RecruitingInterventional

Vision Improvement Through Behavioral Rehabilitation And Neuroplasticity Training

NCT ID: NCT07105358Sponsor: Georgetown UniversityLast updated: 2025-08-05

Summary

The VIBRANT (Vision Improvement through Behavioral Rehabilitation And Neuroplasticity Training) study is a prospective, double-blind, crossover design (within-subject) in participants with homonymous hemianopia-a type of visual field loss resulting from damage to the post-chiasmatic visual pathways. It aims to investigate whether transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) combined with perceptual learning-based training has potential for improving visual impairments.

Arms & interventions

Devicetranscranial random noise stimulation (tRNS)
Stimulation location: bilateral human middle temporal complex (hMT+). Stimulation parameters: 1 mA current intensity, with a frequency range of 101-640 Hz.
DeviceSham Stimulation
Stimulation location: bilateral human middle temporal complex (hMT+). Stimulation parameters: Ramp up stimulation at 1mA with a frequency range of 101-640Hz for the first 30 seconds followed by no current for the remainder of the duration.
BehavioralPerceptual learning-based training
A motion discrimination task, judging the global direction of moving dot stimuli with two different coherence levels.

Outcome measures

Primary

Change in Motion Discrimination Performance
Change in accuracy on a computerized motion direction discrimination task programmed in the lab. The task assesses participants' ability to discriminate the direction of the peripherally presented moving dots at two locations (one within the blind field and the other at a mirror-symmetric location in the intact visual field). Accuracy is defined as the proportion of correct responses out of the total number of trials completed.
Time frame: Study visit 1 to 2 (within a week), and study visit 3 to 4 (within a week)

Secondary

Visual Field Change
Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) to post-intervention follow-up (approximately 3 months, up to 6 months)
Visual Perception Change
Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) to post-intervention follow-up (approximately 3 months, up to 6 months)
Quality of Life Change
Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) to post-intervention follow-up (approximately 3 months, up to 6 months)

Eligibility criteria

Sex: AllAge: 18 Years and olderHealthy volunteers: No

A. Stroke, brain tumor, or traumatic brain injury patients Inclusion Criteria: 1. At least 18 years of age. 2. Capable of providing informed consent and complying with study procedures. 3. Unilateral or bilateral focal brain damage causing loss of vision. 4. At least three months post-stroke or traumatic brain injury, or a stable brain tumor within the past year. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Severe CNS diseases or disorders unrelated to the focal lesion, which could interfere with study results. 2. Severe mental health challenges that could interfere with study results, or current or recent (within the past 6 months) drug or alcohol abuse or addiction as defined by DSM-5. 3. Vision loss resulting from ocular disease or disorder. B. Healthy volunteers (age-matched controls): Inclusion Criteria: 1. At least 18 years of age. 2. Capable of providing informed consent and complying with study procedures. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Any CNS diseases or psychiatric disorders (e.g., epilepsy, schizophrenia) that would interfere with study results. 2. Previous head injury. 3. Present or past (within past 6 months) drug or alcohol abuse or addiction based on DSM-5.

Study locations (1)

Georgetown University Medical Center

Washington D.C., District of Columbia, 20057

Recruiting

Visual Perception and Plasticity Lab · Contact

202-784-9949 vpplab@georgetown.edu

Tina Liu, PhD · Principal Investigator