| Conditions: |
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Brain Mapping - Language Disorder - Adult - Healthy - Memory Disorder |
| Purpose: |
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Background:
- Studies have shown that animals such as monkeys and dogs have excellent sight and touch
memory but perform poorly on sound memory tasks. Human brains have certain areas that are
important for speaking and understanding language. These areas may be involved in sound and
spoken word memory. Researchers want to study these areas of the brain to find out if the
memory for sounds requires brain structures that are usually associated with language
learning and are unique to humans.
Objectives:
- To use magnetic resonance imaging to study areas of the brain involved in sound memory.
Eligibility:
- Healthy right-handed volunteers between 18 and 50 years of age. They must be native
English speakers and have completed high school.
Design:
- The study requires a screening visit and 1 or 2 study visits to the National Institutes
of Health Clinical Center.
- At the screening visit, volunteers will have a medical history taken. They will also
have physical and neurological exams, and complete a questionnaire. Women of
childbearing age will give a urine sample. Participants who have not had a magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) scan in the past year will have one at this visit.
- At the second visit, participants will have tests of sound memory. They will listen to
a set of nonsense words spoken through earphones and memorize the words. Then they will
listen to the words again to judge if the words were part of the earlier list.
Participants will have a 1 hour break, then do the sound memory test again. During the
second test they will have repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which
stimulates different regions of the brain.
- If the group results from the testing sessions are positive, there will be a third
visit. At this visit, participants will have a sound perception test. They will listen
to words spoken through earphones and judge whether the words in the pair are the same
or different. Participants will have rTMS during these tests as well.
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| Study Summary: |
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Objective:
Humans are the only animals that use language to communicate with each other. Among many
other requirements, humans need excellent auditory long-term memory to be able to master the
complicated task of learning a language. It is still not completely understood which brain
regions are involved in transferring auditory stimuli into long-term memory. The goal of
this research proposal is to examine whether brain structures that are known to be essential
in language production also play an important role in encoding auditory stimuli into
long-term memory.
Study population:
We intend to study 15 adult healthy volunteers on an outpatient basis for each of three
sub-experiments (maximum: 3 experiments with 15 people = 45). By amendment, 15 additional
subjects will be recruited to re-run experiment one. This brings the accrual to 60 healthy
volunteers.
Design:
We propose using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to examine the role of
frontal and temporo-parietal cortical areas in the storage of auditory stimuli in long-term
memory. The whole study can comprise up to three experiments (depending on the results of
each experiment). Each of the three experiments will consist of one to three sessions.
Session 1 can be skipped if the participant already has had a neuro-exam and an MRI scan at
the NIH, and does not need a pregnancy test. In that case consenting will be done at the
beginning of session 2. Session 2 will be compulsory in every experiment. Session 3 will
only be required if positive results are obtained in session 2. Every participant can only
participate in one of the three planned experiments.
In Experiment 1, we will investigate the potential role of Broca's area in auditory memory.
If we find that rTMS in Broca's area interferes with performance on the memory task, we will
conduct a control (session 3) to determine whether or not the impairment was actually due to
interference with stimulus perception rather than with memory, per se. If we find that
stimulating Broca's area interferes with auditory memory (significant effect in session 2)
but does not impair stimulus perception per se (no significant effect in session 3) we will
not test any additional stimulation sites. If we fail to find a contribution from Broca's
area, or if stimulation impairs stimulus perception as well as memory, we will conduct
Experiment 2 to investigate the possible role of Wernicke's region in auditory memory. If we
find a significant effect on auditory memory (as in Experiment 1) we will not investigate
further, if we fail to find an effect we will conduct Experiment 3 to investigate the role
of the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) in auditory memory.
In experiment 2 and 3 we will also conduct the same control session 3, as in Experiment 1 if
the rTMS impairs performance on the auditory memory task. All experiments will consist of
two sessions and an additional, third session if rTMS-induced impairment is found. In that
case all participants will be called back for the control experiment. During session 1, a
neurological examination will be performed and a clinical and anatomical MRI (Magnetic
Resonance Imaging) will be taken. Session 1 can be omitted if an MRI and a neurological exam
were performed at the NIH during the past year. In session 2, rTMS will be used in an
attempt to temporarily disrupt the function of Broca's area (experiment 1), PMv (experiment
2) or the TPJ (experiment 3) while participants are performing an auditory recognition
memory task. By temporarily disrupting cortical functioning in those localized regions, we
will be able to determine whether or not their function is crucial for encoding auditory
stimuli into long-term memory. In the control session, to be conducted only if the
experimental task yields a positive result (i.e., impairment), we will test auditory
perception by asking participants to make same/different judgments on stimulus pairs
(similar to those used in session 2) presented with a very short delay while using the same
rTMS routine as in session 2.
Outcome measures:
In session 2, the primary outcome measure will be the number of correctly remembered
auditory stimuli. Secondary output will be reaction time during the recognition phase of the
experiment.
In the control experiment (if conducted) the primary outcome measure will be the number of
correct same/different judgments and, again, reaction time will be the secondary measure.
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| Criteria: |
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- INCLUSION CRITERIA:
To be eligible for this research study participants must:
Be between the ages of 18 and 50 years of age
Be free of any neurologic condition that might affect performance of the tasks in these
experiments
Be right handed
Be native English speakers
Have a finished high-school education or equivalent, such as GED
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Participants will be excluded from this research study if they:
Are taking medications that include antidepressants, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants,
antipsychotics, antiparkinson, hypnotics, stimulants, and/or antihistamines
Have a diagnosed neurologic or psychiatric condition
Have a history of seizure disorder
Have implanted devices such as pacemakers, medication pumps, or defibrillators, metal in
the cranium except the mouth, intracardiac lines, history of shrapnel injury or any other
condition/device that may contraindicate or preclude the acquisition of MRI
Have severe back pain or any other condition which might prevent them from lying flat for
up to 1 hour
Have Claustrophobia (a fear of tight spaces), which prevents them from lying still in a
tight or small space for up to 1 hour
Are currently pregnant
Have known hearing loss
Have an alcohol or substance abuse problem as determined by the screening we will do
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| NCT ID: |
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NCT01375595 |
| Primary Contact: |
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Principal Investigator
Mark Hallett, M.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Elaine P Considine, R.N.
Phone: (301) 435-8518
Email: considinee@ninds.nih.gov
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| Backup Contact: |
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Email: hallettm@ninds.nih.gov
Mark Hallett, M.D.
Phone: (301) 496-9526
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| Location Contact: |
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Bethesda, Maryland 20892
United States
For more information at the NIH Clinical Center contact Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office (PRPL)
Phone: 800-411-1222
Email: prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov
Site Status: Recruiting |