Priming Expectations and Motor Learning With tDCS

NCT ID: NCT06039605

Last Updated: 2025-08-24

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 140 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-10-23
• Study Completion Date: 2025-04-16

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to test if priming expectations of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve the efficacy of tDCS in enhancing motor learning.

Detailed Description

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is currently being investigated by the scientific community as an intervention to improve motor learning in the context of neurorehabilitation (e.g., recover lost motor function after stroke) and performance enhancement (e.g., improve sports or technical skill training). More importantly, consumers believe that tDCS works. The expectation surrounding the benefits of tDCS for skill enhancement is so pervasive that the technology is sold for less than $200 and highly rated by the general public on Amazon.com. At the same time, there is considerable skepticism within the motor control field regarding the efficacy and mechanism of action of tDCS on motor learning, driven by highly irreproducible and equivocal findings between and even within laboratories.

How effective is tDCS, and could the positive effects of tDCS be attributable in part to a strong placebo effect? Placebo effects (i.e., a positive expectation associated with positive treatment outcomes), are well documented in other interventions like surgeries and pharmaceuticals, but have not been investigated in detail for tDCS, particularly in the motor domain. The lack of knowledge or consideration of the placebo effect may therefore explain why tDCS findings are so inconsistent within motor learning. Thus, the overall aim of this project is to determine whether people's expectations about tDCS change as a function of information about tDCS itself, and whether these changed expectations modulate the effects of tDCS on motor learning.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive, safe cortical stimulation technique that has been effectively used for enhancing and inhibiting sensory and motor performance when applied to the responsible cortical areas in healthy adults. For instance, anodal tDCS of primary motor area can improve motor execution. Recent research has investigated whether it is the expectation of receiving tDCS that has a greater impact on behavioral outcomes compared to the actual application of tDCS. This is important as many domains of science are challenged to reproduce previous research demonstrating a positive effect of tDCS on behavior. Thus, to decipher legitimate effects of tDCS on behavior it is important to quantify and compare how changes in behavior are related to tDCS, a key metric related to strength of the placebo effect, and how malleable these placebo effects are.

Individuals may participate in this study for up to four sessions (up to 3 training sessions and up to 1 follow-up visit, as assigned) in the span of approximately one week. The investigators expect that individuals will spend up to one hour during the training sessions, and (if applicable) around 15 minutes to complete the follow-up visit, if assigned. The follow-up visit would occur one week after the final training session.

This is a double-blind study in which participants will be randomly assigned to specific intervention methods.

Conditions

Expectations; Motor Learning

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Control

This group will only receive motor training, which consists of 10 trials of motor training per day across 3 days, followed by a one-week follow-up of 2 trials.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

tDCS1

This group will receive motor training concurrent with 20 minutes of either sham or active tDCS. Sham tDCS will be a 30-second ramp up from 0 to 2 milliamps (MA), then a 30-second ramp-down from 2 mA to 0 mA. The next 18 minutes will have no stimulation (0 mA), starting at minute 19 with 30-second ramp up from 0 to 2 milliamps (MA), then a 30-second ramp-down from 2 mA to 0 mA. Active tDCS will ramp up to 2 mA in the first 30 seconds, then stay at 2 mA for 19 minutes, then ramp down to 0 mA.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a minimal risk, non-invasive, neuromodulatory technique that involves the emission of a weak electrical current, traditionally via the placement of two electrodes attached to the scalp of a participant. tDCS is widely used for research purposes, the US FDA considers trials of tDCS as non-significant-risk. There are several review articles supporting the safety of tDCS usage in controlled human trials. According to a published meta-analysis , the use of conventional tDCS protocols in human trials (≤40 min, ≤4 mA) has not produced any reports of a Serious Adverse Effect or irreversible injury across over 33,200 sessions.

tDCS2

This group will first read some information about tDCS based on cited studies. They will then receive the same motor training and tDCS as the tDCS1 arm.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a minimal risk, non-invasive, neuromodulatory technique that involves the emission of a weak electrical current, traditionally via the placement of two electrodes attached to the scalp of a participant. tDCS is widely used for research purposes, the US FDA considers trials of tDCS as non-significant-risk. There are several review articles supporting the safety of tDCS usage in controlled human trials. According to a published meta-analysis , the use of conventional tDCS protocols in human trials (≤40 min, ≤4 mA) has not produced any reports of a Serious Adverse Effect or irreversible injury across over 33,200 sessions.

tDCS3

This group will first read some information about tDCS based on cited studies, but different cited studies than the tDCS2 arm. They will then receive the same motor training and tDCS as the tDCS1 and 2 arms.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a minimal risk, non-invasive, neuromodulatory technique that involves the emission of a weak electrical current, traditionally via the placement of two electrodes attached to the scalp of a participant. tDCS is widely used for research purposes, the US FDA considers trials of tDCS as non-significant-risk. There are several review articles supporting the safety of tDCS usage in controlled human trials. According to a published meta-analysis , the use of conventional tDCS protocols in human trials (≤40 min, ≤4 mA) has not produced any reports of a Serious Adverse Effect or irreversible injury across over 33,200 sessions.

Interventions

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a minimal risk, non-invasive, neuromodulatory technique that involves the emission of a weak electrical current, traditionally via the placement of two electrodes attached to the scalp of a participant. tDCS is widely used for research purposes, the US FDA considers trials of tDCS as non-significant-risk. There are several review articles supporting the safety of tDCS usage in controlled human trials. According to a published meta-analysis , the use of conventional tDCS protocols in human trials (≤40 min, ≤4 mA) has not produced any reports of a Serious Adverse Effect or irreversible injury across over 33,200 sessions.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Other Intervention Names

tDCS

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Must be 18 or older. Right-hand dominant
• Right-hand dominant

Exclusion Criteria

• Mixed-handed or ambidextrous
• Left-hand dominant
• Seizure(s)
• Head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness that has required further investigation (including neurosurgery)
• Migraines
• Current medical diagnosis of a phycological or neurological condition
• Any metal in head (outside of mouth) such as shrapnel or surgical clips
• Any implanted devices (e.g. cardiac pacemaker, brain stimulator)
• Skin condition on scalp (e.g. psoriasis)
• Head wound that has not completely healed
• Adverse reactions to tDCS or any other brain stimulation technique (e.g. TMS, tRNS)
• Pregnant
• Currently taking prescription medications or are self-medicating (including recreational drug use), other than the contraceptive pill?

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Arizona State University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Sydney Schaefer, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Arizona State University

Locations

Arizona State University

Tempe, Arizona, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

STUDY00015655

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id