Sensorimotor plasticity and brain stimulation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Measuring and manipulating sensorimotor plasticity using brain stimulation
IRAS ID
121084
Contact name
Jacinta O'Shea
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University
Research summary
Prism adaptation is a form of visuomotor learning that has been used to investigate motor control for over a hundred years. Recently, evidence has arisen that prism adaptation may be effective in treating a disorder of visual perception and cognitive processing that commonly occurs after stroke, called hemispatial ’neglect’. Although prism adaption is considered to hold great therapeutic potential for neglect patients, the mechanisms by which it alters brain function are poorly understood. Furthermore, the therapeutic effects of a single prism adaptation session typically last only up to one day, and repeated interventions are necessary for improvements to persist over a clinically meaningful timescale. The primary goal of the current protocol is to identify the neural circuits that mediate prism adaptation in healthy volunteers, and to investigate the potential utility of using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) of the brain to boost learning and memory of prism adaptation. The secondary objective is to test whether individual differences in brain structure, function and neurochemistry predict variation in the magnitude of behavioural and physiological responses to prism adaptation and its combination with TDCS. Up to 420 participants will be recruited across five studies. Outcome measures will be learning and memory of prism adaptation as measured by pointing movements, and changes in brain activity as measured by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This research is funded by the Royal Society.
REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/SC/0163
Date of REC Opinion
22 May 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion