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Attentional Mechanisms in SCD

Attentional Mechanisms of Cognitive Compensation in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Who can join

Ages 55 and older · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

1. age ≥ 55
2. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) \> 25 AND Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) rating \< 3
3. Non-smokers

Exclusion Criteria:

1. medical contraindications to the drug challenge
2. primary neurological disorder (such as stroke, epilepsy, etc.)

About the study

This study will use an anticholinergic pharmacological probe to examine attention network function in SCD using EEG. The overall hypothesis is that in older adults with SCD, normal cognitive performance is maintained by compensatory attention network activity, supported by enhanced cholinergic function. The investigators anticipate that SCD will be associated with greater compensatory attention network activity and that disrupting this compensatory process through anticholinergic challenge will result in a greater negative effect on attentional performance (Attention Network Test, ANT) and attention network functioning (EEG) in older adults with greater subjective cognitive concern.

What is being tested

• Mecamylamine Challenge (drug)
• Placebo Comparator Challenge (other)

Sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center · Participants: 80 · Started: Jun 6, 2025

Contact the study team

• Kimberly Albert, PhD · Phone: 6159364559

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06002477

Locations in the U.S.

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 29, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.