This study will use electroencephalography (EEG) to examine how the brain prepares for movement. It will look at 1) what changes occur in a person's brain just before voluntary movement, 2) when the changes occur, 3) how consistent the changes are, and 4) how the changes vary from person to person. The information from this study will be applied to other studies, such as exploring how brain changes that signal movement can be used to control prostheses in patients with spinal cord injuries or stroke.

Healthy normal volunteers 18 years of age and older may be eligible for this study. People with neurologic or psychiatric disorders and people taking medicines that may affect brain signals (e.g., Valium) may not participate.

Participants will come to the NIH Clinical Center on two separate days for testing sessions of 2 to 3 hours each. At each session, an EEG cap will be placed on the head to record brain signals, and electrodes will be placed on the arms to record movement. Subjects will perform simple movements during the EEG recording, such as flexing their arm of clenching their fist. Researchers will use the first recording to determine the pattern of how the brain prepares for movement. During the second recording, they will try to predict the subjects' movements, based on the patterns discerned in the first recording.

Condition
Healthy

Human voluntary movement is associated with at least two distinct types of scalp electroencephalographic (EEG) changes. Event-related potentials are slow, DC signals that develop in the bifrontal region as early as 1.5 seconds prior to movement. They are detected by averaging multiple events in the time domain and generally require at least 40-50 events to allow detection of the signal within the noise. Frequency changes however, are more robust and may be seen reliably on individual traces. The frequency changes occur in the alpha (8-13 Hz) range as well as beta (13-30 Hz) and may be occur up to 2 seconds before movement. This leads to the notion that real-time analysis of the EEG may allow one to predict individual movement; and if this can be done reliably, it might lead to further insight about how the brain prepares for movement as well as potential therapeutic options such as cortically based prosthetic control.

Our initial study is an exploratory study using real-time EEG to identify the factors that allow one to reliably predict normal human voluntary movement. Subjects will be normal volunteers, studied in the EEG lab in the Human Motor Control Section. Subjects will first undergo a routine EEG with surface electromyography and be asked to perform a simple motor task during the recording. The EEG will then be processed using standard techniques to identify the location and time course of EEG signals in response to movement. Once this has occurred, subjects will return for real-time study using their individual identified factors to predict movement. Rate of successful movement prediction will be primary outcome measure.

Results from this study will then be used to design further protocols to study human voluntary movement and clinical applications as appropriate.

Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Criteria

INCLUSION CRITERIA:
Healthy normal volunteers over age 18.
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Subjects on any medication that may effect the EEG such as benzodiazepines or antiepileptic medications.
Subjects who are unable to perform simple voluntary movement of both hands.
Subjects who have any neurologic or psychiatric condition.

Maryland
      National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), 9000 Rockville Pike,  Bethesda,  Maryland,  20892,  United States; Recruiting

Study ID Numbers:  020109; 02-N-0109
Record last reviewed:  November 13, 2003
Last Updated:  November 13, 2003
Record first received:  January 26, 2002
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00029939
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2004-11-08