Episodic MemoryNCT05374551
Causal Role of Brain Networks in Episodic Memory
A study testing Transcranial magnetic stimulation in people with Episodic Memory and Healthy, run by Boston College at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
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. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 35 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Episodic Memory, Healthy
- What is being tested?
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 41 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 6 Oct 2023to 31 Dec 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
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 35 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- Ages 18 to 35 years old
- Fluent in English
- Free of major neurological or psychiatric illness
- Right-handed
- Normal or corrected to normal vision
Who cannot join
- History of a psychiatric illness within the past two years
- History of a learning disorder (e.g., attention deficit disorder, dyslexia)
- History of neurological disorder or brain injury, including family history of epilepsy, convulsions or seizures, stroke; vascular, traumatic, tumoral, infectious, or metabolic lesion of the brain, even without a history of seizure, and without anticonvulsant medication, and any unexplained lifetime loss of consciousness/syncope
- Use of medications that reduce seizure threshold (e.g., tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic agents)
- History of neurosurgery
- History of heart disease
Show all 20Show fewer
- Recreational drug use in the past two months
- Uncontrollable shaking, or inability to sit/lie still for one hour
- Evidence of neurological disorders or structural abnormalities, based on MRI
- Pregnancy
- Prior surgeries, conditions, and/or implants that are not MRI-safe, including: pacemaker, pacemaker wires, artificial heart valve, brain aneurysm surgery, middle ear implant, non-removable hearing aids, braces, or extensive dental work, implanted mechanical or electrical device, artificial limb or joint
- Foreign metallic objects in the body, such as bullets, BBs, shrapnel, or metalwork fragments
- History of metal work or ocular metallic foreign bodies
- History of uncontrolled migraines or susceptibility to headaches
- Use of centrally-acting medications and drugs, with the exception of caffeine, within the last 12 hours
- Concurrent treatment with ototoxic medications
- Current sleep deprivation, extreme fatigue, or recent jet lag
- Claustrophobia
- Pre-existing noise induced hearing loss
- Any prior adverse experience (e.g. physical or psychological discomfort) with repetitive TMS or MRI scanning
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
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.
Read the detailed description
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.
- Conditions
- Episodic Memory, Healthy
- Being tested
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation
- Keywords
- cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Transcranial magnetic stimulationOther
Also called Continuous theta-burst stimulation
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.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| All participants | Other | All participants will complete all experimental conditions, which include transcranial magnetic stimulation (continuous theta-burst stimulation) to a brain region of experimental interest and to a control brain region. Receives: Other: Transcranial magnetic stimulation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Accuracy 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.
Measured: 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.
Measured: Functional connectivity will be assessed during the hour following stimulation.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted16 May 2022
- Study start6 Oct 2023
- Primary completion31 Dec 2025
- Study completion31 Dec 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Episodic MemoryStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- 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
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 41 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Boston College
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05374551
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- R01MH125990
- Status last verified
- Feb 2026
- First submitted
- 29 Apr 2022
- Last updated
- 25 Feb 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 25 Feb 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Causal Role of Brain Networks in Episodic Memory
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05374551
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- R01MH125990
- Conditions
- Episodic Memory, Healthy
- Keywords
- cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 41 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Boston CollegeUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 6 Oct 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 31 Dec 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 31 Dec 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 16 May 2022 (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.
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.
Detailed description
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 design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| All participants | Other | Other: Transcranial magnetic stimulationAll participants will complete all experimental conditions, which include transcranial magnetic stimulation (continuous theta-burst stimulation) to a brain region of experimental interest and to a control brain region. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 35 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Ages 18 to 35 years old
- Fluent in English
- Free of major neurological or psychiatric illness
- Right-handed
- Normal or corrected to normal vision
Key exclusion criteria (20 listed)
- History of a psychiatric illness within the past two years
- History of a learning disorder (e.g., attention deficit disorder, dyslexia)
- History of neurological disorder or brain injury, including family history of epilepsy, convulsions or seizures, stroke; vascular, traumatic, tumoral, infectious, or metabolic lesion of the brain, even without a history of seizure, and without anticonvulsant medication, and any unexplained lifetime loss of consciousness/syncope
- Use of medications that reduce seizure threshold (e.g., tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic agents)
- History of neurosurgery
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Transcranial magnetic stimulationAlso: Continuous theta-burst stimulationTranscranial 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. | Other | All participants |
Primary outcome
Accuracy on tests of episodic memory
Time frame: Tasks will be completed during the hour following stimulation.
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.
Task-related functional connectivity among posterior medial brain regions
Time frame: Functional connectivity will be assessed during the hour following stimulation.
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.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 25 Feb 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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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.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Transcranial magnetic stimulation in people with Episodic Memory and Healthy, run by Boston College at 1 site 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 5 inclusion and 20 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: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 25 Feb 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site 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?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
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?
Accuracy on tests of episodic memory (time frame: Tasks will be completed during the hour following stimulation.). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
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 25 Feb 2026.