ExpectationsNCT06039605
Priming Expectations and Motor Learning With tDCS
A study testing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in people with Expectations and Motor Learning, run by Arizona State University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The purpose of this study is to test if priming expectations of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve the efficacy of tDCS in enhancing motor learning. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Expectations, Motor Learning
- What is being tested?
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 140 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 23 Oct 2023to 16 Apr 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
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 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Must be 18 or older. Right-hand dominant
- Right-hand dominant
Who cannot join
- Mixed-handed or ambidextrous
- Left-hand dominant
- Seizure(s)
- Head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness that has required further investigation (including neurosurgery)
- Migraines
- Current medical diagnosis of a phycological or neurological condition
Show all 13Show fewer
- Any metal in head (outside of mouth) such as shrapnel or surgical clips
- Any implanted devices (e.g. cardiac pacemaker, brain stimulator)
- Skin condition on scalp (e.g. psoriasis)
- Head wound that has not completely healed
- Adverse reactions to tDCS or any other brain stimulation technique (e.g. TMS, tRNS)
- Pregnant
- Currently taking prescription medications or are self-medicating (including recreational drug use), other than the contraceptive pill?
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Effects of Modulating Expectations About Noninvasive Brain Stimulation on Motor Learning
The purpose of this study is to test if priming expectations of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve the efficacy of tDCS in enhancing motor learning.
Read the detailed description
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is currently being investigated by the scientific community as an intervention to improve motor learning in the context of neurorehabilitation (e.g., recover lost motor function after stroke) and performance enhancement (e.g., improve sports or technical skill training). More importantly, consumers believe that tDCS works. The expectation surrounding the benefits of tDCS for skill enhancement is so pervasive that the technology is sold for less than $200 and highly rated by the general public on Amazon.com. At the same time, there is considerable skepticism within the motor control field regarding the efficacy and mechanism of action of tDCS on motor learning, driven by highly irreproducible and equivocal findings between and even within laboratories.
How effective is tDCS, and could the positive effects of tDCS be attributable in part to a strong placebo effect? Placebo effects (i.e., a positive expectation associated with positive treatment outcomes), are well documented in other interventions like surgeries and pharmaceuticals, but have not been investigated in detail for tDCS, particularly in the motor domain. The lack of knowledge or consideration of the placebo effect may therefore explain why tDCS findings are so inconsistent within motor learning. Thus, the overall aim of this project is to determine whether people's expectations about tDCS change as a function of information about tDCS itself, and whether these changed expectations modulate the effects of tDCS on motor learning.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive, safe cortical stimulation technique that has been effectively used for enhancing and inhibiting sensory and motor performance when applied to the responsible cortical areas in healthy adults. For instance, anodal tDCS of primary motor area can improve motor execution. Recent research has investigated whether it is the expectation of receiving tDCS that has a greater impact on behavioral outcomes compared to the actual application of tDCS. This is important as many domains of science are challenged to reproduce previous research demonstrating a positive effect of tDCS on behavior. Thus, to decipher legitimate effects of tDCS on behavior it is important to quantify and compare how changes in behavior are related to tDCS, a key metric related to strength of the placebo effect, and how malleable these placebo effects are.
Individuals may participate in this study for up to four sessions (up to 3 training sessions and up to 1 follow-up visit, as assigned) in the span of approximately one week. The investigators expect that individuals will spend up to one hour during the training sessions, and (if applicable) around 15 minutes to complete the follow-up visit, if assigned. The follow-up visit would occur one week after the final training session.
This is a double-blind study in which participants will be randomly assigned to specific intervention methods.
- Conditions
- Expectations, Motor Learning
- Being tested
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
- Keywords
- tDCS
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Transcranial Direct Current StimulationDevice
Also called tDCS
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a minimal risk, non-invasive, neuromodulatory technique that involves the emission of a weak electrical current, traditionally via the placement of two electrodes attached to the scalp of a participant. tDCS is widely used for research purposes, the US FDA considers trials of tDCS as non-significant-risk. There are several review articles supporting the safety of tDCS usage in controlled human trials. According to a published meta-analysis , the use of conventional tDCS protocols in human trials (≤40 min, ≤4 mA) has not produced any reports of a Serious Adverse Effect or irreversible injury across over 33,200 sessions.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | This group will only receive motor training, which consists of 10 trials of motor training per day across 3 days, followed by a one-week follow-up of 2 trials. |
| tDCS1 | Experimental | This group will receive motor training concurrent with 20 minutes of either sham or active tDCS. Sham tDCS will be a 30-second ramp up from 0 to 2 milliamps (MA), then a 30-second ramp-down from 2 mA to 0 mA. The next 18 minutes will have no stimulation (0 mA), starting at minute 19 with 30-second ramp up from 0 to 2 milliamps (MA), then a 30-second ramp-down from 2 mA to 0 mA. Active tDCS will ramp up to 2 mA in the first 30 seconds, then stay at 2 mA for 19 minutes, then ramp down to 0 mA. Receives: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation |
| tDCS2 | Experimental | This group will first read some information about tDCS based on cited studies. They will then receive the same motor training and tDCS as the tDCS1 arm. Receives: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation |
| tDCS3 | Experimental | This group will first read some information about tDCS based on cited studies, but different cited studies than the tDCS2 arm. They will then receive the same motor training and tDCS as the tDCS1 and 2 arms. Receives: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Performance on Motor Task One Week After Final Training Session
This will be calculated as the average of two trials of the motor task that are completed one week after the last training session. The motor task is a timed test that requires participants to spoon two beans (kidney, raw) at a time from a center proximal "start" cup to three distal "target" cups as fast as possible. In short, this task requires multijoint coordination and limb reversal, and performance for each trial is measured in seconds.
Measured: One-Week Follow-Up visit (Day 10)
Secondary outcomes (7)
Change in Motor Performance Over the Course of Training
This outcome measure will be measured as the slope of the line fitted to the motor task performance across all 30 training trials (this includes Day 1, 2 and 3), when trial is transformed to a logarithmic scale. This transformation is done to account for the fact that change in performance is non-linear. The motor task is a timed test that requires participants to spoon two beans (kidney, raw) at a time from a center proximal "start" cup to three distal "target" cups as fast as possible. In short, this task requires multijoint coordination and limb reversal, and performance for each trial is measured in seconds.
Measured: Day 1, 2, and 3
Change in tDCS Expectations From Day 1 to Day 10
This will be the change (Day 1 minus Day 10) in expectations of tDCS. The tDCS expectation scores are taken from a 1-item survey adapted from the Expectation Assessment Scale, where scores range from 0 (no expectation) to 8 (high expectations); a score of 4 is considered neutral.
Measured: Day 1 and Follow-Up (Day 10)
Average Dwell Time
This is the average amount of time spent in the home cup for each repetition, averaged across the two follow-up trials.
Measured: One-Week Follow-Up (Day 10)
Average Peak Reach Velocity
his is the average peak velocity for the outward portion of each repetition, averaged across the two follow-up trials.
Measured: One-Week Follow-Up (Day 10)
Variability in Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Expectations
This is the coefficient of variation (CV) for tDCS expectation scores. It is calculated by dividing the standard deviation of the participant's expectations across study days (Days 1, 2, 3, and 10) by the mean expectation of these 4 study days. The tDCS expectation scores are taken from a 1-item survey adapted from the Expectation Assessment Scale, where scores range from 0 (no expectation) to 8 (high expectations); a score of 4 is considered neutral.
Measured: Days 1, 2, 3, and 10
Post-tDCS Symptom Questionnaire Score
This is calculated using a 14-item self-rated questionnaire, with answers for each item ranging from 1 ("absent") to 10 ("severe"). A daily average score (ranging from 1 to 10) was calculated for each participant by averaging the 14 items. The reported values represent the mean of these daily averages per group. Higher values represent more severe symptoms (a worse outcome).
Measured: Days 1, 2, and 3
tDCS Expectation Scores
The tDCS expectation scores are taken from a 1-item survey adapted from the Expectation Assessment Scale, where scores range from 0 (no expectation) to 8 (high expectations); a score of 4 is considered neutral. This score was collected for each participant in the experimental group (tDCS1, tDCS2, tDCS3) across study days (Days 1, 2, 3, and 10).
Measured: Days 1, 2, 3, and 10
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted15 Sep 2023
- Study start23 Oct 2023
- Primary completion16 Apr 2025
- Study completion16 Apr 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for ExpectationsStudies 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
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Participants will be assigned to one of 4 groups: control, tDCS1, tDCS2, or tDCS3.
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Care provider
- Enrolment
- 140 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Arizona State University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Sydney Schaefer, PhD, Principal investigator, Arizona State University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06039605
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- STUDY00015655
- Status last verified
- Jun 2026
- First submitted
- 30 Aug 2023
- Last updated
- 31 Jul 2026
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- Yes
- Individual data sharing
- No: Only aggregate data will be provided.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 31 Jul 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effects of Modulating Expectations About Noninvasive Brain Stimulation on Motor Learning
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06039605
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- STUDY00015655
- Conditions
- Expectations, Motor Learning
- Keywords
- tDCS
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 140 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Arizona State UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 23 Oct 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 16 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 16 Apr 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 15 Sep 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 31 Jul 2026
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The purpose of this study is to test if priming expectations of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve the efficacy of tDCS in enhancing motor learning.
Detailed description
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is currently being investigated by the scientific community as an intervention to improve motor learning in the context of neurorehabilitation (e.g., recover lost motor function after stroke) and performance enhancement (e.g., improve sports or technical skill training). More importantly, consumers believe that tDCS works. The expectation surrounding the benefits of tDCS for skill enhancement is so pervasive that the technology is sold for less than $200 and highly rated by the general public on Amazon.com. At the same time, there is considerable skepticism within the motor control field regarding the efficacy and mechanism of action of tDCS on motor learning, driven by highly irreproducible and equivocal findings between and even within laboratories.
How effective is tDCS, and could the positive effects of tDCS be attributable in part to a strong placebo effect? Placebo effects (i.e., a positive expectation associated with positive treatment outcomes), are well documented in other interventions like surgeries and pharmaceuticals, but have not been investigated in detail for tDCS, particularly in the motor domain. The lack of knowledge or consideration of the placebo effect may therefore explain why tDCS findings are so inconsistent within motor learning. Thus, the overall aim of this project is to determine whether people's expectations about tDCS change as a function of information about tDCS itself, and whether these changed expectations modulate the effects of tDCS on motor learning.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive, safe cortical stimulation technique that has been effectively used for enhancing and inhibiting sensory and motor performance when applied to the responsible cortical areas in healthy adults. For instance, anodal tDCS of primary motor area can improve motor execution. Recent research has investigated whether it is the expectation of receiving tDCS that has a greater impact on behavioral outcomes compared to the actual application of tDCS. This is important as many domains of science are challenged to reproduce previous research demonstrating a positive effect of tDCS on behavior. Thus, to decipher legitimate effects of tDCS on behavior it is important to quantify and compare how changes in behavior are related to tDCS, a key metric related to strength of the placebo effect, and how malleable these placebo effects are.
Individuals may participate in this study for up to four sessions (up to 3 training sessions and up to 1 follow-up visit, as assigned) in the span of approximately one week. The investigators expect that individuals will spend up to one hour during the training sessions, and (if applicable) around 15 minutes to complete the follow-up visit, if assigned. The follow-up visit would occur one week after the final training session.
This is a double-blind study in which participants will be randomly assigned to specific intervention methods.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (participant, care provider)
- Number of arms
- 4
- Model description
- Participants will be assigned to one of 4 groups: control, tDCS1, tDCS2, or tDCS3.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | –This group will only receive motor training, which consists of 10 trials of motor training per day across 3 days, followed by a one-week follow-up of 2 trials. |
| tDCS1 | Experimental | Device: Transcranial Direct Current StimulationThis group will receive motor training concurrent with 20 minutes of either sham or active tDCS. Sham tDCS will be a 30-second ramp up from 0 to 2 milliamps (MA), then a 30-second ramp-down from 2 mA to 0 mA. The next 18 minutes will have no stimulation (0 mA), starting at minute 19 with 30-second ramp up from 0 to 2 milliamps (MA), then a 30-second ramp-down from 2 mA to 0 mA. Active tDCS will ramp up to 2 mA in the first 30 seconds, then stay at 2 mA for 19 minutes, then ramp down to 0 mA. |
| tDCS2 | Experimental | Device: Transcranial Direct Current StimulationThis group will first read some information about tDCS based on cited studies. They will then receive the same motor training and tDCS as the tDCS1 arm. |
| tDCS3 | Experimental | Device: Transcranial Direct Current StimulationThis group will first read some information about tDCS based on cited studies, but different cited studies than the tDCS2 arm. They will then receive the same motor training and tDCS as the tDCS1 and 2 arms. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Must be 18 or older. Right-hand dominant
- Right-hand dominant
Key exclusion criteria (13 listed)
- Mixed-handed or ambidextrous
- Left-hand dominant
- Seizure(s)
- Head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness that has required further investigation (including neurosurgery)
- Migraines
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 Direct Current StimulationAlso: tDCSTranscranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a minimal risk, non-invasive, neuromodulatory technique that involves the emission of a weak electrical current, traditionally via the placement of two electrodes attached to the scalp of a participant. tDCS is widely used for research purposes, the US FDA considers trials of tDCS as non-significant-risk. There are several review articles supporting the safety of tDCS usage in controlled human trials. According to a published meta-analysis , the use of conventional tDCS protocols in human trials (≤40 min, ≤4 mA) has not produced any reports of a Serious Adverse Effect or irreversible injury across over 33,200 sessions. | Device | tDCS1, tDCS2, tDCS3 |
Primary outcome
Performance on Motor Task One Week After Final Training Session
Time frame: One-Week Follow-Up visit (Day 10)
This will be calculated as the average of two trials of the motor task that are completed one week after the last training session. The motor task is a timed test that requires participants to spoon two beans (kidney, raw) at a time from a center proximal "start" cup to three distal "target" cups as fast as possible. In short, this task requires multijoint coordination and limb reversal, and performance for each trial is measured in seconds.
7 secondary outcomes
Change in Motor Performance Over the Course of Training
Time frame: Day 1, 2, and 3
Change in tDCS Expectations From Day 1 to Day 10
Time frame: Day 1 and Follow-Up (Day 10)
Average Dwell Time
Time frame: One-Week Follow-Up (Day 10)
Average Peak Reach Velocity
Time frame: One-Week Follow-Up (Day 10)
Variability in Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Expectations
Time frame: Days 1, 2, 3, and 10
Post-tDCS Symptom Questionnaire Score
Time frame: Days 1, 2, and 3
tDCS Expectation Scores
Time frame: Days 1, 2, 3, and 10
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 31 Jul 2026.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. Only aggregate data will be provided.
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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.
Sydney Schaefer, PhD principal investigator
Arizona State University
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 Direct Current Stimulation in people with Expectations and Motor Learning, run by Arizona State University 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 2 inclusion and 13 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 31 Jul 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?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 31 Jul 2026). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
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?
Performance on Motor Task One Week After Final Training Session (time frame: One-Week Follow-Up visit (Day 10)). 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 31 Jul 2026.