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Clinical trial Recruiting at 1 site Interventional Ages 60 and up

Language training to boost cognitive health in older adults.

Official title: A Language-Based Training Intervention to Enhance Cognitive Health in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Run by National Taiwan University Hospital · NCT07132281 · Data updated 2026-11-12

This 12-week program sees if small-group language prediction exercises can improve thinking, speech, and daily function in healthy adults aged 65 and older.

Quick facts

Study typeInterventional
Ages60 Years and up
SexAll
Enrollment120 (estimated)
SponsorNational Taiwan University Hospital
Academic / other
Locations1 site (Taipei)
StatusRecruiting
StartedSeptember 2, 2025
Main results expectedDecember 31, 2026
Study endsDecember 31, 2028
Registry record updatedJanuary 7, 2026
Trial IDNCT07132281 on ClinicalTrials.gov

Is this trial a fit for you?

Likely a good fit

Healthy, native Mandarin-speaking, right-handed community-dwelling adults aged 65 or older with at least junior-high education and a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score ≥23 who can attend weekly sessions are ideal candidates.

Probably not a fit

People with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia, severe depression or other major psychiatric/neurological disorders, dyslexia or other language disorders, recent participation in another cognitive-intervention program, or inability to attend the required sessions are unlikely to benefit.

A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.

What this trial studies

The trial enrolls about 90 community-dwelling adults and randomly assigns them in equal blocks to one of three arms: an active language-prediction group, a passive reading group, or a board-game control group. Over 12 weeks participants attend weekly two-hour small-group workshops that combine reading aloud, listening, oral summarizing, writing, and guided discussion designed to elicit continual prediction, self-monitoring, feedback, and revision. Before and after the course researchers collect behavioral measures (verbal fluency, language memory, sentence-prediction accuracy), electrophysiology (EEG signatures such as the N400), task-based fMRI, and AI-driven speech–language analytics to quantify cognitive, emotional, and daily-function transfer effects. The design tests whether explicitly training predictive language processes produces larger and broader benefits than passive reading or non-language cognitive activity.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, the program could improve language-based thinking, everyday communication, and related cognitive functions in older adults, potentially delaying age-related decline.

How similar studies have gone: Prior cognitive and language-training programs have shown mixed but promising effects on verbal fluency and related measures, while interventions explicitly based on predictive-coding and active-inference in language remain relatively novel and less tested.

Who can join: the full rules

Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria 
Inclusion Criteria:

* Aged between 20 and 30 (healthy young adults) or aged 65 and above (healthy older adults).
* Native Mandarin Chinese speakers who had no exposure to non-indigenous languages before the age of five.
* Have completed at least a junior high school level of education.
* Right-handed.
* Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision (e.g., through glasses or contact lenses).
* Able to fully participate in the entire assessment and intervention schedule (with no more than two missed intervention sessions).
* Achieve a score of 23 or higher on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).

Exclusion Criteria:

* Participation in another cognitive intervention program within the past two months.
* Cognitive intervention is not feasible due to dyslexia or physical illness. Meet the diagnostic criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or dementia.
* Presence of severe depression, or cognitive changes caused by other psychiatric, neurological disorders, or substance abuse, with symptoms that are unstable or interfere with functioning.
* History of brain injury or neurological conditions (e.g., stroke, aneurysm).
* Contraindications for MRI scanning, such as metal implants, pacemakers, or pregnancy.
* Claustrophobia (an anxiety disorder characterized by panic symptoms or fear of panic attacks in enclosed spaces such as elevators, vehicles, tunnels, or airplane cabins).
* Unable to undergo cognitive assessments due to visual or hearing impairments.

Where it's running

  • National Taiwan University
    Taipei, Taiwan     Recruiting

Study contacts

Similar studies

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How to take part

  1. Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
  2. Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
  3. Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.
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Last reviewed 2026-11-14 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.