Investigating Accelerated Learning in Healthy Subjects: Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation

The University of Texas System (UT)

Status: Terminated

Conditions: Healthy Adults

Treatments: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation- Neuroconn DC Stimulator PLUS

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03138590

17-34 TN

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to accelerate learning and improve associative memory performance in healthy subjects, by applying transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) targeting the trigeminal nerve during a verbal paired-associate learning task

Full description

Associative memory refers to remembering the association between two items, such as a face and a name or a word in English and the same word in another language. It is not only important for learning, but it is also one of the first aspects of memory performance that is impacted by aging and by Alzheimer׳s disease. For decades, neuroscientists have investigated associative learning and memory and ways to accelerate and enhance associative learning and memory.

Transcranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive and painless electrical stimulation technique that has demonstrated to accelerate learning and improve memory in some studies. To investigate whether it is possible to accelerate learning and improve associative memory using tDCS, the performance in a Verbal Paired-Associate memory task of 2 groups will be compared. The first group will get active tDCS during the verbal paired-associate learning task. The second group will get sham tDCS during the verbal paired-associate learning task.

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 35 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Native English Speaker

Exclusion criteria

• History of severe head injuries, epileptic insults, or heart disease.
• Severe psychiatric disorders and severe untreated medical problems
• Acquainted with the foreign language used in the learning task
• Contraindications for tDCS (e.g. pregnant, implanted devices)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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20 participants in 2 patient groups

Active tDCS

Experimental group

Description:

Active transcranial Direct Current Stimulation targeting the trigeminal nerve

Treatment:

Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation- Neuroconn DC Stimulator PLUS

Sham tDCS

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Sham transcranial Direct Current Stimulation targeting the trigeminal nerve

Treatment:

Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation- Neuroconn DC Stimulator PLUS