Determining the Specificity of High Definition Electrical Brain Stimulation Using Simultaneous Magnetoencephalography

The Hospital for Sick Children

Status: Completed

Conditions: Auditory Task; Sham HD-tDCS; Real HD-tDCS; Motor Task; Visual Task; Working Memory Task

Treatments: Device: HD-tDCS

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02060708

1000042023

Details and patient eligibility

About

Non-invasive human brain stimulation using weak transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) has been thousands of times in research studies over the past fifteen years as a therapy to help improve the effectiveness of repeated training sessions (e.g., hand exercises in the context of daily physiotherapy), due to its safety, tolerability, convenience and cost-effectiveness. tDCS works by temporarily enhancing brain activity during performance of a specific task, helping with learning and training.

The investigators will use magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain imaging to view the real-time effects of high definition (HD) tDCS on several brain areas involved in vision, hearing, movement, and memory. The investigators hypothesize that changing the task (auditory, visual or memory task) but keeping the position of the electrodes over the motor cortex will result in modulation of brain activity in only the central target motor area, and not on non-target temporal, occipital or pre-frontal areas.

Enrollment: 16 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 35 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Normal hearing and vision

Exclusion criteria

• Current pregnancy
• Presence of metallic implants in the head
• Use of any medications
• Any history of mental health or neurological conditions
• Inability to perform any of the tasks for any reason

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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16 participants in 2 patient groups

Real HD-tDCS first, Sham HD-tDCS second

Other group

Description:

Real HD-tDCS will be applied in the first session Sham HD-tDCS will be applied in the second session (at least one week after the first session)

Treatment:

Device: HD-tDCS

Sham HD-tDCS first, Real HD-tDCS second

Other group

Description:

Sham HD-tDCS will be applied in the first session Real HD-tDCS will be applied in the second session (at least one week after the first session)

Treatment:

Device: HD-tDCS