Context Memory, Metamemory and Delusions in Alzheimer's disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Context Memory and Metamemory in the generation of delusions in Alzheimer's disease
IRAS ID
240572
Contact name
Robert Howard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2018/02/45, UCL Data Protection Registration Number
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study addresses the broader research question: how do delusions develop in Alzheimer’s disease (AD)? This is relevant to patients with AD and the wider public, as a high proportion of people with AD experience delusions, which cause significant distress to patients and carers. We currently do not have a clear understanding of how delusions develop.
Specifically, we plan to study how errors in memory for context (when or where something was seen before) may lead to delusional beliefs. We also plan to explore how delusional beliefs may be sustained by errors in ‘metamemory’. Metamemory is the ability to self-evaluate our thinking, for example, detecting when we have made a memory error. Understanding how delusions develop may identify new targets for medication development to treat them. Understanding the role of metamemory could provide a basis for non-medication interventions, for example new types of cognitive training.
Older adults (over the age of 55) with early stage AD with and without delusions will be eligible to participate. They must be able to have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
This study will have two stages. In the first (pilot) stage, participants will complete computer-based tasks to assess context memory and metamemory function. We will modify the difficulty of these tasks based on pilot participant performance, and participant feedback. We will use this initial data to confirm which tasks are most closely associated with delusions in AD, to decide which task to use during functional MRI (fMRI)scanning.
In the second stage participants will complete tasks of context memory or metamemory during an fMRI scan, to examine differences in the neural mechanisms of context memory and metamemory in those with and without delusions in AD, and further understanding of the mechanism underpinning delusion formation more generally.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/0709
Date of REC Opinion
4 May 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion