Neural Basis of Sensory and Motor Learning: Functional Connections

The purpose of this study is to understand how the sensory and motor areas of the brain work together to keep a person's hand movements accurate (sensorimotor learning). The investigators hope this information may be useful one day to improve rehabilitation techniques in patients with brain lesions.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Basic Science
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Perceptual learning

Detailed Description

Human perception of hand position is multisensory. The brain can estimate it visually, from an image on the retina, and proprioceptively, from receptors in the joints and muscles. The sensory inputs determining these percepts are subject to changes in environmental factors (e.g., lighting) and internal factors (e.g., movement history). Multisensory integration of visual and proprioceptive estimates gives us flexibility to cope with such changes. For example, washing dishes with the hands immersed in water creates a spatial misalignment between vision and proprioception, as water refracts light. The brain resolves this conflict by realigning visual and/or proprioceptive estimates of hand position, and also by adjusting motor commands (visuomotor adaptation). The neural basis of these adaptive processes is poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to find out if multisensory and visuomotor learning are accompanied by changes in resting state connectivity between sensory regions of the brain and other areas.

The first session is a familiarization session for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the behavioral task, and is expected to last 30-40 minutes. Subjects will first fill out screening forms to confirm the answers given during the initial screening, and the Edinburgh handedness inventory to quantify their handedness. If subjects are still eligible, subjects will lie in a mock scanner and perform the functional task: Subjects will have their left index finger taped to a wooden stick, and an experimenter from the team will manipulate the finger with the stick outside of the scanner. Subjects will respond to the different movements by pressing buttons with their right hand. Subjects will also be introduced to the behavioral task, which is performed at an apparatus in the room next to the scanner: Subjects sit in front of a touchscreen and point to targets seen in a mirror.

If subjects are interested in moving on to the main session at this point, the main session will be scheduled.

The main session will take about 2 hours. Subjects will first fill out the MR safety screening form. Subjects will then perform some practice trials of the behavioral task to remind the subject of the task. This will be followed by the first resting state scan (12 min), a 20-30 minute baseline block of the behavioral task (no learning), a second resting state scan (12 min), the 20-30 minute learning block of the behavioral task, and a third resting state scan (12 min). Finally, the subject will do the functional task in the scanner (same as familiarization session, 12 min. total) and an anatomical scan (~6 minutes). The session will conclude with some questions about the subject's subjective experience of the procedures.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 76
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Indiana
    • Bloomington, Indiana, United States, 47405
      • Indiana University Bloomington

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ages of 18-45 years old
• Right-handed.
• Free of Covid symptoms in week preceding testing.

Exclusion Criteria:

• metallic, mechanical, or magnetic implants;
• are claustrophobic, or are unable to remain still for long periods of time;
• use an intra-uterine device (IUD) whos MR compatibility has not been established.
• Women who are pregnant or think they might be pregnant will also be excluded, as effects of fMRI on the unborn are not known.
• People who have a BMI over 30 will be excluded as it may be uncomfortable or impossible to lay in the MRI scanner and reach the button box.
• Potential subjects will be excluded if they have any neurological disorders, or orthopedic or pain conditions in the upper limbs.
• Investigators will also exclude subjects who do not have normal vision, or corrected-to-normal vision with contacts, or the imaging center does not have a pair of MRI compatible glasses that fits their prescription.
• investigators will invite subjects to reschedule if they have any of the common Covid symptoms within the last week and if they haven't been fully vaccinated or obtained a negative Covid test within the past 4 days. If they don't believe they can meet these criteria on another date, they will be excluded.
• After giving their consent, participants may be excluded during the study if they are unable to perform the tasks or follow instructions.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Perceptual learning; Reaching task in which visual information about target finger position is offset to induce a change in perception of the finger.	Behavioral: Perceptual learning; Reaching task with visual feedback offset from target finger position.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Resting-state PMv-M1 Functional Connectivity (Fisher Z-transformed Correlation)	Brain activity was measured during a 12-minute resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Resting-state functional connectivity between the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and primary motor cortex (M1) was quantified as the Pearson correlation coefficient between the mean blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) time series extracted from anatomically defined PMv and M1 regions of interest. Correlation coefficients were Fisher z-transformed to improve normality. For each participant, connectivity values were averaged across all scans acquired during the main session. The outcome measure is the mean Fisher z-transformed correlation value (unitless). Numbers range from -1 (opposite activity in the two regions) to 1 (similar activity in the two regions), with 0 implying no relationship between the two regions.	3 scans during the main session (2 hours)
Weighting of Vision vs. Proprioception	Measured by comparing where subjects point on the touchscreen when they are estimating visual vs. proprioceptive targets. A person who relies only on vision would have a weighting value of 100%. A person who relies only on proprioception would have a weighting of 0%. A value of 50% would imply equal reliance on vision and proprioception.	Measured during the main session (2 hours)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Indiana University
• Collaborators: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hannah Block, Indiana University, Bloomington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 13, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 13, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): June 13, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 4, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 16, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): November 17, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 28, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 9, 2026
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 13138; R01NS112367-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All IPD that underlie results published in peer-reviewed journals will be shared except individual brain scans.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: The data will become available when group results are published in peer-reviewed journals
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data will be available on www.osf.io for anyone who wishes to download it. The relevant osf registry will be cited in the peer-reviewed publication so that interested readers can find it.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No