Non-invasive Brain Mapping of Movement Facilitation in Parkinson's Disease

January 5, 2026 updated by: Kathryn A. Cross, MD, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Several strategies or contexts help patients with Parkinson's disease to move more quickly or normally, however the brain mechanisms underlying these phenomena are poorly understood. The proposed studies use complimentary brain mapping techniques to understand the brain mechanisms supporting improved movements elicited by external cues. The central hypothesis is that distinct networks are involved in movement improvement depending on characteristics of the facilitating stimulus. Participants will perform movement tasks during recording of brain activity with EEG and MRI. The identified biomarkers may provide targets for future neuromodulation therapies to improve symptoms that are refractory to current treatments, such as freezing of gait.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The studies proposed here test the overarching hypothesis that different types of cues (visual targets, rhythmic auditory stimuli and reward incentives) facilitate movement through distinct neuroanatomic circuits and electrophysiological mechanisms, by leveraging known variability in behavioral cueing benefits across patients.

Aim 1 is to demonstrate behavioral dissociations between different forms of movement facilitation within patients and relate variability in cueing benefits to integrity of dissociable neuroanatomic circuits as measured by resting state and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Aim 2 is to characterize the electrophysiological correlates of behavioral benefits for the different cue types using electroencephalography (EEG).

Patients will perform two computer tasks involving reaching and tapping movements during video recording of movements and electrophysiological recording of brain signals. Experimental manipulations involve different computer stimuli that manipulate the presence or absence of sensory and motivational movement cues. The same experimental manipulations are delivered to all individual subjects. 60 patients with Parkinson's disease and 30 healthy controls will perform the task during recording of brain waves from the scalp (EEG) and return for a second session to record brain activity with MRI. Each of the total of 2 sessions will last about 1.5 hours. Patients may be asked to delay taking their morning Parkinson's disease medications and perform clinical rating scales and questionnaires and undergo a movement disorders neurological exam.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

90

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

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
        • University of California Los Angeles

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease based on presence of at least 2 cardinal features (tremor, rigidity or bradykinesia) OR healthy adult with no neurologic disease
  • Age > 18 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Dementia as indicated by score on Montreal Cognitive Assessment < 19
  • Active hallucinations or psychosis
  • Contraindications to MRI (metal implant, claustrophobia)

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: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Parkinson disease patients
Participants diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
Behavioral: Movement task
Computer task with experimental conditions manipulating sensory and motivation cues for movement.
Other Names:
  • Computer task
Active Comparator: Healthy adults
Healthy adult age-matched controls
Behavioral: Movement task
Computer task with experimental conditions manipulating sensory and motivation cues for movement.
Other Names:
  • Computer task

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
EEG recordings
Time Frame: baseline
EEG power in the beta band
baseline
BOLD fMRI: functional brain connectivity
Time Frame: up to 4 weeks
Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) resting state network activity as a function of behavioral benefits from external cues
up to 4 weeks
Diffusion tractography imaging (MRI): structural brain connectivity
Time Frame: up to 4 weeks
Diffusion tensor fractional anisotropy as a function of behavioral benefits from external cues
up to 4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Collaborators

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

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)

July 6, 2022

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 16, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 20, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

January 5, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

January 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 19-002135
  • 1K23NS119568 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

De-identified resting state data and diffusion tractography (in raw form) will be available through the LONI Imaging and Data Archive (IDA) along with details of acquisition methods and clinical data and distributed upon approval by the PI. Electrophysiological and behavioral data obtained during task performance will be made available upon request to Dr. Cross (PI) via secured server access. Data sharing agreement will be required for all requests.

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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