Decoding and Selective Modulation of Human Memory During Awake/Sleep Cycles

NCT05452122 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: U01NS1231281U01NS123128-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 150
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The proposed project seeks to elucidate memory processes and consolidation during sleep by leveraging the unique capability of direct recordings from the human brain at multiple levels of resolution-single neurons, localized neuronal assemblies, intracranial local field potentials-during rich behavioral tasks with real-life narratives and extracting neural features that relate to different aspects of episodic experience. The investigators will further probe causal mechanisms of consolidation by application of auditory and electrical stimulations during sleep and its effect on modulating memory processes.

Conditions

Memory, Delayed

Keywords

sleep; stimulation; memory; learning; single-unit

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Recognition Accuracy

  Accuracy will be analyzed to evaluate performance on memory tasks before and after sleep, specifically the ability to recognize correct items compared to all items. Accuracy will be measured using the sum of true positive and true negative divided by the total number of items. A within-subjects design will be employed and accuracy for stimulated vs. non-stimulated items will be compared.

  1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay; Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the pre- and post-sleep memory tasks

• Recognition Discriminability (D-prime)

  Discriminability will be analyzed to evaluate performance on memory tasks before and after sleep, specifically the ability to recognize target items from distractor items. Discriminability will be measured using a discriminability index (d-prime). In addition to d-prime being a normalized metric, it provides critical and complementary information to the accuracy metric (Outcome 1) given that it is a measure of sensitivity (and not bias) in the cases where data labels are not balanced . A within-subjects design will be employed and discriminability for stimulated vs. non-stimulated items will be compared.

  1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay; Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the pre- and post-sleep memory tasks.

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Power sleep oscillations

  1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay. Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the sleep period between pre and post-sleep memory tasks.

• Neuronal replay index

  1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay. Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the sleep period between pre and post-sleep memory tasks.

Interventions

Auditory and Electrical Stimulation OTHER

Electrical and auditory stimulation will be applied during sleep.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• All epilepsy patients between the ages of 18 and 65 who undergo depth electrode placement for clinical purposes
• Eligibility is determined by the epilepsy surgery team (based on neuropsychological testing and on psychiatric evaluation)
• Willing to provide informed consent and participate the study

You may not qualify if:

• Neurological or psychiatric issues, other than epilepsy, that would put the patient at risk
• Patient is younger than 18 or older than 65 years of age
• Unwilling to provide informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles: lead
• University of Iowa: collaborator
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of California Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Electric Stimulation

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Physical Stimulation; Investigative Techniques

Central Study Contacts

Andreina Hampton

CONTACT

3236105293; amhampton@mednet.ucla.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 18, 2022
• First Posted: July 11, 2022
• Study Start: July 13, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2026
• Last Updated: October 14, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-10

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: All data will be provided by the time publication occurs or per NIH latest policies for the data to be shared periodically via specialized storage for invasive neurophysiology data.
• Access Criteria: Researchers can request access to the data under collaborative and co-authorship agreements prior to the end of the funding period or before publication.

Locations

US (1)