Hippocampus activity during visual and real-world exploration

Human Hippocampal Oscillations During Visuomotor Exploration

The team will test whether hippocampal activity changes with eye movements during virtual visual exploration and real-world walking in adults with epilepsy and healthy volunteers.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 56 (estimated)
• Ages: 18 Years to 70 Years
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: NYU Langone Health (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (New York, New York)
• Trial ID: NCT07224191 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

In one arm, surgical epilepsy patients with high-resolution intracranial EEG will view 10–15 panoramic environments using AR/VR while eye movements and head turns are tracked and synchronized with neural recordings. In a second arm, epilepsy patients implanted with responsive neurostimulators (RNS) and healthy controls will walk through distinct rooms while wearing high-density EEG, eye-tracking glasses, and motion sensors to capture ambulatory exploration. Data from hippocampal iEEG, RNS recordings, hdEEG, eye tracking, and motion sensors will be time-synchronized offline to analyze neural activity before and after saccades and under different cognitive loads. Analyses will focus on hippocampal oscillations and single-unit activity along the hippocampal axis and their relationships to visuomotor behavior.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults 18–70 who can give informed consent and either have implanted hippocampal depth electrodes for presurgical monitoring or an RNS device with hippocampal leads (with IQ≥80), or are healthy adults able to walk and wear recording equipment.

Not a fit: Patients with recent generalized tonic‑clonic seizures, active substance use within one week, legal blindness, pregnancy, inability to walk or give consent, or who are within five months of RNS implantation are unlikely to be eligible or benefit.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this work could improve understanding of memory-related hippocampal dynamics and help refine mapping or neuromodulation targets for epilepsy and cognitive dysfunction.

How similar studies have performed: Previous intracranial EEG and eye‑tracking work has linked hippocampal activity to saccades, but combining ambulatory RNS recordings with synchronized hdEEG and eye-tracking in real-world environments is relatively novel.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

All subjects:

* Adults (18-70 years)
* Able to provide informed consent

Aim 1: Surgical epilepsy patients' inclusion criteria

* Implanted hippocampal depth electrodes for Stage 1 epilepsy surgery
* IQ=\>80\*

Aim 2: RNS patients Inclusion criteria

* Implanted RNS device with at least one hippocampal depth electrode
* At least 5 months post-implantation to avoid the post-implant effect
* Have a relatively low number of seizures, defined as =\<1 debilitating seizure per week
* Able to walk and wear research equipment without assistance
* IQ\>=80

Aim 2: Healthy Control Inclusion criteria • Able to walk and wear research equipment without assistance

Exclusion Criteria:

RNS patients, Aim 2:

• Any generalized tonic-clonic seizure(s) within the last year

All subjects:

* Legally blind
* Smoking tobacco, marijuana, recreational drugs or alcohol use within 1 week of cognitive testing
* Unable to give informed consent
* Pregnancy

Where this trial is running

New York, New York

• NYU Langone Health — New York, New York, United States (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Anli Liu, MD, MA — NYU Langone Health
• Study coordinator: Anli Liu, MD, MA

Conditions Epilepsy