Speech Motor Learning and Retention (Aim 1)

Yale University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Speech

Treatments: Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS); Behavioral: Adaptation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06467305

1R01DC022097-01A1 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

2000037622_a

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overall goal of this research is to test a new model of speech motor learning, whose central hypothesis is that learning and retention are associated with plasticity not only in motor areas of the brain but in auditory and somatosensory regions as well. The strategy for the proposed research is to identify individual brain areas that contribute causally to retention by disrupting their activity with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Investigators will also use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which will enable identification of circuit-level activity which predicts either learning or retention of new movements, and hence test the specific contributions of candidate sensory and motor zones. In other studies, investigators will record sensory and motor evoked potentials over the course of learning to determine the temporal order in which individual sensory and cortical motor regions contribute. The goal here is to identify brain areas in which learning-related plasticity occurs first and which among these areas predict subsequent learning.

Full description

The focus of this registration is Aim 1. The work in Specific Aim 1 involves tests of speech motor memory retention following disruption of left hemisphere brain activity in either auditory, somatosensory or motor cortex or to a control site (hand area motor cortex right hemisphere). Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) is delivered following adaptation to altered auditory feedback to assess its effects on the retention of new learning. In the adaptation task, participants read Harvard Sentences aloud, which are presented on a computer monitor. Vocal output is altered in real-time and played back to participants through headphones. Tests of retention are conducted 24 hours later.

The Speech Motor Learning and Retention Master Protocol has uniqueID 2000037622.

Enrollment: 160 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 40 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Fluent English speakers
• Right-handed
• Normal hearing
• No speech disorder or reading disability

Exclusion criteria

• Cardiac pacemaker
• Aneurysm clip
• Heart or Vascular clip
• Prosthetic valve
• Metal implants
• Metal in brain, skull, or spinal cord
• Implanted neurostimulator
• Medication infusion device
• Cochlear implant or tinnitus (ringing in ears)
• Personal and/or family history of epilepsy or other neurological disorders or history of head concussion
• Psychoactive medications
• Pregnancy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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160 participants in 8 patient groups

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to auditory cortex

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving altered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere auditory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to somatosensory cortex

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving altered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere somatosensory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving altered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere motor cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex control zone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in a control condition will undergo the same procedures using cTBS to a motor cortex control zone in the right hemisphere (associated with the hand muscle first dorsal interosseous). cTBS will be applied following learning and subjects will return 24 hours later to test for retention. This control condition is included as a test for non-specific effects of cTBS stimulation.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to auditory cortex

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving unaltered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere auditory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to somatosensory cortex

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving unaltered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere somatosensory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving unaltered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere motor cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex control zone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in a control condition will undergo the same procedures using cTBS to a motor cortex control zone in the right hemisphere (associated with the hand muscle first dorsal interosseous). cTBS will be applied following learning and subjects will return 24 hours later to test for retention. This control condition is included as a test for non-specific effects of cTBS stimulation. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adaptation

Device: continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)