The goal of this study is to understand the basic brain mechanisms supporting episodic memory in healthy young adults. Transcranial magnetic stimulation will be used to influence brain activity in regions thought to be important for episodic memory. Behavioral testing and MRI will be used to measure the effects of stimulation on memory and on changes in brain network interactions, allowing us to draw causal inferences regarding the role of specific brain regions in memory processes.
In this study, healthy young adult participants will complete three sessions: an MRI session for collecting structural and functional brain images and two sessions including transcranial magnetic stimulation followed by MRI. In one stimulation condition, stimulation will target a brain region of experimental interest (lateral parietal cortex) and in the other, stimulation will target a control brain region (vertex). Both stimulation conditions will be followed by MRI scans and a memory task. All participants will complete all experimental conditions. The order of stimulation conditions will be counterbalanced across subjects. Trials in the memory task will be randomized separately for each participant. Thus, each participant will experience the same number of sessions and trials in each condition, but their experiences will be different due to counterbalancing and randomization. Randomization and counterbalancing of trial conditions will occur before participants are recruited, thus these aspects of the study design are predetermined before participant involvement. Data analysis will be based on within subject effects of stimulation on behavioral measures of memory performance and neural measures of functional connectivity in key regions of interest.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
40
Transcranial magnetic stimulation will be used to stimulate brain activity in a brain region of experimental interest (lateral parietal cortex) and in a control brain region (vertex). All participants will experience both forms of stimulation, in separate sessions. Stimulation will be applied as a probe to understand the basic phenomenon of how brain processes support episodic memory.
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States
RECRUITINGAccuracy on tests of episodic memory
Participants will complete tasks where they encode and retrieve events. Episodic memory quality will be assessed as the accuracy with which they can recall scene details associated with each event.
Time frame: Tasks will be completed during the hour following stimulation.
Task-related functional connectivity among posterior medial brain regions
Psychophysiological interaction analyses will be used to assess task-related functional connectivity while participants complete the memory retrieval task. This will identify interactions among brain regions that are associated with successful memory retrieval.
Time frame: Functional connectivity will be assessed during the hour following stimulation.
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