Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to understand how the sensory and motor areas of the brain work together to keep a person's hand movements accurate (sensorimotor learning). The investigators hope this information may be useful one day to improve rehabilitation techniques in patients with brain lesions.


Clinical Trial Description

Human perception of hand position is multisensory. The brain can estimate it visually, from an image on the retina, and proprioceptively, from receptors in the joints and muscles. The sensory inputs determining these percepts are subject to changes in environmental factors (e.g., lighting) and internal factors (e.g., movement history). Multisensory integration of visual and proprioceptive estimates gives us flexibility to cope with such changes. For example, washing dishes with the hands immersed in water creates a spatial misalignment between vision and proprioception, as water refracts light. The brain resolves this conflict by realigning visual and/or proprioceptive estimates of hand position, and also by adjusting motor commands (visuomotor adaptation). The neural basis of these adaptive processes is poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to find out if multisensory and visuomotor learning are accompanied by changes in resting state connectivity between sensory regions of the brain and other areas. The first session is a familiarization session for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the behavioral task, and is expected to last 30-40 minutes. Subjects will first fill out screening forms to confirm the answers given during the initial screening, and the Edinburgh handedness inventory to quantify their handedness. If subjects are still eligible, subjects will lie in a mock scanner and perform the functional task: Subjects will have their left index finger taped to a wooden stick, and an experimenter from the team will manipulate the finger with the stick outside of the scanner. Subjects will respond to the different movements by pressing buttons with their right hand. Subjects will also be introduced to the behavioral task, which is performed at an apparatus in the room next to the scanner: Subjects sit in front of a touchscreen and point to targets seen in a mirror. If subjects are interested in moving on to the main session at this point, the main session will be scheduled and group assignment will be determined. There will be 3 groups: 1. Visuo-proprioceptive realignment (perceptual learning) 2. Visuomotor adaptation (motor learning) 3. Control (no learning) The main session will take about 2 hours. Subjects will first fill out the MR safety screening form. Subjects will then perform some practice trials of the behavioral task to remind the subject of the task. This will be followed by the first resting state scan (12 min), a 20-30 minute baseline block of the behavioral task (no learning), a second resting state scan (12 min), the 20-30 minute learning block of the behavioral task (perceptual learning, motor learning, or no learning, depending on group assignment), and a third resting state scan (12 min). Finally, the subject will do the functional task in the scanner (same as familiarization session, 12 min. total) and an anatomical scan (~6 minutes). The session will conclude with some questions about the subject's subjective experience of the procedures. ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT05124301
Study type Interventional
Source Indiana University
Contact Hannah Block, PhD
Phone 8128555390
Email hjblock@indiana.edu
Status Recruiting
Phase N/A
Start date April 13, 2022
Completion date December 2025

See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Completed NCT01860287 - The Effects of Buprenorphine on Responses to Verbal Tasks Early Phase 1
Recruiting NCT05079516 - Neural Basis of Sensory Learning: Brain Regions N/A
Recruiting NCT05953038 - LSD Occupancy of the Serotonin 2A Receptor in the Human Brain Early Phase 1
Completed NCT03541473 - Phosphate Metabolites in Brain of Humans Aged 50+ N/A
Recruiting NCT03289949 - The Neurobiological Effect of 5-HT2AR Modulation Phase 1
Recruiting NCT05739994 - Frontal and Parietal Contributions to Proprioception and Motor Skill Learning N/A
Completed NCT04443647 - Influence of Oxytocin on Approach-avoidance Tendencies to Social and Non-social Stimuli N/A
Recruiting NCT05374460 - Factors Affecting Sensory and Motor Learning N/A