Investigating Memory in Healthy Subjects Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

The University of Texas System (UT)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy Adults

Treatments: Device: tDCS

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03564353

17-34 CM

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether we can improve associative memory performance in healthy subjects, by applying transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) 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 improve associative memory using tDCS, the performance in a Verbal Paired-Associate memory task of 4 groups targeting different areas will be compared.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 35 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age: 18-35 years
• 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 (pregnant women, implanted devices)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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40 participants in 4 patient groups

memory task with tDCS location 1

Experimental group

Description:

memory task paired with tDCS targeting C2 nerve (anode left c2; cathode right C2)

Treatment:

Device: tDCS

memory task with tDCS location 2

Experimental group

Description:

memory task paired with tDCS targeting C2 nerve (anode right c2; cathode left C2)

Treatment:

Device: tDCS

memory task with tDCS location 3

Experimental group

Description:

memory task paired with tDCS targeting C5/6 nerve

Treatment:

Device: tDCS

memory task with tDCS location 4

Experimental group

Description:

memory task paired with tDCS targeting trigeminal nerve dermatomes (left and right temple/jaw)

Treatment:

Device: tDCS