How Many Days Would You Want to Practice a Skill to Achieve it?

October 23, 2020 updated by: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Practice is required to improve your shot in basketball or to play a musical instrument. The learning of these motor skills can be further enhanced by non-invasively stimulating regions of the brain that control movements with electrical currents. These electric currents can strengthen or weaken connections of the brain, which consequently affects a person's ability to improve their performance on a skill. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is widely applied in many disciplines of neuroscience research, and has potential therapeutic application. There are two specific types of NIBS that will be used in this research study: 1) Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), which applies very weak electrical currents via two rubber electrodes on the scalp, and 2) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), which applies magnetic pulses via a coil against the head, to stimulate regions of the brain. Both types of non-invasive brain stimulation (i.e., tDCS, and TMS) are well-tolerated, painless, and safe. The application of tDCS to brain regions that control movements, concurrently with practice of a skill, results in better skill performance, than practice alone with no tDCS. Therefore, in this study, we will be testing different types of brain stimulation and different amounts of practice.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

27

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N 3M5
        • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 44 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • prior history of neurological or psychiatric disease
  • prior experience with the motor task used
  • contraindications to TMS and TDCS (e.g., metal implants, history of seizures and headaches)
  • musculoskeletal injury to upper limb
  • drugs that interact with NIBS (e.g., antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Placebo Brain stimulation
Participants will receive Sham TDCS, and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Device: Sham TDCS
Placebo stimulation is applied to the left motor cortex while participants perform a motor task in the right hand. During the motor task, participants use their right hand to pinch a force transducer that controls an on-screen cursor to navigate between a start position and a sequence of 5 other positions to the right.
Device: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Participants will receive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to allow research investigators to determine the location of the left motor cortex.
Experimental: Excitatory Brain Stimulation
Participants will receive Anodal TDCS, and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Device: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Participants will receive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to allow research investigators to determine the location of the left motor cortex.
Device: Anodal TDCS
Excitatory stimulation is applied to the left motor cortex while participants perform a motor task in the right hand. During the motor task, participants use their right hand to pinch a force transducer that controls an on-screen cursor to navigate between a start position and a sequence of 5 other positions to the right.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Accuracy
Time Frame: Up to 8 days
Accuracy is defined as the proportion of trials per block with hits to all targets in the correct sequence order.
Up to 8 days
Speed
Time Frame: Up to 8 days
Speed is captured by the average sequence movement time per training block
Up to 8 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Joyce Chen, PhD, Sunnybrook Research Institute

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 20, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 31, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

August 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 2, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 14, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

August 15, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 27, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 23, 2020

Last Verified

October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 175-2017

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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