An interventional study of tVNS stimulation and Sham stimulation in Older Adults, sponsored by Georgia Institute of Technology. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 65 Years to 84 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-22.
Sponsored by Georgia Institute of Technology · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
The goal of this study is to learn about the effect of applying transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) during motor training on motor learning in older adults. The main question it aims to answer is whether applying tVNS after successful motor trials (post-success tVNS) will facilitate the rate of motor learning. Participants will be randomly assigned to tVNS or sham group and receive tVNS or sham, respectively, at the outer ear during finger control training sessions. Finger control performance will be tested before and after the training sessions without outer ear stimulation.
The participants will be randomly assigned to a tVNS or control group. They will visit the lab for four sessions. The main motor task is to trace target trajectories with finger forces. As the pre- and post-tests, all participants will be tested on a force tracing motor task with the left hand. There will be no electrical stimulation during the tests. During the training sessions, all participants will wear surface electrodes on the outer ear. The attachment sites are the tragus or cymba concha (depending on the shape and size of the ear) for the tVNS group and the earlobe for the sham group. The participants will perform finger training to trace target trajectories with their left finger forces. Participants in the tVNS and sham group will receive tVNS and sham stimulation, respectively, after successful finger trials.
Georgia Institute of Technology is the lead sponsor of 24 studies on the registry; 5 are open to participants now.
Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 7 (78%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Brief electrical current will be applied to the vagus nerve area (the tragus or cymba concha, depending on the shape and size of the ear) immediately after successful trials during finger control training.
Procedure: tVNS stimulation
Brief electrical current will be applied to the non-vagus nerve area (the earlobe) immediately after successful trials during finger control training.
Procedure: Sham stimulation
Electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve area.
Electrical stimulation to the non-vagus nerve area.
Rate of error reduction
The slope of the reduction in the root mean square error of finger force
Time frame: 2 weeks
Plan to share: Undecided
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Georgia Institute of Technology