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Purpose

This study will investigate the role of coordinated brain rhythms during sleep in memory consolidation and determine whether playing precisely timed brief bursts of noise can enhance these rhythms and improve memory in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes.

Condition

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 12 Years and 65 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • Inpatients with epilepsy - Aged 12-65 - Undergoing clinically indicated continuous scalp and intracranial EEG monitoring with implanted hippocampal electrodes - Fluent in English - Able to give informed consent/assent (for minors aged 12-17 or adults with an appointed guardian)

Exclusion Criteria

  • Intellectual disability impairing ability to perform task - Motor problems that preclude finger tapping task - Previous surgery anticipated to disrupt coordination of sleep oscillations in the circuitry of interest

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
N/A
Intervention Model
Single Group Assignment
Primary Purpose
Basic Science
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Epilepsy inpatients 		Epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous scalp EEG monitoring
  • Other: Baseline
    Hippocampal and scalp EEG monitoring during overnight sleep
  • Other: Motor procedural memory task
    Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep with MST testing the following morning
  • Other: Motor procedural memory task plus auditory stimulation
    Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep that includes auditory stimulation, with MST testing the following morning

Recruiting Locations

Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Contact:
Dara Manoach, PhD
617-724-6148
dara.manoach@mgh.harvard.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital

Study Contact

Dara Manoach, PhD
617-724-6148
dara.manoach@mgh.harvard.edu

Detailed Description

The investigators will test the hypotheses that coordinated brain rhythms during nonrapid eye movement sleep are associated with memory consolidation and can be enhanced with auditory stimulation (playing precisely timed brief bursts of quiet noise) to improve memory. The investigators will measure differences in sleep and memory performance in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous full scalp EEG monitoring under three overnight sleep conditions: a baseline night; a memory night during which sleep-dependent memory consolidation is assessed with the finger tapping motor sequence task (MST) with training prior to sleep and testing the next morning; and a stimulation night during which participants train on the MST, have precisely timed auditory stimulation during the sleep that follows, and are tested on the MST in the morning.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.