Speech Motor Learning and Retention (Aim 1)

NCT ID: NCT06467305

Last Updated: 2026-02-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 160 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-10-01
• Study Completion Date: 2029-05-31

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

The focus of this registration is Aim 1. The work in Specific Aim 1 involves tests of speech motor memory retention following disruption of left hemisphere brain activity in either auditory, somatosensory or motor cortex or to a control site (hand area motor cortex right hemisphere). Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) is delivered following adaptation to altered auditory feedback to assess its effects on the retention of new learning. In the adaptation task, participants read Harvard Sentences aloud, which are presented on a computer monitor. Vocal output is altered in real-time and played back to participants through headphones. Tests of retention are conducted 24 hours later.

The Speech Motor Learning and Retention Master Protocol has uniqueID 2000037622.

Conditions

Speech

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to auditory cortex

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving altered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere auditory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to somatosensory cortex

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving altered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere somatosensory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving altered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere motor cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Altered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex control zone

Participants in a control condition will undergo the same procedures using cTBS to a motor cortex control zone in the right hemisphere (associated with the hand muscle first dorsal interosseous). cTBS will be applied following learning and subjects will return 24 hours later to test for retention. This control condition is included as a test for non-specific effects of cTBS stimulation.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to auditory cortex

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving unaltered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere auditory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to somatosensory cortex

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving unaltered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere somatosensory cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex

Participants will perform learning tasks while receiving unaltered auditory feedback.This procedure will be repeated on day 2. cTBS will be applied to the left hemisphere motor cortex following learning. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Unaltered auditory feedback + cTBS to motor cortex control zone

Participants in a control condition will undergo the same procedures using cTBS to a motor cortex control zone in the right hemisphere (associated with the hand muscle first dorsal interosseous). cTBS will be applied following learning and subjects will return 24 hours later to test for retention. This control condition is included as a test for non-specific effects of cTBS stimulation. If the effects of cTBS are specific to learning, no effect should be observed in these control conditions.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Adaptation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Auditory adaptation in speech

Interventions

continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)

Non-invasive brain stimulation, evoked potentials and fMRI will be used to identify brain regions involved in speech motor learning and retention.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Adaptation

Auditory adaptation in speech

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Fluent English speakers
• Right-handed
• Normal hearing
• No speech disorder or reading disability

Exclusion Criteria

• Cardiac pacemaker
• Aneurysm clip
• Heart or Vascular clip
• Prosthetic valve
• Metal implants
• Metal in brain, skull, or spinal cord
• Implanted neurostimulator
• Medication infusion device
• Cochlear implant or tinnitus (ringing in ears)
• Personal and/or family history of epilepsy or other neurological disorders or history of head concussion
• Psychoactive medications
• Pregnancy

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 40 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Yale University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

David Ostry

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Yale University

Locations

Yale Child Study Center

New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

David Ostry

Role: CONTACT

david.ostry@yale.edu

2038656163

Other Identifiers

1R01DC022097-01A1

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

2000037622_a

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id