Rhythm Psychophysics With Parkinson's Patients

NCT07647913 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 19513RGEC27/2025
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 34
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this interventional study is to understand how the rhythmic abilities of individuals in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease (PD) are impacted by their levels of dopamine. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does dopamine shelter the ability to generate and maintain a regular tapping rhythm in the presence of disrupting sensory information?
• Does dopamine allow the adaptation of tapping speed in the presence of changing sensory information?
• Is the engagement of the motor system useful to improve the detection of changes in the tempo of sensory information? Participants will be asked to perform a battery of simple rhythmic tasks On and Off medication to evaluate the effect of dopamine on their rhythmic skills.

Conditions

Parkinson Disease(PD)

Keywords

Parkinson Disease; PD; Rhythm; Sensorymotor synchronization; Perceptual timing; Motor timing; Interval timing

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Changes in mean inter-tap intervals following Levodopa withdrawal during rhythmic tapping tasks.

  Audio recordings from the tapping tasks will be processed to extract onset times corresponding to participant taps (milliseconds). These onset times will be used to compute inter-tap intervals (ITI) by subtracting the earlier onset time from the later one (milliseconds).

  Between experimental sessions one and two, which will take place approximately one week apart.

• Changes in constant error following Levodopa withdrawal during rhythmic tapping tasks.

  Audio recordings from the tapping tasks will be processed to extract the onset times of participant taps (milliseconds). These onset times will be used to compute the constant error (milliseconds) by subtracting the base interval (milliseconds) from the mean inter-tap interval (milliseconds).

  Between experimental sessions one and two, which will take place approximately one week apart.

• Changes in asynchronies following Levodopa withdrawal during rhythmic tapping tasks.

  Audio recordings from the tapping tasks will be processed to extract onset times corresponding to auditory cues and participant taps (both in milliseconds). These onset times will be used to compute asynchronies (milliseconds) between the auditory cues and the taps. The asynchronies will be calculated by subtracting the tap onset from the corresponding auditory cue onset.

  Between experimental sessions one and two, which will take place approximately one week apart.

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Impact of Levodopa withdrawal on motor symptoms severity scales.

  Between experimental Sessions one and two, which will take place approximately one week apart.

• Impact of Levodopa withdrawal on motor symptoms severity scales.

  Between experimental sessions one and two, which will take place approximately one week apart.

Study Arms (1)

Medication state

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will have to attend two sessions scheduled approximately one week apart. During one session, participants will be tested while On medication (levodopa). During the other session, participants will be asked to withhold their medication for 12 hours prior to the experimental session. The order of the sessions will be randomized across participants.

Drug: Withholding Levodopa

Interventions

Withholding Levodopa DRUG

Participants will have to withhold Levodopa medication 12 h before one of two experimental sessions.

Medication state

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 40 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Parkinson's Disease diagnostic
• Stage 1 or 2 Hoenh-Yahr scale
• Taking immediate-release Levodopa
• MoCA score of 26 or above

You may not qualify if:

• Dementia
• Other neurodegenerative disease
• History of substance abuse
• History of hearing disorders
• History of neuropsychiatric disease

Sponsors & Collaborators

• McMaster University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Psychology Building

Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada

Location

Related Publications (29)

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MeSH Terms

Conditions

Parkinson Disease

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Parkinsonian Disorders; Basal Ganglia Diseases; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Movement Disorders; Synucleinopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases

Central Study Contacts

Jonathan Cannon, Dr

CONTACT

(905) 531-6902; cannoj9@mcmaster.ca

Itzamna Sanchez Moncada, Dr

CONTACT

sanchei@mcmaster.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Interventional within-subject non-therapeutic trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 1, 2026
• First Posted: June 15, 2026
• Study Start (Estimated): September 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2027
• Last Updated: June 15, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05

Locations

CA (1)