Speech Motor Learning and Retention (Aim 3)
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 volunteersQualifiers
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
fMRI
DeviceTo assess functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning.
Adaptation
BehavioralAuditory adaptation in speech
Adaptation
BehavioralAuditory baseline in speech
Treatment groups
50 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Altered auditory feedback + fMRIExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Group B: Control ConditionExperimental 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
Change in fMRI resting-state connectivity following speech motor learning
fMRI resting-state connectivity change following speech motor learning. Functional connectivity will be measured between each of the following regions: Heschel's gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, primary and second somatosensory cortex, supramarginal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, motor and ventral premotor cortex and supplementary motor area.
Time frame
baseline and at the end of learning (30 minute session)4
fMRI resting-state connectivity measures of motor memory retention
fMRI resting-state connectivity measures of motor memory retention. Functional connectivity will be measured between each of the following regions: Heschel's gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, primary and second somatosensory cortex, supramarginal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, motor and ventral premotor cortex and supplementary motor area.
Time frame
24 hours after learning (re-test lasts 30 minutes)Sponsors and contacts
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Yale University
Lead sponsor
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov