRI pattern separation task. In addition, we will gather blood samples to obtain Apolipoprotein E gene status (ApoE, only once) as well as plasma pTau (pTau217; 4 time-points). ApoE will be included as a covariate in our statistical models. For pTau217, we will calculate the change between each assessment to examine whether the mental strategy training will change the accumulation of pTau217.
- Being tested
- Mental Strategy Training
- Keywords
- hippocampal hyperactivity, mental strategy, episodic memory
- Medical subject headings
- Cognitive Dysfunction
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Mental Strategy TrainingOther
Trainings will be done in groups of up to five people. During training, participants will be presented with an implicit pattern separation task (i.e., for which no response is necessary). At the same time, they will apply mental strategies that were beneficial for hippocampal activity reduction in our previous study. We will use four different mental strategies ("Imagination", "Bodily Perception", "Active Thinking" and "Visual Perception") during each of the training sessions. During imagination participants will need to vividly imagine a scene that exerts a calming effect on them. During "bodily perception" participants will be instruced to focus on their feet or hands while slowly contracting and relaxing them. During active thinking they will perform cognitive tasks such as reciting the alphabet or counting. During visual perception they will focus on a specific part of the presented image. The order of the mental strategies is similar for all participants and all trainings.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Group A: 15 participants will be assigned to group A | Experimental | Group A will attend 6 mental strategy trainings and will start the training after the first assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). Receives: Other: Mental Strategy Training |
| Group B: 15 participants will be assigned to group B | Experimental | Group B will attend 4 mental strategy trainings and will start with the training after the first assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). Receives: Other: Mental Strategy Training |
| Group C: 15 participants will be assigned to group C | Experimental | Group C will attend 2 mental strategy trainings and will start with the training after the first assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). Receives: Other: Mental Strategy Training |
| Group D: 10 participants will be assigned to group D | Active comparator | Group D will attend 2 mental strategy trainings and will start with the training after the third assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). Receives: Other: Mental Strategy Training |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Hippocampal activity during the pattern separation task
In each 4 fMRI sessions, we apply a pattern separation task (i.e., the mnemonic similarity test, MST). Participants need to answer to specific trial types. These are stimuli of everyday objects and the participants have to identify if a stimulus is "new" (they have not seen it before), "old" (exactly the same stimulus has been presented already) or "similar" (a stimulus has been shown before but was different in shape or colour). During each task, we will evaluate their hippocampal activity using similar "lure" trials that rely on pattern separation.
Measured: We assess hippocampal activity 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Secondary outcomes (3)
Pattern completion errors
In each 4 fMRI sessions, we apply a pattern separation task (i.e., the mnemonic similarity test, MST). Participants need to answer to specific trial types. These are stimuli of everyday objects and the participants have to identify if a stimulus is "new" (they have not seen it before), "old" (exactly the same stimulus has been presented already) or "similar" (a stimulus has been shown before but was different in shape or colour). Pattern completion errors refer to the mis-identification of similar objects as being old.
Measured: We will assess pattern completion errors 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Pattern Separation success
Correct pattern separation occurs when a participant correctly identifies a similar objects as "similar" in the pattern separation task. Compared to the LDI, here we only focus only on correct responses without considering potential response biases.
Measured: We will asssess pattern separation success 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Lure Discrimination Index
In each 4 fMRI sessions, participants will perform a pattern separation task (i.e., mnemonic similarity test, MST). A widely used metric to report performance in this task is the lure discrimination index (LDI) which is used to determine pattern separation abilities while accounting for response biases
Measured: We will evaluate the LDI 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted22 Jul 2026
- Study start13 Feb 2024
- Primary completion22 Oct 2025
- Study completion22 Oct 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) AmnesticStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- 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
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- We will assign participants randomly to 4 groups. All groups perform a pattern separation task four times in an MRI scanner to assess their hippocampal activity and their episodic memory performance. Between these scanning sessions the groups perform mental strategy trainings. The difference between the groups is the amount of trainings they complete. Group A trains 6 times, group B trains 4 times and group C trains 2 times. Group D trains 2 times too but starts after the third MRI visit (i.e., wait-list control group).
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 55 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Jessica Peter
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor-investigator, Jessica Peter, University of Bern
- Investigators
- Jessica Peter, Professor, Principal investigator, University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07718945
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 50089
- Status last verified
- Jul 2026
- First submitted
- 14 Jul 2026
- Last updated
- 22 Jul 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 22 Jul 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Reducing Hippocampal Hyperactivity in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07718945
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 50089
- Keywords
- hippocampal hyperactivity, mental strategy, episodic memory
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 55 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Jessica PeterUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 13 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 22 Oct 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 22 Oct 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 22 Jul 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study aims to reduce hippocampal activity in people at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and aims to examine whether this improves their episodic memory performance. We apply mental strategy trainings with strategies extracted from our previous study that applied real-time fMRI neurofeedback to reduce hippocampal activity. Participants take part in mental strategy trainings 2, 4, or 6 times. At baseline and after each 2 trainings, we assess their hippocampal activity as well as their episodic memory performance using an fMRI pattern separation task. In addition, we will gather blood samples to obtain Apolipoprotein E gene status (ApoE, only once) as well as plasma pTau (pTau217; 4 time-points). ApoE will be included as a covariate in our statistical models. For pTau217, we will calculate the change between each assessment to examine whether the mental strategy training will change the accumulation of pTau217.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 4
- Model description
- We will assign participants randomly to 4 groups. All groups perform a pattern separation task four times in an MRI scanner to assess their hippocampal activity and their episodic memory performance. Between these scanning sessions the groups perform mental strategy trainings. The difference between the groups is the amount of trainings they complete. Group A trains 6 times, group B trains 4 times and group C trains 2 times. Group D trains 2 times too but starts after the third MRI visit (i.e., wait-list control group).
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Group A: 15 participants will be assigned to group A | Experimental | Other: Mental Strategy TrainingGroup A will attend 6 mental strategy trainings and will start the training after the first assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). |
| Group B: 15 participants will be assigned to group B | Experimental | Other: Mental Strategy TrainingGroup B will attend 4 mental strategy trainings and will start with the training after the first assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). |
| Group C: 15 participants will be assigned to group C | Experimental | Other: Mental Strategy TrainingGroup C will attend 2 mental strategy trainings and will start with the training after the first assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). |
| Group D: 10 participants will be assigned to group D | Active comparator | Other: Mental Strategy TrainingGroup D will attend 2 mental strategy trainings and will start with the training after the third assessment. The training content is identical for all groups. The groups differ only in the number of training sessions and in the timing of the intervention onset (i.e., after the first assessment or after three assessment time points). |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 60 to 80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment
- between 60 - 80 years of age
- fluent in German
- normal or corrected-to-normal vision
- normal or corrected-to-normal hearing
Key exclusion criteria (7 listed)
- any history of seizures
- current psychotropic medication
- other severe neurological or psychiatric disease
- current or lifetime drug or alcohol abuse
- severe brain damage other than atrophy in the hippocampus or the medial temporal lobe
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Strategy TrainingTrainings will be done in groups of up to five people. During training, participants will be presented with an implicit pattern separation task (i.e., for which no response is necessary). At the same time, they will apply mental strategies that were beneficial for hippocampal activity reduction in our previous study. We will use four different mental strategies ("Imagination", "Bodily Perception", "Active Thinking" and "Visual Perception") during each of the training sessions. During imagination participants will need to vividly imagine a scene that exerts a calming effect on them. During "bodily perception" participants will be instruced to focus on their feet or hands while slowly contracting and relaxing them. During active thinking they will perform cognitive tasks such as reciting the alphabet or counting. During visual perception they will focus on a specific part of the presented image. The order of the mental strategies is similar for all participants and all trainings. | Other | Group A: 15 participants will be assigned to group A, Group B: 15 participants will be assigned to group B, Group C: 15 participants will be assigned to group C, Group D: 10 participants will be assigned to group D |
Primary outcome
Hippocampal activity during the pattern separation task
Time frame: We assess hippocampal activity 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
In each 4 fMRI sessions, we apply a pattern separation task (i.e., the mnemonic similarity test, MST). Participants need to answer to specific trial types. These are stimuli of everyday objects and the participants have to identify if a stimulus is "new" (they have not seen it before), "old" (exactly the same stimulus has been presented already) or "similar" (a stimulus has been shown before but was different in shape or colour). During each task, we will evaluate their hippocampal activity using similar "lure" trials that rely on pattern separation.
3 secondary outcomes
Pattern completion errors
Time frame: We will assess pattern completion errors 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Pattern Separation success
Time frame: We will asssess pattern separation success 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Lure Discrimination Index
Time frame: We will evaluate the LDI 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 22 Jul 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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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.
Jessica Peter, Professor principal investigator
University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Mental Strategy Training in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Amnestic and Mild Cognitive Impairment, run by Jessica Peter at 1 site in Switzerland.
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 5 inclusion and 7 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 22 Jul 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 Switzerland. 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?
Hippocampal activity during the pattern separation task (time frame: We assess hippocampal activity 4 times from baseline until the last assessment (approximately 10 weeks later).). 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 22 Jul 2026; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 30 Oct 2026.