Brain Function in Performance of Motor Tasks

NCT00498329 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 07018707-N-0187
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 144
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will examine how the areas in the brain are connected when they are controlling two finger movements at the same time. It will look at how people use what they see to help guide two different movements. This ability, which is important in everyday life, can be a problem for patients with neurological problems. Healthy right-handed volunteers 18 years of age and older may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. MRI uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of body organs and tissues. The MRI scanner is a metal cylinder surrounded by a strong magnetic field. The subject lies on a table that can slide in and out of the scanner, wearing earplugs to muffle loud noises that occur during the scanning. Participants undergo functional MRI (fMRI). This is a standard MRI that is done while the subject performs skilled finger tasks in response to instructions they see on a screen. Researchers localize brain areas which show activity changes while the tasks are performed. Before the test session begins, subjects complete a questionnaire and have an opportunity to practice the task. Subjects control the position of one or two cursors on a screen using one or two fingers. They perform tracking or pointing tasks according to what they see on the screen. During the single-task experiment only one task is presented on the screen. During the dual-task experiment, two tasks are presented on the screen. Subjects perform either the single-task or dual-task experiment, but not both. The fMRI lasts about 90 minutes, with subjects asked to lie still during the scan for up to 9 minutes at a time. After completing the fMRI, subjects are scheduled for a research electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetoencephalogram (MEG). The test is done while the subject performs tasks so that researchers can learn about the timing of changes in activity in certain brain regions during performance of the same tasks done for the fMRI.

Conditions

Brain Connectivity

Keywords

fMRI; Electroencephalogram (EEG); Attention; Sensorimotor Integration; Human Brain; Healthy Volunteer; HV

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 60 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Subjects age from 18 to older.
• Subjects must be right-hand dominant (Edinburgh Handedness Quotient greater than 60), except if they are part of the control group to match left handed patients.
• Subjects willing to abstain from caffeine or alcohol for 48 hours prior to the fMRI scanning and MEG or EEG recording
• men and women aged 18 to 75 years with DOPA-responsive PD
• modified Hoehn and Yahr grade of 2 to 4 while OFF
• must be on a medical regimen that includes levodopa.
• total dose of levodopa and dopamine agonists (using dopamine equivalents) has to be equal to or more than 300 milligrams per day
• patients willing to abstain from caffeine or alcohol for 48 hours prior to the fMRI scanning and MEG or EEG recording.
• Between 18 and 65 years old
• Diagnosed with focal hand dystonia
• patients willing to abstain from caffeine or alcohol for 48 hours prior to the fMRI scanning and MEG or EEG recording

You may not qualify if:

• Subjects with any abnormal findings on the neurological exam,
• Subjects who are pregnant (as determined by positive urine pregnancy test) which prevents them having an MRI
• Subjects with any finding on the MRI safety questionnaire which prevents them from safely undergoing an MRI scan
• Subjects with metallic dental fillings which are likely to cause MRI artifacts
• Subjects with any history of brain tumor, stroke, head trauma or a vascular malformation as obtained by history or from imaging studies
• Subjects with any history of a severe medical condition, such as cardiovascular disease, which would prevent them from lying flat for up to 120 minutes
• Subjects without the capacity to give informed consent
• Subjects with claustrophobia or other restrictions which prevent them from undergoing a scan in a confined space for up to 90 minutes
• Patients with any abnormal findings on the neurological exam, with the exception of neurological findings consistent with Parkinson disease.
• any active psychiatric disease
• concurrent use of tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic agents, or any other licit or illicit drugs other than anti-parkinsonian agents that could lower the seizure threshold except for SSRI
• history of pallidotomy
• presence of implanted electrodes and generator for deep brain stimulation
• the study would cause undue risk or stress for reasons such as excessive fatigue, general frailty, or excessive apprehensiveness.
• dementia as assessed by the Folstein's Mini Mental Test Examination (MMSE \< 24/30) or mentally impaired patients having no capacity to provide their own consent (the physician establishing the diagnosis and applying UPDRS will evaluate patient's mental capacity using conventional clinical interview)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS): lead

Study Sites (1)

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Singer W. Synchronization of cortical activity and its putative role in information processing and learning. Annu Rev Physiol. 1993;55:349-74. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ph.55.030193.002025. No abstract available.

  PMID: 8466179 BACKGROUND

• Singer W, Gray CM. Visual feature integration and the temporal correlation hypothesis. Annu Rev Neurosci. 1995;18:555-86. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ne.18.030195.003011. No abstract available.

  PMID: 7605074 BACKGROUND

• von der Malsburg C, Schneider W. A neural cocktail-party processor. Biol Cybern. 1986;54(1):29-40. doi: 10.1007/BF00337113.

  PMID: 3719028 BACKGROUND

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: NIH

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 7, 2007
• First Posted: July 10, 2007
• Study Start: July 3, 2007
• Study Completion: November 18, 2011
• Last Updated: July 2, 2017

Record last verified: 2011-11-18

Locations

US (1)