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Observational Learning in Stroke Patients

NCT00083642 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2017-07-02

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This study will determine how people who have had a stroke learn to perform a movement by observation, as compared with people who have not had a stroke. Normally, a person learns a new hand movement automatically by observing the movement performed by others. Improvement with practice also relies on visual feedback. This "observational training" - i.e., the repeated observation of a movement - is sufficient for normal individuals to learn a movement. This study will examine brain activity related to motor learning in stroke patients and in healthy control subjects to see whether stroke patients process visual-motor information the same way normal subjects do.

Normal volunteers and stroke patients between 18 and 75 years of age may be eligible for this study. Patients must have had paralysis on one side of the body due to a stroke that occurred at least 3 months before entering the study. Candidates who have not had a recent health screening will have a clinical and neurological examination.

Participants undergo the following procedures:

* Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), if one has not been done recently. This test uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of body organs and tissues. The subject lies on a table that can slide in and out of the cylindrical scanner and wears earplugs to muffle loud noises caused by switching of magnetic fields. Scanning time varies from 20 minutes to 3 hours, with most sessions lasting 45 to 90 minutes.
* Task training. The subject practices the task to be performed during functional MRI (see below). The subject makes finger tapping movements, then watches finger movements on a video screen for several minutes, during which time the movie stops from time to time without warning. When the movie stops, the subject must reproduce the last finger movement that appeared on the screen. During this session, the electrical signals of the subject's forearm muscles are recorded at the skin surface. This session lasts up to 3 hours.
* Functional MRI. The subject undergoes MRI scanning while performing the same tasks done in the training session. This session lasts about 3 hours.

Conditions

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

    lead NIH

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
75 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2004-05-25
Completion
2008-06-13

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00083642 on ClinicalTrials.gov