Using tDCS to Promote Speech Motor Learning

 描述(申请人提供)：中风是美国残疾的主要原因，经常导致言语障碍，造成参与专业、社会和家庭环境的障碍。虽然针对特定损伤部位的言语治疗可以促进康复，但改善仍然不大，通常需要大量治疗，这会导致医疗成本上升。因此，需要采取具有时间和成本效益的干预措施，以加快和加强恢复。最近来自中风康复相关领域(肢体运动控制和语言)的研究表明，非侵入性神经刺激，如经颅直流电刺激(Tdcs)可能会改善治疗结果，但针对言语障碍的改善结果的潜力尚未被探索。拟议项目的职业发展和研究计划将使候选人能够以独立研究员的身份建立T2翻译研究计划，系统地探索TDC改善中风引起的言语障碍患者的治疗结果的潜力。职业发展计划将有助于扩大候选人的研究计划，包括对tDCs诱导的可塑性及其促进未受损和受损的言语运动学习的潜力的基础和临床研究 扬声器。该研究计划通过调查tdcs与练习诱导的言语运动学习的交互作用，为本研究计划提供了实证基础。这项研究的长期目标是为获得性疾病患者开发有效的干预方法。 将理论指导的干预与治疗增强的神经调节技术相结合造成的言语障碍。这项建议的主要目标是建立一种使用tdcs支持语音运动学习的最佳实践方法。这一建议的中心假设是，非侵入性神经调节可以增强言语运动学习，包括对获得性言语障碍的靶向干预的治疗结果。这项拟议研究的基本原理是，了解神经调节和言语运动学习之间的相互作用可能有助于确定提高中风治疗结果的最有效方法，同时扩展我们关于言语和非言语运动学习之间关系的基本科学知识。这项拟议的研究具有重要意义，因为它将使干预程序的开发能够最大限度地从获得性言语障碍中恢复过来，将靶向治疗与tDCs相结合，以揭示慢性中风幸存者皮质可塑性的剩余能力。这项拟议的研究与NIH使命中与发展基础知识相关的部分相关，这可能有助于减轻人类残疾的负担。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Stroke is a leading cause of disability in the United States, frequently leading to speech impairment that creates barriers to participation in professional, social, and family settings. While recovery can be promoted with speech treatment targeted to the specific locus of impairment, improvement remains modest and typically requires a large amount of therapy which contributes to rising health care costs. Thus, there is a need for time- and cost-efficient interventions to expedite and enhance recovery. Recent studies from related domains of stroke rehabilitation (limb motor control and language) indicate that non-invasive neurostimulation such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance treatment outcomes, but the potential for improving outcomes specifically for speech impairment has not yet been explored. The career development and research plans of the proposed project will allow the candidate to establish a T2 translational research program as an independent investigator to systematically explore the potential for tDCS to enhance treatment outcomes in individuals with stroke-induced speech impairment. The career development plan will help expand the candidate's research program to include basic and clinical investigations of tDCS-induced plasticity and its potential to facilitate speech motor learning in unimpaired and impaired speakers. The research plan provides an empirical foundation for this research program by investigating the interaction of tDCS and practice-induced speech motor learning. The long-term goal of this research is to develop effective intervention approaches for individuals with acquired speech impairment by combining theoretically-guided intervention with treatment-enhancing neuromodulation techniques. The main objective of this proposal is to establish a best-practice approach for using tDCS to support speech motor learning. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that non-invasive neuromodulation can enhance speech motor learning, including treatment outcomes for targeted interventions for acquired speech impairment. The rationale for the proposed research is that understanding the interaction between neuromodulation and speech motor learning may help determine the most effective approach to enhancing stroke treatment outcomes while extending our basic science knowledge of the relationship between speech and non-speech motor learning. The proposed research is significant because it will enable the development of intervention procedures that maximize recovery from acquired speech impairment, combining targeted therapy with tDCS to unmask the residual capacity for cortical plasticity in chronic stroke survivors. The proposed research is relevant to that part of NIH's mission that pertains to developing fundamental knowledge that will potentially help to reduce the burdens of human disability.