Speech Motor Learning and Retention (Aim 3)

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Speech
• Interventions: Device: fMRI; Behavioral: Adaptation

• Registration Number: NCT06492252
• Lead Sponsor: Yale University

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 3. Excitability will be assessed. In Aim 3, resting-state fMRI will be interleaved with speech motor adaptation, again using Harvard Sentences. Additional scans and retention tests will be conducted 24 hours later, to assess motor memory consolidation.

The Speech Motor Learning and Retention Master Protocol is NCT06467292.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2024-07
• Study First Submitted: 2024-07-01
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-07-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-07-01
• Study First Posted: 2024-07-09
• Last Update Posted: 2024-07-09
• Study Start: 2025-07
• Primary Completion: 2027-07
• Study Completion: 2027-07

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 50

Inclusion Criteria

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

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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

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Altered auditory feedback + fMRI	Adaptation	Participants will perform learning tasks then undergo fMRI. This procedure will be repeated on day 2. Functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning will be assessed. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.
Control Condition	fMRI	Participants in a control condition who will undergo the same procedures, without altered feedback
Altered auditory feedback + fMRI	fMRI	Participants will perform learning tasks then undergo fMRI. This procedure will be repeated on day 2. Functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning will be assessed. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.
Control Condition	Adaptation	Participants in a control condition who will undergo the same procedures, without altered feedback

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in fMRI resting-state connectivity following speech motor learning	baseline and at the end of learning (30 minute session)	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.
Speech motor learning	Performance as measured at the end of learning (30 minute session)	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.
Retention of learning	24 hours after learning (re-test lasts 30 minutes)	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.
fMRI resting-state connectivity measures of motor memory retention	24 hours after learning (re-test lasts 30 minutes)	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.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Yale Child Study Center; 🇺🇸 New Haven, Connecticut, United States