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Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Language Comprehension

NCT05283265 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 153

Last updated 2026-03-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

First, in a recording-only self-paced reading experiment, patients with epilepsy undergoing intracranial monitoring for clinical purposes will read or listen to sentences presented to them one word at time while the investigators simultaneously record neural activity through intracranial electrodes that are implanted for clinical purposes (see subject populations). At the end of the sentence, the subjects have to indicate how they comprehended the sentence by selecting which of several pictures matches the sentence they just read. Behavioral measures that the investigators record and analyze are their response times to advance to each next word in the sentence, and which picture they chose for each sentence. These behavioral measures are compared against the neural activity simultaneously recorded as they are made.

Then, in a later session, the same participants will participate in a task-related stimulation experiment. This follows the exact same design as the recording-only reading experiment, the only difference is that on some trials, at controlled moments during the sentence presentation intracranial electrical stimulation is delivered through adjacent intracranial electrode contacts. The investigators will examine the effect of this stimulation on the subjects comprehension of the sentences measured by their behavior, and on the simultaneously recorded neural activity.

Conditions

  • Language Disorders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sentence Type

Subjects read different types of sentences (object-relative, subject -relative and control sentences) to observe how that sentence affects their intracranially recorded neural activity.

OTHER

Direct brain stimulation

On some trials the investigators will apply intracranial electrical current through the electrodes implanted in the participants and observe the effect this has on their behavior (which picture they choose at the end of the trial) and the effect this has on their neural activity that the investigators record simultaneously through-out the experiment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

    collaborator NIH

  • University of Alabama at Birmingham

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Matthew Nelson, PhD · The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-04-08
Primary Completion
2026-10-08
Completion
2026-10-08

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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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 NCT05283265 on ClinicalTrials.gov