NCT06234059

Modulation of Sensory Acuity With Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Behavioral and Neural Measures of Speech Motor Control

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 70 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this research study is to understand how the brain processes and controls speech in healthy people. The investigators are doing this research because it will help identify the mechanisms that allow people to perceive their own speech errors and to learn new speech sounds, which may be applied to people who have communication disorders. 15 participants will be enrolled into this part of the study and can expect to be on study for 4 visits of 2-4 hours each.

Detailed description

The overall study (Establishing the clinical utility of sensorimotor adaptation for speech rehabilitation) aims to understand how cognitive, perceptual, and motor processes are integrated in the control of speech movements. The investigators study how this complex skill is performed in healthy speakers to understand how this system functions, how this skill relates to the perception of speech, and what role different parts of the brain play in this process. Different studies look at how speech motor control is executed, maintained, and changed. Overall, the study will recruit 329 participants over the course of 5 years. Participants can expect to be on study for up to 3 weeks. The entire study is composed of 8 experiments and 6 interventions. The present record represents the experiments involving transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), i.e. Experiment 8: Modulating sensorimotor adaptation through TMS to somatosensory cortex. This paradigm uses theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (tbTMS) to modulate the excitability of sensory cortices to examine the effect on sensory acuity and sensorimotor adaptation. Participants will complete three total sessions targeting primary somatosensory cortex (S1): one using intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), one using continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), and one with sham stimulation. The effect of the stimulation on somatosensory adaptation will be measured using a vowel centralization feedback perturbation experiment: after stimulation, participants will produce words under conditions of altered auditory feedback, and the investigators will measure changes in produced vowels as a result of these alterations.

Conditions

• Speech

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	TMS	This paradigm uses theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (tbTMS) to modulate the excitability of sensory cortices to examine the effect on sensory acuity and sensorimotor adaptation. Participants will complete three total sessions targeting primary somatosensory cortex (S1): one using intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), one using continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), and one with sham stimulation.
BEHAVIORAL	Speaking Tasks	Participants will produce four training words under a vowel centralization feedback paradigm in which auditory feedback is altered. The investigators will measure changes in produced vowels as a result of the altered feedback in concert with the different stimulation regimes described in the TMS intervention.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-07-01
• Primary completion: 2026-07-01
• Completion: 2026-07-01
• First posted: 2024-01-31
• Last updated: 2025-07-29

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States