Health TrialsbyHealthPanel

Speech Motor Learning and Retention (Aim 2)

ConditionSpeech
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-40
SponsorYale University

About this trial

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.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Fluent English speakers

Right-handed

Normal hearing

No speech disorder or reading disability

Disqualifiers

Cardiac pacemaker

Aneurysm clip

Heart or Vascular clip

Prosthetic valve

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Adaptation

    Behavioral

    Auditory adaptation in speech

  • Adaptation baseline

    Behavioral

    Auditory baseline in speech

  • Motor evoked potentials

    Device

    motor evoked potentials will be obtained in each recording block

  • Auditory evoked potentials

    Device

    auditory evoked potentials will be obtained in each recording block

  • Somatosensory evoked potentials

    Device

    Somatosensry evoked potentials will be obtained in each recording block

Treatment groups

120 Participants
are divided into 6 treatment groups

6

Treatment groups

See each treatment group below.

Group A: MEPs (M1) / altered auditory feedback / MEPs + retention tests at 24hExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group B: AEPs (A1) / altered auditory feedback / AEPs + retention tests at 24hExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group C: SEPs (S1) / altered auditory feedback / SEPs + retention tests at 24hExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group D: MEPs (M1) / unaltered auditory feedback / MEPs + retention tests at 24hExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group E: AEPs (A1) / unaltered auditory feedback / AEPs + retention tests at 24hExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group F: SEPs (S1) / unaltered auditory feedback / SEPs + retention tests at 24hExperimental treatment 2 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Speech motor learning

Audapter software will be used to alter the first and second formant frequencies of the spoken words and this is played back to subjects through headphones. Subjects will be tested both with unaltered feedback and with abruptly introduced frequency shifts.The change in the first (F1) and second format frequency (F2) values will be assessed using Praat.

Time frame
Performance as measured at the end of learning (30 minute session)
2

Retention of learning

The retention of adaptation to altered auditory feedback (and relearning) will be quantified in terms of F1 and F2 frequency shifts (relative to pre-training baseline). Larger values indicate more complete relearning or retention.

Time frame
24 hours after learning (re-test lasts 30 minutes)
3

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs)

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) using single-pulse TMS will be recorded using surface electromyography (EMG) to measure MEP peak-to-peak response

Time frame
Performance as measured at the end of learning (30 minute session)
4

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs)

Electrical stimulation will be used to elicit somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). SEPs will be recorded using electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure the SEP response in the interval 20 to 25 ms following stimulation (N20-P25 response).

Time frame
Performance as measured at the end of learning (30 minute session)

Secondary outcomes

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

Yale University

Lead sponsor

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Collaborator

Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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