Pilot and Feasibility of MEMI for Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury

Last updated: December 15, 2025
Sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Overall Status: Completed

Phase

N/A

Condition

Traumatic Brain Injury

Memory Loss

Neurologic Disorders

Treatment

MEMI (Memory Ecological Momentary Intervention) Spaced Retrieval

Blocked Retrieval

Clinical Study ID

NCT06375421
GR018280
  • Ages 18-60
  • All Genders
  • Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Summary

This is a pilot and feasibility study for a mobile phone-delivered intervention for memory, called MEMI (memory ecological momentary intervention), that was designed to support adults with chronic traumatic brain injury with their memory. The goal of the study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of MEMI and to assess preliminary efficacy as to whether technology-delivered spaced memory retrieval opportunities improve memory in people with and without a history of chronic traumatic brain injury.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion criteria:

For participants with TBI:

  • Moderate-severe TBI. All participants were determined to have a history ofmoderate-severe TBI upon joining the Vanderbilt Brain Injury Patient Registry. Thisdetermination was made based on the Mayo Classification Scale.

  • All participants are at least 6 months post-injury at the time of study enrollmentand thus exhibit chronic and stable neuropsychological profiles.

  • Age ranging from 18-60, to rule out developmental TBI and limit influence ofage-related cognitive decline.

For all participants:

  • Oral and written language skills sufficient for the study tasks. This will bescreened in the initial video conference contact with the participant, when consentis obtained.

  • Participants must own a smartphone to access the Gorilla online behavioralexperiment platform from their mobile phones.

Exclusion

Exclusion criteria:

For participants with TBI:

• History of medical or neurological disease affecting the brain or language, before or after the qualifying TBI.

For non-injured comparison peers:

• History of neurological or cognitive disability, including TBI

For all participants:

  • Any disability (e.g., vision impairment, hard of hearing, aphasia or otherneurologic condition) that limits ability to read, type, or verbally communicate.

  • Demonstrates inability to receive and respond to a text message after training bystudy personnel.

Study Design

Total Participants: 40
Treatment Group(s): 2
Primary Treatment: MEMI (Memory Ecological Momentary Intervention) Spaced Retrieval
Phase:
Study Start date:
April 03, 2024
Estimated Completion Date:
December 02, 2024

Study Description

Deficits in memory and learning are hallmark to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and limit a person's ability to participate in medical care, benefit from therapy, maintain positive social relationships, and be successful at school or work. There has been limited progress in the last several decades in advancing functional memory outcomes after TBI, and constraints in the timing and context of the existing rehabilitation model may contribute. In memory rehabilitation, each opportunity to retrieve information strengthens that information in the neocortex, and is thus both an assessment and a learning opportunity. Increasing the contextual diversity of learning opportunities (i.e., in the daily lives and contexts of patients) may improve the rehabilitation potential of patients with TBI.

This study is a pilot and feasibility trial of MEMI as a technology-delivered intervention that extends memory assessment and treatment over time and space. We use a counterbalanced within-participant crossover design to examine MEMI's feasibility and acceptability in daily life and collect preliminary efficacy data as to how using MEMI in daily life affects long-term recall for participants with and without TBI. The study includes a group of adults with a chronic history of moderate-severe TBI and a demographically matched control group. Each participant uses MEMI for two weeks, each in a different condition:

  • Blocked (Active Comparator) Condition: During one of the weeks, participants will complete their initial learning session on the target words, then immediately receive all of the exposures to each of the items in a single block. They do not complete any more retrieval sessions until one week later, when they complete a 15-minute test for their memory of all of the trained items.

  • Spaced (MEMI Intervention) Condition: During the other week, participants complete their initial learning session, and the subsequent retrieval sessions are spaced out over the course of the week (two short retrieval sessions each day) using MEMI. Then, they complete a 15-minute test for their memory of all of the trained items at the end of the week.

This study addresses three aims:

Aim 1: To examine the real-world feasibility and acceptability of MEMI via user engagement and survey data.

Aim 2: To explore preliminary efficacy of spaced retrieval via MEMI to improve long-term word recall in individuals with and without chronic TBI.

Aim 3: To explore how a) spatial context and b) temporal context of exposures affect long- term word recall in people with and without chronic TBI.

Connect with a study center

  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center

    Nashville 4644585, Tennessee 4662168 37203
    United States

    Site Not Available

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