Cerebellar AtaxiaNCT03972202
The Role of Cerebellum in Speech
A study testing MRI, TMS and Speech-motor behavioral testing in people with Cerebellar Ataxia and Dysarthria, run by University of California, San Francisco at 3 sites in United States.
Trial summary
This study will investigate the how the cerebellum is involved in speech motor learning over time and short-term corrections in patients with cerebellar ataxia and healthy controls. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 75 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Cerebellar Ataxia, Dysarthria, Healthy
- What is being tested?
- MRI, TMS and Speech-motor behavioral testing
- Type of treatment
- Medical device, Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 660 participants
- Where
- 3 sitesUnited States
- Study dates
- 15 Sep 2019to 31 May 2030
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 75 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Diagnosis of cerebellar ataxia (CA) resulting from degeneration of the cerebellum AND normal hearing abilities OR
- Healthy volunteers with no known history of physical or neurological abnormalities AND normal speech, hearing, and reading abilities
- For some studies, primary language of American English may be required
Who cannot join
- Neurological impairment or psychiatric illness
- Exclusion criteria for participants with cerebellar ataxia (CA):
- Neurological impairment or psychiatric illness apart from those arising from cerebellar damage
- Exclusion criteria for participants with CA or for healthy volunteers participating in MRI (may still be eligible for other study procedures):
- Any contraindication to participating in an MRI study including the following: implanted metallic parts or implanted electronic devices, including pacemakers, defibrillators, stimulators, or implant medication pump, or nonremovable piercings; aneurysm clip or other metal in the head (except mouth); claustrophobia precluding MRI
- Exclusion criteria for healthy volunteers participating in TMS (may still be eligible for other study procedures):
Show all 15Show fewer
- Any contraindications to participating in a TMS study including the following: epilepsy, use of certain medications, heart disease, and pregnancy; scalp wounds or infections; any other contraindication discovered during screening procedures
- Any contraindication to participating in an MRI study including the following: implanted metallic parts or implanted electronic devices, including pacemakers, defibrillators, or implant medication pump, or nonremovable piercings; claustrophobia precluding MRI
- Pregnant or trying to become pregnant (may still be eligible for behavioral studies only)
- History of alcohol abuse, illicit drug use or drug abuse or significant mental illness
- Hypertensive or hypotensive condition
- Any condition that would prevent the subject from giving voluntary informed consent
- Enrolled or plans to enroll in an interventional trial during this study
- Ongoing seizures that are not well controlled despite medication
- Use of hearing aid or other device to improve hearing
Trial locations and contacts
3 sites in 1 country.
United States3 sites
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720
University of Wisconsin--Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, 53705
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California, 94143
About this study
This study will investigate the how the cerebellum is involved in speech motor learning over time and short-term corrections in patients with cerebellar ataxia and healthy controls. This will be accomplished through three approaches: behavioral studies, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). During behavioral studies, participants will be asked to speak into a microphone while their voice is played back over earphones, and to do other speaking tasks. MRI will be acquired to perform a detailed analysis on brain function and anatomy related to speech and the cerebellum. In healthy controls, TMS will also be performed to temporarily disrupt the cerebellum before, during, or after the participant performs speaking tasks. Patients with cerebellar ataxia and healthy volunteers will be asked to complete behavioral studies and/or MRI; healthy volunteers may be asked to additionally participate in TMS.
Read the detailed description
This study will investigate the role of the cerebellum in speech, building upon prior work in understanding cerebellar function in reaching and walking. Neuroimaging and lesion studies have provided strong evidence that the cerebellum is an integral part of the speech production network, though its precise role in the control of speech remains unclear. Furthermore, damage to the cerebellum (either degenerative or focal) can lead to ataxic dysarthria, a motor speech disorder characterized, in part, by impaired articulation and severe temporal deficits. This project seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical models of cerebellar function and the speech symptoms associated with ataxic dysarthria. Two mechanisms underlie speech motor control - feedback and feedforward control. In feedback control, speakers use sensory feedback (e.g., of their own voice) to control their speech. In feedforward control, speakers use knowledge gained from their past speech productions, rather than on-line feedback, to control their speech. This study entails a systematic plan to elucidate the role of the cerebellum in feedforward and feedback control of speech. A central hypothesis is that the cerebellum is especially critical in the feedforward control of speech, but has little involvement in feedback control. To explore this hypothesis, we will obtain converging evidence from three innovative methodologies: 1) Neuropsychological studies of speech-motor responses to real-time altered auditory feedback in patients with cerebellar atrophy (CA) and matched healthy controls, 2) Parallel studies in healthy controls undergoing theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation to create "virtual lesions" of the cerebellum, and 3) Structural and functional studies in CA patients to examine the relationship between cerebellar lesion location, dysarthria symptoms, and feedforward and feedback control ability.
Speech provides an important opportunity to examine how well current theories of cerebellar function generalize to a novel effector (vocal tract) and sensory (auditory) domain. Its purpose for communication imposes exacting spectro-temporal constraints not seen in other motor domains. Furthermore, the distinctive balance of feedback and feedforward control in speech allows us to examine changes in both control types subsequent to cerebellar damage. Critically, this is the first work examining the link between theoretically motivated control deficits in CA patients and the speech symptoms associated with ataxic dysarthria, as well as their neural correlates.
- Conditions
- Cerebellar Ataxia, Dysarthria, Healthy
- Being tested
- MRI, TMS, Speech-motor behavioral testing
- Keywords
- dysarthria, ataxia, cerebellum, cerebellar, adult, speaking, language, TMS, MRI, speech
- Medical subject headings
- Cerebellar Ataxia, Dysarthria, Ataxia, Speech, Language
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
MRIDiagnostic test
Also called Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Brain MRI will be performed (no contrast) to correlate brain anatomy/function with behavioral testing.
TMSDevice
Also called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Repetitive TMS, rTMS
Repetitive TMS will be applied to transiently disrupt cerebellar speech pathways.
Speech-motor behavioral testingBehavioural
Language/speaking tasks will be performed during which participants are asked to speak in response to audio/video cues; participants' responses will be recorded. For patients with cerebellar ataxia, additional diagnostic surveys may be completed.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) | Experimental | Behavioral testing including various speaking tasks Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Receives: Diagnostic Test: MRI; Behavioral: Speech-motor behavioral testing |
| Matched controls | Active comparator | Behavioral testing including various speaking tasks Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Receives: Diagnostic Test: MRI; Behavioral: Speech-motor behavioral testing |
| Additional healthy volunteers | Experimental | Behavioral testing including various speaking tasks Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) Receives: Diagnostic Test: MRI; Device: TMS; Behavioral: Speech-motor behavioral testing |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Speech-motor response percent compensation
Percent compensation is calculated as the following ratio: -100*(change in acoustic feature produced by the subject)/(change in acoustic feature caused by auditory feedback alteration). The negative sign ensures that changes produced by the subject that oppose the auditory feedback alteration changes are counted as positive compensation. Acoustic features used to compute percent compensation depend on the experiment performed and will include pitch or formant frequencies of subjects' output speech (measured by frequency in Hz), voice onset time (measured in milliseconds), fricative consonant duration (measured in milliseconds), and formant transition time (measured in milliseconds). We will look for short-term (within-trial) and long-term (across-trial) changes in percent compensation produced by subjects in response to alterations in subjects' auditory feedback they hear while speaking.
Measured: Baseline
Dysarthria symptoms
Ataxic dysarthria (AD) symptoms will be quantified in patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) by licensed speech-language pathologists using the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales (BoDyS), a dysarthria assessment tool that has been shown to be objective, reliable, and sensitive to dysarthria subtypes 31, 60, and 61. The BoDyS test entails 33 separate component ratings, including symptoms that may be related to feedforward and feedback components of speech motor control systems.
Measured: Baseline
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)
VBM will be applied to explore the functional organization of the cerebellum for speech production, focusing on psychophysical measures of speech motor control as well as clinical measures of dysarthric speech symptoms.
Measured: Baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted3 Jun 2019
- Study start15 Sep 2019
- Primary completion31 May 2030 (estimated)
- Study completion31 May 2030 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (19)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Cerebellar AtaxiaStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, San FranciscoThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 660 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, San Francisco
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of California, Berkeley, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- John F. Houde, Ph.D., Principal investigator, University of California, San FranciscoSrikantan S. Nagarajan, Ph.D., Principal investigator, University of California, San FranciscoRichard Ivry, Ph.D., Principal investigator, University of California, BerkeleyBen Parrell, Ph.D., Principal investigator, University of Wisconsin, Madison
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03972202
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 19-27146
- Other IDs
- 1R01DC017091-01A1
- Status last verified
- Oct 2025
- First submitted
- 24 May 2019
- Last updated
- 24 Oct 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- Yes
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Chang EF, Niziolek CA, Knight RT, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. Human cortical sensorimotor network underlying feedback control of vocal pitch. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Feb 12;110(7):2653-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1216827110. Epub 2013 Jan 23.
PubMed 23345447Hinkley LB, Marco EJ, Brown EG, Bukshpun P, Gold J, Hill S, Findlay AM, Jeremy RJ, Wakahiro ML, Barkovich AJ, Mukherjee P, Sherr EH, Nagarajan SS. The Contribution of the Corpus Callosum to Language Lateralization. J Neurosci. 2016 Apr 20;36(16):4522-33. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3850-14.2016.
PubMed 27098695Kort NS, Cuesta P, Houde JF, Nagarajan SS. Bihemispheric network dynamics coordinating vocal feedback control. Hum Brain Mapp. 2016 Apr;37(4):1474-85. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23114. Epub 2016 Feb 25.
PubMed 26917046Ranasinghe KG, Gill JS, Kothare H, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller BL, Vossel KA, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. Abnormal vocal behavior predicts executive and memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Aging. 2017 Apr;52:71-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.12.020. Epub 2017 Jan 3.
PubMed 28131013Moberget T, Gullesen EH, Andersson S, Ivry RB, Endestad T. Generalized role for the cerebellum in encoding internal models: evidence from semantic processing. J Neurosci. 2014 Feb 19;34(8):2871-8. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2264-13.2014.
PubMed 24553928Sokolov AA, Miall RC, Ivry RB. The Cerebellum: Adaptive Prediction for Movement and Cognition. Trends Cogn Sci. 2017 May;21(5):313-332. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.02.005. Epub 2017 Apr 3.
PubMed 28385461Koch G, Oliveri M, Torriero S, Salerno S, Lo Gerfo E, Caltagirone C. Repetitive TMS of cerebellum interferes with millisecond time processing. Exp Brain Res. 2007 May;179(2):291-9. doi: 10.1007/s00221-006-0791-1. Epub 2006 Dec 5.
PubMed 17146647Jenkinson N, Miall RC. Disruption of saccadic adaptation with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the posterior cerebellum in humans. Cerebellum. 2010 Dec;9(4):548-55. doi: 10.1007/s12311-010-0193-6.
PubMed 20665254Parrell B, Agnew Z, Nagarajan S, Houde J, Ivry RB. Impaired Feedforward Control and Enhanced Feedback Control of Speech in Patients with Cerebellar Degeneration. J Neurosci. 2017 Sep 20;37(38):9249-9258. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3363-16.2017. Epub 2017 Aug 23.
PubMed 28842410Parrell, B., Agnew, Z., Houde, J., Nagarajan, S., & Ivry, R. (2016) Individuals with cerebellar degeneration correct for within-category variation of vowels even in the absence of auditory feedback. Talk presented at Society for Neuroscience 2016, San Diego, CA, November 2016.
Parrell, B. (2017). Evidence for reward learning in speech production. Poster presented at the 7th International Conference on Speech Motor Control, Groningen, the Netherlands, July 2017.
Rossi S, Hallett M, Rossini PM, Pascual-Leone A; Safety of TMS Consensus Group. Safety, ethical considerations, and application guidelines for the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in clinical practice and research. Clin Neurophysiol. 2009 Dec;120(12):2008-2039. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2009.08.016. Epub 2009 Oct 14.
PubMed 19833552Huang YZ, Edwards MJ, Rounis E, Bhatia KP, Rothwell JC. Theta burst stimulation of the human motor cortex. Neuron. 2005 Jan 20;45(2):201-6. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2004.12.033.
PubMed 15664172Oberman L, Edwards D, Eldaief M, Pascual-Leone A. Safety of theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation: a systematic review of the literature. J Clin Neurophysiol. 2011 Feb;28(1):67-74. doi: 10.1097/WNP.0b013e318205135f.
PubMed 21221011Tarapore PE, Picht T, Bulubas L, Shin Y, Kulchytska N, Meyer B, Berger MS, Nagarajan SS, Krieg SM. Safety and tolerability of navigated TMS for preoperative mapping in neurosurgical patients. Clin Neurophysiol. 2016 Mar;127(3):1895-900. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.042. Epub 2015 Dec 11.
PubMed 26762952
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Oct 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Role of Cerebellum in Speech
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03972202
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 19-27146
- Conditions
- Cerebellar Ataxia, Dysarthria, Healthy
- Keywords
- dysarthria, ataxia, cerebellum, cerebellar, adult, speaking, language, TMS
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 660 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, San FranciscoUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of California, Berkeley, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Study start
- 15 Sep 2019 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 31 May 2030 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 May 2030 (estimated)
- First posted
- 3 Jun 2019 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study will investigate the how the cerebellum is involved in speech motor learning over time and short-term corrections in patients with cerebellar ataxia and healthy controls. This will be accomplished through three approaches: behavioral studies, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). During behavioral studies, participants will be asked to speak into a microphone while their voice is played back over earphones, and to do other speaking tasks. MRI will be acquired to perform a detailed analysis on brain function and anatomy related to speech and the cerebellum. In healthy controls, TMS will also be performed to temporarily disrupt the cerebellum before, during, or after the participant performs speaking tasks. Patients with cerebellar ataxia and healthy volunteers will be asked to complete behavioral studies and/or MRI; healthy volunteers may be asked to additionally participate in TMS.
Detailed description
This study will investigate the role of the cerebellum in speech, building upon prior work in understanding cerebellar function in reaching and walking. Neuroimaging and lesion studies have provided strong evidence that the cerebellum is an integral part of the speech production network, though its precise role in the control of speech remains unclear. Furthermore, damage to the cerebellum (either degenerative or focal) can lead to ataxic dysarthria, a motor speech disorder characterized, in part, by impaired articulation and severe temporal deficits. This project seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical models of cerebellar function and the speech symptoms associated with ataxic dysarthria. Two mechanisms underlie speech motor control - feedback and feedforward control. In feedback control, speakers use sensory feedback (e.g., of their own voice) to control their speech. In feedforward control, speakers use knowledge gained from their past speech productions, rather than on-line feedback, to control their speech. This study entails a systematic plan to elucidate the role of the cerebellum in feedforward and feedback control of speech. A central hypothesis is that the cerebellum is especially critical in the feedforward control of speech, but has little involvement in feedback control. To explore this hypothesis, we will obtain converging evidence from three innovative methodologies: 1) Neuropsychological studies of speech-motor responses to real-time altered auditory feedback in patients with cerebellar atrophy (CA) and matched healthy controls, 2) Parallel studies in healthy controls undergoing theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation to create "virtual lesions" of the cerebellum, and 3) Structural and functional studies in CA patients to examine the relationship between cerebellar lesion location, dysarthria symptoms, and feedforward and feedback control ability.
Speech provides an important opportunity to examine how well current theories of cerebellar function generalize to a novel effector (vocal tract) and sensory (auditory) domain. Its purpose for communication imposes exacting spectro-temporal constraints not seen in other motor domains. Furthermore, the distinctive balance of feedback and feedforward control in speech allows us to examine changes in both control types subsequent to cerebellar damage. Critically, this is the first work examining the link between theoretically motivated control deficits in CA patients and the speech symptoms associated with ataxic dysarthria, as well as their neural correlates.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) | Experimental | Diagnostic Test: MRI, Behavioral: Speech-motor behavioral testingBehavioral testing including various speaking tasks Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) |
| Matched controls | Active comparator | Diagnostic Test: MRI, Behavioral: Speech-motor behavioral testingBehavioral testing including various speaking tasks Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) |
| Additional healthy volunteers | Experimental | Diagnostic Test: MRI, Device: TMS, Behavioral: Speech-motor behavioral testingBehavioral testing including various speaking tasks Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 75 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Diagnosis of cerebellar ataxia (CA) resulting from degeneration of the cerebellum AND normal hearing abilities OR
- Healthy volunteers with no known history of physical or neurological abnormalities AND normal speech, hearing, and reading abilities
- For some studies, primary language of American English may be required
Key exclusion criteria (15 listed)
- Neurological impairment or psychiatric illness
- Neurological impairment or psychiatric illness apart from those arising from cerebellar damage
- Exclusion criteria for participants with CA or for healthy volunteers participating in MRI (may still be eligible for other study procedures):
- Any contraindication to participating in an MRI study including the following: implanted metallic parts or implanted electronic devices, including pacemakers, defibrillators, stimulators, or implant medication pump, or nonremovable piercings; aneurysm clip or other metal in the head (except mouth); claustrophobia precluding MRI
- Exclusion criteria for healthy volunteers participating in TMS (may still be eligible for other study procedures):
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| MRIAlso: Magnetic Resonance ImagingBrain MRI will be performed (no contrast) to correlate brain anatomy/function with behavioral testing. | Diagnostic test | Additional healthy volunteers, Matched controls, Patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) |
| TMSAlso: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Repetitive TMS, rTMSRepetitive TMS will be applied to transiently disrupt cerebellar speech pathways. | Device | Additional healthy volunteers |
| Speech-motor behavioral testingLanguage/speaking tasks will be performed during which participants are asked to speak in response to audio/video cues; participants' responses will be recorded. For patients with cerebellar ataxia, additional diagnostic surveys may be completed. | Behavioural | Additional healthy volunteers, Matched controls, Patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) |
Primary outcome
Speech-motor response percent compensation
Time frame: Baseline
Percent compensation is calculated as the following ratio: -100*(change in acoustic feature produced by the subject)/(change in acoustic feature caused by auditory feedback alteration). The negative sign ensures that changes produced by the subject that oppose the auditory feedback alteration changes are counted as positive compensation. Acoustic features used to compute percent compensation depend on the experiment performed and will include pitch or formant frequencies of subjects' output speech (measured by frequency in Hz), voice onset time (measured in milliseconds), fricative consonant duration (measured in milliseconds), and formant transition time (measured in milliseconds). We will look for short-term (within-trial) and long-term (across-trial) changes in percent compensation produced by subjects in response to alterations in subjects' auditory feedback they hear while speaking.
Dysarthria symptoms
Time frame: Baseline
Ataxic dysarthria (AD) symptoms will be quantified in patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) by licensed speech-language pathologists using the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales (BoDyS), a dysarthria assessment tool that has been shown to be objective, reliable, and sensitive to dysarthria subtypes 31, 60, and 61. The BoDyS test entails 33 separate component ratings, including symptoms that may be related to feedforward and feedback components of speech motor control systems.
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)
Time frame: Baseline
VBM will be applied to explore the functional organization of the cerebellum for speech production, focusing on psychophysical measures of speech motor control as well as clinical measures of dysarthric speech symptoms.
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Oct 2025.
- Background: PubMed 23345447Chang EF, Niziolek CA, Knight RT, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. Human cortical sensorimotor network underlying feedback control of vocal pitch. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Feb 12;110(7):2653-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1216827110. Epub 2013 Jan 23.
- Background: PubMed 27098695Hinkley LB, Marco EJ, Brown EG, Bukshpun P, Gold J, Hill S, Findlay AM, Jeremy RJ, Wakahiro ML, Barkovich AJ, Mukherjee P, Sherr EH, Nagarajan SS. The Contribution of the Corpus Callosum to Language Lateralization. J Neurosci. 2016 Apr 20;36(16):4522-33. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3850-14.2016.
- Background: PubMed 26917046Kort NS, Cuesta P, Houde JF, Nagarajan SS. Bihemispheric network dynamics coordinating vocal feedback control. Hum Brain Mapp. 2016 Apr;37(4):1474-85. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23114. Epub 2016 Feb 25.
- Background: PubMed 28131013Ranasinghe KG, Gill JS, Kothare H, Beagle AJ, Mizuiri D, Honma SM, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller BL, Vossel KA, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. Abnormal vocal behavior predicts executive and memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Aging. 2017 Apr;52:71-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.12.020. Epub 2017 Jan 3.
- Background: PubMed 24553928Moberget T, Gullesen EH, Andersson S, Ivry RB, Endestad T. Generalized role for the cerebellum in encoding internal models: evidence from semantic processing. J Neurosci. 2014 Feb 19;34(8):2871-8. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2264-13.2014.
- Background: PubMed 28385461Sokolov AA, Miall RC, Ivry RB. The Cerebellum: Adaptive Prediction for Movement and Cognition. Trends Cogn Sci. 2017 May;21(5):313-332. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.02.005. Epub 2017 Apr 3.
- Background: PubMed 17146647Koch G, Oliveri M, Torriero S, Salerno S, Lo Gerfo E, Caltagirone C. Repetitive TMS of cerebellum interferes with millisecond time processing. Exp Brain Res. 2007 May;179(2):291-9. doi: 10.1007/s00221-006-0791-1. Epub 2006 Dec 5.
- Background: PubMed 20665254Jenkinson N, Miall RC. Disruption of saccadic adaptation with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the posterior cerebellum in humans. Cerebellum. 2010 Dec;9(4):548-55. doi: 10.1007/s12311-010-0193-6.
- Background: PubMed 28842410Parrell B, Agnew Z, Nagarajan S, Houde J, Ivry RB. Impaired Feedforward Control and Enhanced Feedback Control of Speech in Patients with Cerebellar Degeneration. J Neurosci. 2017 Sep 20;37(38):9249-9258. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3363-16.2017. Epub 2017 Aug 23.
- BackgroundParrell, B., Agnew, Z., Houde, J., Nagarajan, S., & Ivry, R. (2016) Individuals with cerebellar degeneration correct for within-category variation of vowels even in the absence of auditory feedback. Talk presented at Society for Neuroscience 2016, San Diego, CA, November 2016.
- BackgroundParrell, B. (2017). Evidence for reward learning in speech production. Poster presented at the 7th International Conference on Speech Motor Control, Groningen, the Netherlands, July 2017.
- Background: PubMed 19833552Rossi S, Hallett M, Rossini PM, Pascual-Leone A; Safety of TMS Consensus Group. Safety, ethical considerations, and application guidelines for the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in clinical practice and research. Clin Neurophysiol. 2009 Dec;120(12):2008-2039. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2009.08.016. Epub 2009 Oct 14.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
John F. Houde, Ph.D. principal investigator
University of California, San Francisco
Srikantan S. Nagarajan, Ph.D. principal investigator
University of California, San Francisco
Richard Ivry, Ph.D. principal investigator
University of California, Berkeley
3 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing MRI, TMS and Speech-motor behavioral testing in people with Cerebellar Ataxia and Dysarthria, run by University of California, San Francisco at 3 sites in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 15 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Oct 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 3 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Speech-motor response percent compensation (time frame: Baseline). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03972202, which also lists 19 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Oct 2025.