Sensorimotor Basis of Speech Motor Learning and Retention
Yale University
Summary
The overall goal of this research is to test a new model of speech motor learning, whose central hypothesis is that learning and retention are associated with plasticity not only in motor areas of the brain but in auditory and somatosensory regions as well.
Description
Aim 1 involves tests of speech motor memory retention following disruption of left hemisphere brain activity in either auditory, somatosensory or motor cortex or to a control site (hand area motor cortex right hemisphere). Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) is delivered following adaptation to altered auditory feedback to assess its effects on the retention of new learning. Aim 2 assesses the temporal order in which plasticity occurs in cortical motor and sensory brain areas during speech motor learning. In Aim 3, resting-state fMRI will be interleaved with speech motor adaptation. Fo…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–40 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Fluent English speakers * Right-handed * Normal hearing * No speech disorder or reading disability Exclusion Criteria: * Cardiac pacemaker * Aneurysm clip * Heart or Vascular clip * Prosthetic valve * Metal implants * Metal in brain, skull, or spinal cord * Implanted neurostimulator * Medication infusion device * Cochlear implant or tinnitus (ringing in ears) * Personal and/or family history of epilepsy or other neurological disorders or history of head concussion * Psychoactive medications * Pregnancy
Interventions
- Devicecontinuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS)
cTBS stimulation will be applied to different areas of the brain following learning. Stimulation will take place following learning in order to block motor memory retention.
- BehavioralAdaptation
Auditory adaptation in speech
- DeviceSingle pulse Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
TMS will be delivered 10 times in each motor evoked potentials (MEP) recording block.
- DevicefMRI
To assess functional connectivity patterns between regions that predict learning.
Location
- Yale Child Study CenterNew Haven, Connecticut