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NCT06899022Recruiting

Attention and Eye Movement in Parkinson's Disease

Investigating the Role of Attention in Perceptual and Cognitive Consequences of Parkinson's Disease

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 5 May 2026

Brief summary (registry, in English)

The goal of this observational and interventional study is to understand how therapeutic deep brain stimulation (DBS) affects attention, perception and cognition in participants with Parkinson's disease (PD) and non-PD movement disorders, including essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT). The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does impaired control of attention and eye movement in PD alter how social cues are perceived and interpreted? * Does therapeutic DBS improve or worsen attentional and perceptual deficits for social cues in PD, ET and DT? * Can DBS be optimized to restore normal attentional control in PD while remaining an effective therapy for other aspects of the disorder. * What do parts of the brain targeted by DBS contribute to the control of attention? Using an eye tracking camera, investigators will study how participants with PD, ET and DT look at and perceive facial expressions of emotion before and after starting DBS therapy, in comparison to a group of healthy participants without ET, PD, DT or DBS. Participants with PD, ET and DT will see and rate morphed facial expressions on a computer screen in three conditions: * Before starting DBS therapy (over approximately 1 hour). * In the operating room, during the standard procedure to implant DBS electrodes, while the participant is awake (for no more than 15 minutes). * After starting DBS therapy, with brief experimental changes of DBS stimulation level and frequency (over approximately 1 hour).

Status (registry)
Recruiting
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
138 (estimated)
First submitted
14 Mar 2025
Start date
22 Sept 2025
Primary completion date
Feb 2028
Lead sponsor
University of Nebraska
NCT number
NCT06899022

What you commit to

  • Study type: Interventional
  • Planned participants: 138
  • From 22 Sept 2025 to the primary completion date, Feb 2028
  • 1 site in 1 country
  • Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them

Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.

Who cannot take part

Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.

Other illness

  • Healthy Comparison Participants (Aim 1):
    • o History of neurodegenerative disorder
  • Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 2):
    • Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
    • Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
    • Not undergoing awake DBS implantation
    • Uncorrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
  • Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 3):
    • Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
    • Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
    • Failure of DBS to achieve a therapeutic effect on motor symptoms

Other

  • All Participants (Aim 1):
    • Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
    • Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
  • DBS Participants (Aim 1):
    • o Insufficient therapeutic control of motor symptoms to engage in tasks requiring button press or use of a mouse to control a slider

Who the study is looking for

  • All Participants (Aim 1):
    • Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
    • Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
    • Age 19 - 90 years
  • DBS Participants (Aim 1):
    • Diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) or dystonia (DT).
    • Scheduled for new implantation of a therapeutic DBS device targeted to subthalamic nucleus (STN), ventral intermediate nucleus of thalamus (VIM) or internal globus pallidus (GPi)
  • Comparison Participants (Aim 1):
    • o Selection by age matching to participants in PD group
  • Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 2):
    • Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
    • Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
    • Age 19 - 90 years
    • Scheduled for awake DBS implantation with clinical micro-electrode recordings (MER)
    • Willing and able to engage in tasks during an awake surgical procedure
  • Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 3):
    • Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
    • Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
    • Age 19 - 90 years
    • Willing to undergo acute manipulations of DBS
    • Able to tolerate acute changes of DBS

Age in the registry: 19 years to 90 years · Sex: All · Accepts healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov

Sites (1)

Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.

SiteCityCountrySite status
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status		OmahaUnited StatesRecruiting

This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.