Use of Alpha-frequency Deep Transcranial Interference Stimulation (tIS) to Understand and Modify Temporal Dynamics of Face Emotion Recognition and Social/Affective Function

Summary

The long-term goal of this project is to evaluate whether a procedure termed transcranial interference stimulation (tIS) may be useful in the future in the treatment of severe neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. The purpose of this stage of the project is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of tIS administration in healthy volunteers. This study involves 10 healthy participants without known psychiatric illness X 3 successive doses. Participants may participate in 1-3 doses, yielding a total sample size of 10-30 individuals across doses. The dose of tIS will be escalated progressively across doses. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and side effect checklists will be used to assess tIS safety/tolerability at each dose. In addition, electroencephalogram (EEG) will be collected simultaneously with tIS and used to assess target engagement. Face emotion recognition (FER) data will also be collected, but will be used for feasibility assessment only. If successful, these studies will form the basis for future studies in schizophrenia.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

18–55 years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Device
  Transcranial Interference Stimulation (tIS)

  Field strength dose of 0.30 - 0.40 V/m

• Other
  Sham tIS

  Sham transcranial interferential stimulation. Sham comparator to be administered to all groups.

Location