Eligibility |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Potential subjects must be between the ages of 18-45 years old and right-handed.
- We will only test right-handed individuals.
- We will only include individuals who report being free of Covid symptoms in week
preceding testing.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Current vision problems, other than needing glasses or contacts.
- Subjects will also be excluded if they currently suffer from frequent severe
headaches, glaucoma, heart or respiratory disease, hypertension, psychiatric
conditions, or learning or attention conditions.
- They will also be excluded for current or past: visual, hearing, or balance
impairments; stroke, seizure/epilepsy (including family history), or severe head
trauma; fainting; or diabetes.
- Subjects will be excluded for metal implants in the head other than titanium; cochlear
implants; implanted neurostimulator; cardiac pacemaker; intracardiac lines; or a
medication infusion device.
- Because TMS does not penetrate deeply into the head, we cannot test subjects whose
hair does not permit contact between the TMS coil and the scalp. We will therefore
exclude subjects with dreadlocks, weaves, or hair extensions.
- To protect the data from extraneous peripheral influences, we will also exclude
subjects who have had serious injury to the bones, joints, or muscles of either hand
or arm, and have not fully recovered. For the purpose of this study, "fully recovered"
means they no longer notice any pain, weakness, or loss of sensation in the injured
area, and have no mobility limitations.
- For the validity of our data, we will exclude subjects taking medications or drugs
that are known to affect cortical excitability and possibly seizure risk in an rTMS
study. These medications/drugs are (Rossi et al., 2009): imipramine, amitriptyline,
doxepine, nortriptyline, maprotiline, chlorpromazine, clozapine, foscarnet,
ganciclovir, ritonavir, amphetamines, cocaine, (MDMA, ecstasy), phencyclidine (PCP,
angel's dust), ketamine, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), theophylline, mianserin,
fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, citalopram, reboxetine, venlafaxine,
duloxetine, bupropion, mirtazapine, fluphenazine, pimozide, haloperidol, olanzapine,
quetiapine, aripiprazole, ziprasidone, risperidone, chloroquine, mefloquine, imipenem,
penicillin, ampicillin, cephalosporins, metronidazole, isoniazid, levofloxacin,
cyclosporin, chlorambucil, vincristine, methotrexate, cytosine arabinoside, BCNU,
lithium, anticholinergics, antihistamines, sympathomimetics.
- Participants will also be excluded if they have metallic, mechanical, or magnetic
implants; are claustrophobic, or are unable to remain still for long periods of time;
or use an intra-uterine device (IUD) whos MR compatibility has not been established.
- Women who are pregnant or think they might be pregnant will also be excluded, as
effects of fMRI on the unborn are not known.
- People who have a BMI over 30 will be excluded as it may be uncomfortable or
impossible to lay in the MRI scanner.
- Potential subjects will be invited to reschedule if they would otherwise be eligible
(according to the initial screening), but the day of testing have drunk more than 3
units of alcohol or taken other recreational drugs in the 24 hour period prior to
testing; have had more than 3 cups of coffee in the last hour; are sleep deprived (<4
hours sleep the previous night); or have participated in another brain stimulation
experiment the same day. These are standard in the TMS literature to protect the
validity of the data and keep seizure risk minimal. In addition, we will invite invite
subjects to reschedule if they have any of the common Covid symptoms within the last
week. If they don't believe they can meet these criteria on another date, they will be
excluded.
- After giving their consent, participants may be excluded during or after the
familiarization session if they are unable to perform the tasks or follow
instructions, or if their TMS stimulation parameters cannot be reliably determined by
the experimenter, or if TMS is not well tolerated.
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