The Role of the Locus Coeruleus in Age-related Distractibility

A growing body of research has highlighted the importance of frontal regions, at both the functional and structural levels, in age-related declines in attentional and cognitive processing. However, the underlying neurobiological pathophysiological changes in the brain that contribute to these declines are still largely unclear. The objective of this proposal is to investigate neural mechanisms of age-related attentional distractibility, focusing on the neural circuit initiated from the locus coeruleus (LC). In the current proposal, the investigators will test the hypothesis that the neural disconnectivity of LC with the salience network (SN) drives failures of ignoring distractors in older adults. The investigators will examine how LC-SN connectivity is associated with selective attention performance, and how improved LC-SN connectivity through a cognitive training program may lead to improved attentional performance.

NCT Number	NCT05574634
Lead Sponsor	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Conditions	Aging, Alzheimer Disease
Enrollment	200 participants
Start Date	2023-04-11
Primary Completion	2027-06-30 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-06-30 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-08-19