Recruiting

Virtual Reality

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT03221244

Conditions

ADHD

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 8 - 12

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

VR Treatment

VR Active Control

Study Details

Brief summary:

Problems with distraction are widespread in the 21st century, but for people with developmental delays or behavioral challenges they can have more damaging effects. For example, susceptibility to distraction is associated with worse school and social performance, lower high school graduation rates, and increased incidence of serious accidents. The investigators' goal is to improve understanding of distractibility and develop a targeted treatment. The proposed intervention is based on models of habituation, which is a term that means reduced physiological and emotional response to a stimulus (e.g. moving object, or loud noise, etc.) as it is seen repeatedly. The investigators use virtual reality technology to show study participants distracting stimuli repeatedly in a virtual classroom setting, and their hypothesis states that participants will improve attention in the face of distraction by training with this technology intervention. The virtual classroom setting is especially relevant for children who have significant challenges with distractibility, such as children with ADHD. This intervention will likely be effective in helping individuals with other clinical disorders and perhaps the general population as well.

Conditions

ADHD

Study ID

NCT03221244

Start date

Jun 2, 2016

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Jul 2, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep 2, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 8 - 12

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Significant (T score >= 60) ratings of Cognitive Problems/Inattention or DSM Inattention scale scores on the Conners' Parent or Teacher Rating Scale-3 or Parent ADHD Rating Scale-IV (ADHD-RS)
  • Endorsement of 4 or more symptoms of inattention on a clinical psychiatric interview (e.g. Parent DISC, DICA, Kiddie-SADS, Mini-KID)
  • Comfortable using a computer
  • Full Scale IQ > 80

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychosis (by parent report at phone screen), significant depression, autism (15 or > on Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ)), psychotic disorders, visual or hearing impairment or any other disorder that may interfere with task performance
  • It is in the investigator's opinion that it is not in the subject's best interest to continue
  • Subject is non-compliant with training schedule
  • Subjects on pharmacotherapy for ADHD at the time of enrollment will be excluded from Aims 3 and 4.
  • Subjects starting behavioral or psychological treatment for ADHD during the training phase of the study will be excluded

Study Design

Enrollment

50 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: VR Treatment

The "VR distractor condition" is an adaptive training, experimental treatment. Participants will wear a headset VR system programmed to simulate a virtual classroom. They will be asked to perform computer tests of math, attention, or working memory in the virtual reality context. Distractors will be presented intermittently throughout the test session. During training sessions, distractor saliency and frequency will increase or decrease based on performance on the tests.

25 sessions should be completed in approximately 5-7 weeks. In-home VR training sessions will each be about 20-30 minutes in length.

The investigators expect a decrease in distraction after adaptive distractor exposure in the VR classroom.

active comparator: VR Active Control

The "VR classroom with no distractors presented" is an active control group. This group will undergo the same training regimen, only their virtual classroom environment will not contain adaptive distractors. Participants will wear a headset VR system programmed to simulate a virtual classroom. They will be asked to perform computer tests of math, attention, or working memory in the virtual reality context.

25 sessions should be completed in approximately 5-7 weeks. In-home VR training sessions will each be about 20-30 minutes in length.

The investigators expect no change in response to distraction in the ADHD group after control exposure to the VR classroom.

Interventions

VR Treatment

Distractors

VR Active Control

No distractors

Primary outcome measure

  • Decrease in the amount of eye movements toward the distractors and/or shorter duration of fixation on distractors. [ Time Frame: 5-7 weeks ]
  • Decrease in the amount of head movements toward the distractors [ Time Frame: 5-7 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Juan Ramos

916-703-0294hs-airlab@ucdavis.edu

Shannon Hoffman

916-703-0258hs-airlab@ucdavis.edu

Locations

UC Davis MIND Institute

Recruiting

Sacramento, California, United States, 95817

Contacts

Juan Ramos, BS

916-703-0294jframos@ucdavis.edu

Shannon Hoffman, DPT

916 703 0294hs-airlab@ucdavis.edu

Principal Investigator:

Julie B Schweitzer, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, Davis

Last update posted

Aug 7, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • Distractibility
  • Virtual Reality
  • Attention
  • Child
  • Pediatric

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, Davis on 2026-08-07.