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Probing the efficacy of neurostimulation on reading and reading-related measures in adults with developmental dyslexia

Not Applicable
Conditions
F81.0
Specific reading disorder
Registration Number
DRKS00030743
Lead Sponsor
Professur für Kognitive und Klinische Neurowissenschaften, Fakultät Psychologie, Technische Universität Dresden
Brief Summary

Not available

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
Pending
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
85
Inclusion Criteria

We plan to include 85 individuals (65 individuals diagnosed with DD and 20 controls) for this study.
The inclusion criteria for the participants with DD will be: (1) right-handed German speakers participants of both genders, diagnosed with DD according to participants’ self-report, lifelong symptoms from childhood; (2) reading accuracy and/or speed, as assessed by measures commonly used for diagnosis of DD in Germany (i.e., LGVT), of at least 1.5 standard deviations (SD) below the mean for typically-reading adults; (3) non-verbal Intelligence Quotient (nvIQ86) higher or equal to 85 (IQ = 85); (4) normal hearing and normal or corrected-to-normal vision.
For the control group, the inclusion criteria will be: (1) right-handed German speakers participants of both genders without any neurological disorders; (2) non-verbal Intelligence Quotient (nvIQ86) higher or equal to 85 (IQ = 85); (3) normal hearing and normal or corrected-to-normal vision.

Exclusion Criteria

The exclusion criteria for the participants with DD involve the following: (1) the presence of other primary psychiatric/neurological diagnosis (e.g., depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD, but not dyscalculia); (2) a personal history of neurological/medical/genetic diseases; (3) ongoing drug treatment influencing brain function; (4) a personal history or first-degree relatives’ history of epilepsy; (5) incompatibility with tDCS; (6) incompatibility with MRI.
The exclusion criteria for the healthy participants involve the following: (1) the presence of any psychiatric/neurological diagnosis (e.g., depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD); (2) a personal history of neurological/medical/genetic diseases; (3) ongoing drug treatment influencing brain function; (4) a personal history or first-degree relatives’ history of epilepsy; (5) incompatibility with MRI.

Study & Design

Study Type
interventional
Study Design
Not specified
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
The primary objective of the current study is testing whether high definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) over V5/MT will lead to improvements on reading in adults with developmental dyslexia (DD) compared to control conditions (HD-tDCS over V1 and sham). For our primary outcome we will test whether, in adults with DD, HD-tDCS over V5/MT compared to baseline and control conditions (HD-tDCS over V1, sham) will improve reading immediately after the stimulation in terms of accuracy and speed in text, word, and nonword reading measures.
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
In our secondary endpoints we will test in adults with DD the following hypotheses:<br>i) HD-tDCS over V5/MT will lead to improvements on reading-related behavioural measures (right visial hemifield (rvh)-motion perception and rapid automatized naming of letters and numbers (RANln) compared to control conditions (HD-tDCS over V1, sham);<br>ii) V5/MT HD-tDCS effects will be largest in those DD who are characterized by slow RANln performance and deficits in rvh-motion perception;<br>iii) the amount of task-dependent modulation of the lateral geniculate nuclei (LGN) for visual speech and structural connectivity strength between LGN and V5 will be correlated with the amount of HD-tDCS effect on rvh- and RANln-behaviour. We assume that the following correlation is the most likely: The more reduction there is in a participant's LGN-V5/MT system (measured via the task-dependent modulation and structural connectivity), the more there will be faciltatory influcence of the HD-tDCS.
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