Investigating Accelerated Learning and Memory in Healthy Subjects Using a Face Name Memory Task

Healthy Adults Clinical Trial

Official title:

Investigating Accelerated Learning and Memory in Healthy Subjects Using a Face Name Memory Task

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03309072
• Other study ID #: 17-96
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 27, 2017
• Est. completion date: January 25, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: January 2022
• Source: The University of Texas at Dallas
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether we can accelerate learning and improve associative memory performance in healthy subjects by applying transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) during a Face Name memory task.

Description:

Associative memory refers to remembering the association between two items, such as a face and a name or a word in English and the same word in another language. It is not only important for learning, but it is also one of the first aspects of memory performance that is impacted by aging and by Alzheimer׳s disease. For decades, neuroscientists have investigated associative learning and memory and ways to accelerate and enhance associative learning and memory. Transcranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive and painless electrical stimulation technique that has demonstrated to accelerate learning and improve memory in some studies. To investigate whether we can accelerate learning and improve associative memory using tDCS, we will compare the performance in a Face Name Associate memory task from 2 groups. The first group will get active tDCS during the study phase of the Face Name Memory task, whereas the second group will get sham tDCS during the study phase of the task.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 30
• Est. completion date: January 25, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: January 25, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 35 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age: 18-35 years
• Native English Speaker

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of severe head injuries, epileptic insults, or heart disease.
• Severe psychiatric disorders and severe untreated medical problems.
• Contraindications for tDCS (pregnant women, implanted devices)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Healthy Adults

Intervention

Device:
• tDCS
active tDCS
• sham tDCS
sham tDCS

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	The University of Texas of Dallas	Richardson	Texas

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
The University of Texas at Dallas

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Associative Memory Assessed by a Face Name Associate Memory Experiment	All participants performed a face memory task .The face stimuli consisted of 120 grayscale pictures of human faces. Only faces with a neutral expression facing forward were selected. Half of the faces were male, and the other half were female. The face-name association memory task was divided into (1) an encoding phase, (2) a consolidation phase, and (3) a retrieval phase. During the encoding phase, participants studied 60 successively presented face-name pairs and were instructed to assess their gender to keep them focused to the task. The encoding phase was followed by a consolidation phase where participants were instructed to "sit still, relax, and think about nothing in particular" for 10 minutes, During the retrieval phase, participants were presented with 60 old and 60 new faces and were instructed to assess whether they have seen this face during the encoding phase.; The outcome was the percent of Correct Name to Face Matches	Associate Memory is assessed after a 10 minutes break following the study phase