Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) to Enhance Language Abilities
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Stroke
- Sponsor
- University of Pennsylvania
- Enrollment
- 120
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Performance on the Blocked-Cyclic Naming (BCN) Task
- Status
- Recruiting
- Last Updated
- 8 months ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The goal of this study is to see if transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can be used to enhance language abilities in people with post-stroke aphasia. Participants will receive real and sham tACS in conjunction with various language tests. Researchers will compare the post-stroke aphasia group with aged matched controls to see if brain response to tACS differs between groups.
Detailed Description
This research will investigate whether transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), a form of noninvasive brain stimulation, can be used to enhance language abilities in people with aphasia (PWA) due to stroke and healthy older adults when compared to placebo (sham) tACS. The investigators hypothesize that alpha vs. sham tACS will improve language abilities. In addition, the investigators propose that alpha vs. sham tACS will increase local alpha power as well as alpha-induced functional connectivity, and the degree to which alpha tACS increases will be related to the degree of language performance improvement. Finally, the investigators hypothesize that PWA will exhibit abnormalities in alpha-related activity when compared to matched controls, and aphasia severity will be associated with the degree of PWA dysfunction in alpha power and alpha-driven functional connectivity.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Exclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Performance on the Blocked-Cyclic Naming (BCN) Task
Time Frame: 5-10 minutes after a single session of active (alpha tACS) and sham (fake tACS).
The BCN tasks involves naming a set of pictures repeatedly. Sets of pictures come from either the same semantic category (high competition condition; e.g., categorically related: "dog", "cat", "panda") or different semantic categories (low competition condition; e.g., unrelated: dog, eye, crib).