Investigating Memory in Healthy Subjects Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Healthy Adults Clinical Trial

Official title:

Investigating Memory in Healthy Subjects Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03564353
• Other study ID #: 17-34 CM
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 7, 2018
• 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 improve associative memory performance in healthy subjects, by applying transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) during a verbal paired-associate learning 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 it is possible to improve associative memory using tDCS, the performance in a Verbal Paired-Associate memory task of 4 groups targeting different areas will be compared.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 40
• 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.

• acquainted with the foreign language used in the learning task

• Contraindications for tDCS (pregnant women, implanted devices)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Healthy Adults

Intervention

Device:
• tDCS
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 Verbal Paired-Associate Test	Participants got the opportunity to learn the list of 75-word pairs across a total of eight alternating study (S) and test (T) periods. Participants came back for a final test session (all 75 words tested) 7 days later and were asked to give the English translations of Swahili words. A score was calaculated based on the percentage of words (English trnaslations) correctly recalled words.	Baseline and 1 week after the tDCS