Protocol Number: 04-N-0103

Title:

Changes in Intracortical Inhibitory Processes are Associated With the Development of Implicit Learning of a Motor Task

Number:

04-N-0103

Summary:

This study will determine: 1) whether learning a task with the dominant hand is accompanied by changes in the area of the brain that controls hand movement, and 2) how the brain is able to make these changes. Previous studies have shown that practicing a motor task can change brain excitability, but it is not known how well brain excitabilities are changed during motor learning. This study will measure changes in activity of the part of the brain that controls hand movement before, during, and after exercising the hand on a response pad.

Healthy normal volunteers between 18 and 40 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates who have not been evaluated at NIH within the past year will be screened with a brief interview about their current state of health and clinical and neurological examinations. Participants will undergo the following procedures:

Learning a finger movement/reaction time task

For this procedure, participants sit in front of a computer monitor with the index, middle, ring, and little fingers placed flat on four corresponding buttons of a response pad. They are asked to press one of the four buttons as fast as they can in response to an asterisk displayed on the monitor. The position of the asterisk indicates which button to push. Subjects perform nine sets of 120-button pushes with a 15-minute rest between each set. During the rest period, subjects undergo transcranial magnetic stimulation (described below), which causes twitches in the hand muscles. The electrical activity corresponding to the twitches is recorded by attaching electrodes (small metal disks) to the skin over the hand muscles.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

For this test, an insulated wire coil is held over the scalp. A brief electrical current passes through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that electrically stimulates the brain. The subject hears a click and may feel a pulling sensation on the scalp under the coil. The stimulation may also cause twitching in the muscles of the face, arm, or leg. During the stimulation, the subject may be asked to tense certain muscles slightly or perform other simple actions.

Sponsoring Institute:

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Recruitment Detail

Type: Active Accrual Of New Subjects

Gender: Male & Female

Referral Letter Required: No

Population Exclusion(s): Children

Eligibility Criteria:

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Normal volunteers (aged 18 to 40 years) who are willing to participate and who have not participated yet in a protocol using a serial reaction time task (SRRT) and who are not or were not a piano player.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects with current use or history of alcohol or drug abuse, psychiatric disorder requiring hospitalization or prolonged treatment, head injury with loss of consciousness, epilepsy, and neurological disease.

Subjects receiving drugs acting primarily on the central nervous system.

The following exclusion criteria are due to the use of trans cranial magnetic stimulation:

Subjects with cardiac pacemakers, intracardiac lines, implanted medication pumps.

Subjects with eye, blood vessel, cochlear, or eye implants, subjects with increased intracranial pressure as evaluated by clinical means, subjects with metal in the cranium except in the mouth, subjects with dental braces, metal fragments from occupational exposure or surgical clips in or near the brain.

Since this protocol utilizes paired pulse stimulation, there is no reason to exclude pregnant women. However, women in the last trimester of pregnancy will not be studied because they will likely be uncomfortable for three hours training.

Special Instructions: Currently Not Provided

Keywords:

Brain Excitability

Reaction Time

Plasticity

Motor Evoked Potential

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Recruitment Keywords:

Healthy Volunteer

HV

Conditions:

Healthy

Investigational Drug(s):

None

Investigational Device(s):

None

Contacts:

Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office
Building 61
10 Cloister Court
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4754
Toll Free: 1-800-411-1222
TTY: 301-594-9774 (local),1-866-411-1010 (toll free)
Fax: 301-480-9793

Electronic Mail:prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov

Citations:

Bridgers SL, Delaney RC. Transcranial magnetic stimulation: an assessment of cognitive and other cerebral effects. Neurology. 1989 Mar; 39(3): 417-9. PMID: 2927652

Butefisch CM, et al. Mechanisms of use-dependent plasticity in the human motor cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Mar 28; 97(7): 3661-5. PMID: 10716702

Classen J, et al. Rapid plasticity of human cortical movement representation induced by practice. J Neurophysiol. 1998 Feb; 79(2): 1117-23. PMID: 9463469

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Bethesda, Maryland 20892. Last update: 10/23/2004