Speech Motor Learning and Retention (Aim 3)

Sensorimotor Basis of Speech Motor Learning and Retention

The overall goal of this research is to test a new model of speech motor learning, whose central hypothesis is that learning and retention are associated with plasticity not only in motor areas of the brain but in auditory and somatosensory regions as well. The strategy for the proposed research is to identify individual brain areas that contribute causally to retention by disrupting their activity with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Investigators will also use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which will enable identification of circuit-level activity which predicts either learning or retention of new movements, and hence test the specific contributions of candidate sensory and motor zones. In other studies, investigators will record sensory and motor evoked potentials over the course of learning to determine the temporal order in which individual sensory and cortical motor regions contribute. The goal here is to identify brain areas in which learning-related plasticity occurs first and which among these areas predict subsequent learning.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Speech
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Adaptation; Device: fMRI; Behavioral: Adaptation

Detailed Description

The focus of this registration is Aim 3. Excitability will be assessed. In Aim 3, resting-state fMRI will be interleaved with speech motor adaptation, again using Harvard Sentences. Additional scans and retention tests will be conducted 24 hours later, to assess motor memory consolidation.

The Speech Motor Learning and Retention Master Protocol is NCT06467292.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 50
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: David Ostry; Phone Number: 2038656163; Email: david.ostry@yale.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520
      • Recruiting
      • Yale Child Study Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Fluent English speakers
• Right-handed
• Normal hearing
• No speech disorder or reading disability

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cardiac pacemaker
• Aneurysm clip
• Heart or Vascular clip
• Prosthetic valve
• Metal implants
• Metal in brain, skull, or spinal cord
• Implanted neurostimulator
• Medication infusion device
• Cochlear implant or tinnitus (ringing in ears)
• Personal and/or family history of epilepsy or other neurological disorders or history of head concussion
• Psychoactive medications
• Pregnancy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Altered auditory feedback + fMRI; Participants will perform learning tasks then undergo fMRI. This procedure will be repeated on day 2. Functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning will be assessed. Participants then leave the laboratory and return 24 hours later to assess retention of learning.	Behavioral: Adaptation; Auditory adaptation in speech; Device: fMRI; To assess functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning.; Behavioral: Adaptation; Auditory baseline in speech
Experimental: Control Condition; Participants in a control condition who will undergo the same procedures, without altered feedback	Behavioral: Adaptation; Auditory adaptation in speech; Device: fMRI; To assess functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning.; Behavioral: Adaptation; Auditory baseline in speech

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Speech motor learning	Audapter software will be used to alter the first and second formant frequencies of the spoken words and this is played back to subjects through headphones. Subjects will be tested both with unaltered feedback and with abruptly introduced frequency shifts.The change in the first (F1) and second format frequency (F2) values will be assessed using Praat.	Performance as measured at the end of learning (30 minute session)
Retention of learning	The retention of adaptation to altered auditory feedback (and relearning) will be quantified in terms of F1 and F2 frequency shifts (relative to pre-training baseline). Larger values indicate more complete relearning or retention.	24 hours after learning (re-test lasts 30 minutes)
Change in fMRI resting-state connectivity following speech motor learning	fMRI resting-state connectivity change following speech motor learning. Functional connectivity will be measured between each of the following regions: Heschel's gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, primary and second somatosensory cortex, supramarginal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, motor and ventral premotor cortex and supplementary motor area.	baseline and at the end of learning (30 minute session)
fMRI resting-state connectivity measures of motor memory retention	fMRI resting-state connectivity measures of motor memory retention. Functional connectivity will be measured between each of the following regions: Heschel's gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, primary and second somatosensory cortex, supramarginal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, motor and ventral premotor cortex and supplementary motor area.	24 hours after learning (re-test lasts 30 minutes)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: David Ostry, Yale University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 4, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 1, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 1, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 26, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 21, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Retention; Speech Motor Learning
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Communication; Verbal Behavior; Speech; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Physiological Phenomena; Tomography; Diagnostic Imaging; Biological Phenomena; Adaptation, Physiological; Adaptation, Biological; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Acclimatization
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2000037622_c; 1R01DC022097-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract: NIH)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No