Participants wanted for the “Digital Reaction Test in Epilepsy”!
We are conducting a study with persons with epilepsy called Digital Reaction Test in Epilepsy, DigRTEpi. In this study, brain activity is recorded on the surface of the head while playing a video game on a laptop. In a second session, the monitor does not show a video game, but a person asks questions such as "What is the name of this place?", "What is your name?", asks the name of objects such as "a pen", and asks simple tasks such as "touch your nose".
The study is noninvasive, meaning no physical procedures such as incisions or blood sampling are performed, and the examination is not painful or dangerous. Brain activity is derived using a hood and electrodes. A gel is placed under the electrodes for better contact. The gel can be washed out of the hair afterwards.
Why participate in this study?
Participants will learn about themselves, such as whether they have interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), and if so, how often they occur and what impact they may have on their behavior and cognition during personal and work-related daily activities. Interictal epileptiform discharges are brief electrical disturbances in brain function between seizures that are not usually self-perceived by patients and may not be detected by normal observation but can occur up to 2,000 times more frequently than seizures. Accurate and objective recordings can also help participants better accept the study of the effects of IEDs. As study investigators, we learn about the state of the art in real-time processing of brain biosignals, applied to IEDs, behavior, and cognition, and we learn about epilepsy and the effects of IEDs: the extent to which, for example, a 100-millisecond slowdown in reaction time (in a driving video game) can be compared to an impairment in executing the command "wave hello." This may sound amusing, but it gives an indication of how measurements in the laboratory (in milliseconds) can be transferred to real activities.
If you are interested or have any questions, please contact the study physician: heinz.krestel@yale.edu