Summary

• Study director: Joel Kramer, PsyD [1]
• Sponsor: National Institute of Neurodegenerative Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Recruiting?: Yes
• Official study title: Domain Specific Tasks of Executive Function
• Conditions studied: Full range of early development, aging and neurodegenerative diseases
• Purpose: The purpose of this research study is to more reliably and validly measure executive function across a variety of diagnoses, ages, education levels and races.

Eligibility

• Inclusion criteria: Patients with executive function deficits and healthy age matched normal controls:
  
  • Normal Controls and/or patients with known or suspected neurological or psychiatric condition such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) [2], frontotemporal dementia (FTD) [3], mild cognitive impairment (MCI) [4], progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) [5], Huntington's disease (HD) [6], depression, multiple sclerosis (MS) [7], adult epilepsy [8], attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), neurological focal lesions
  • Participants must be at between 5-90 years old
  • Must speak fluent English and/or Spanish
  • Subjects that are incapacitated to consent for themselves must have an informant to participate in this study
• Exclusion criteria: None

What is involved?

• Testing: Participants will be administered several computer-based, paper-and-pencil and oral neuropsychological tests. The participant will be asked to make choices about the material presented to them, in a timed manner, based on the instructions for each test. They will indicate their responses either by pressing a button, writing down answers with pencil or pen or giving an oral answer. These tests measure different components of executive function. If the participant has an informant, s/he may be asked to participate in objective interviews or questionnaires about the participant.
• Frequency of visits: Participation in the study will take a total of between 30-180 minutes, either in one visit or over several visits depending upon your availability.
• Materials needed prior to evaluation: None
• Costs: No costs will be charged for any of the study procedures.

Contact information

• Coordinators:
  
  • Ashley Berhel [9], 415-476-8101
  • Mary Widmeyer [10], 415-476-1883