Cerebellar tDCS on Motor Learning of Healthy Individuals

NCT02557841 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: Cerebellar_tDCS_MotorLearning
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 12
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

A crossover trial with healthy volunteers will be conducted. Three sessions will be performed with at least 48 hours washout period to minimize carry-over effects. In each session, volunteers will be submitted to: fatigue and attention levels evaluation, handwriting test, serial reaction time task (SRTT) before and after ctDCS conditions and after session, a performance perception evaluation.

Conditions

Healthy

Keywords

Cerebellum; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; Motor Learning; Serial Reaction Time Task; Handwriting

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Changes on implicit motor learning

  Serial reaction time task evaluates implicit motor learning through software with visual stimuli presented on a computer screen in four different positions. Volunteer must press, with the non-dominant hand, a corresponding key with predetermined fingers as soon as possible when a highlighted star appears on the screen. The test comprises eight blocks with 120 trials each.

  One week (before and after ctDCS)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Changes on fatigue levels

  One week (before and after ctDCS)

• Changes on attention levels

  One week (before and after ctDCS)

• Changes on explicit motor learning

  One week (before and after ctDCS)

Other Outcomes (2)

• Changes on performance perception

  One week (after each session)

• Cerebellar tDCS adverse effects

  One week (after each session)

Study Arms (3)

anodal ctDCS

EXPERIMENTAL

Volunteers will be submitted to anodal ctDCS + motor learning assessments (SRTT and Handwriting test).

Device: tDCS

cathodal ctDCS

EXPERIMENTAL

Volunteers will be submitted to cathodal ctDCS + motor learning assessments (SRTT and Handwriting test).

Device: tDCS

sham ctDCS

SHAM COMPARATOR

Volunteers will be submitted to sham ctDCS + motor learning assessments (SRTT and Handwriting test)

Device: tDCS

Interventions

tDCS DEVICE

Current will be applied by a DC stimulator (NeuroConn Plus, Germany).The active electrode (anode: 5x7 cm²) will be placed over the left cerebellar hemisphere (3 cm lateral to the inion) and the reference (5x7 cm²), over the left arm with current intensity of 2mA, fade in and fade out of 10 seconds, during 20 minutes.

anodal ctDCS

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Right-handed (assessed by Edinburgh Handedness Inventory)
• Healthy volunteers (self report)
• Absence of neurological and psychiatric diseases
• No history of severe musculoskeletal injury on wrists and fingers
• Without using drugs or neuroactive substances regularly

You may not qualify if:

• Pregnancy
• Presence of metallic implant in close contact to the target stimulation area
• Acute eczema under the target stimulation area
• Pacemaker
• History of seizures or epilepsy
• Hemodynamic instability

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidade Federal de Pernambuco: lead

Study Sites (1)

Applied Neuroscience Laboratory, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Recife, Pernambuco, 50670-900, Brazil

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Electric Stimulation Therapy; Therapeutics; Convulsive Therapy; Psychiatric Somatic Therapies; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Electroshock; Psychological Techniques

Study Officials

• Kátia K Monte-Silva, PhD

  Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: PhD

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 1, 2015
• First Posted: September 23, 2015
• Study Start: September 1, 2015
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2016
• Study Completion: September 1, 2016
• Last Updated: October 12, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-10

Locations

BR (1)