NCT03190590

Neurophysiological and Functional Mechanisms of Motor Control and Learning

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: NYU Langone Health · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Noninvasive stimulation of the central nervous system, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), has been increasingly used in the investigation of cortical plasticity. The purpose of our study is to understand mechanistically-at the neurophysiological and systems levels-how the brain learns new motor skills. We propose to study the acquisition, consolidation, and retention of motor skill learning in healthy subjects. At the behavioral level, we will use movement kinematics to quantify and characterize movement, which allow us to infer functional strategies used by the brain to reduce movement errors. At a neurophysiological level, we will use TMS to document changes in cortical circuitry, which will allow us to infer neuroplastic changes possibly subserving these strategies. At a systems level, we will enhance motor system excitability using tDCS, which will enable us to infer the contribution of the stimulated area to the motor system's ability to learn new skills.

Conditions

• Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	tDCS-NeuroConn.	tDCS is delivered noninvasively via electrodes applied to the surface of the head, and a mild electrical current is given during motor training.
PROCEDURE	TMS - Magstim.	TMS is delivered noninvasively via a hand-held coil applied to the surface of the head, and a magnetic pulse probes cortical circuitry \[this is not repetitive TMS and so does NOT modulate brain excitability
PROCEDURE	Sham tDCS	delivered by briefly turning on and off the stimulator at the beginning of training, which mimics the sensation of true stimulation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-03-20
• Primary completion: 2018-07-18
• Completion: 2018-07-18
• First posted: 2017-06-19
• Last updated: 2024-04-29

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States