Functional Movement DisorderNCT06872788
Study of Sensory Attenuation in Functional Movement Disorders
An observational study of Functional Movement Disorder, run by Western University, Canada at 1 site in Canada.
Trial summary
Functional movement disorders (FMD) are conditions where people experience unusual movements or difficulties with walking, not caused by a specific brain or nerve injury but related to how the brain controls movements. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Functional Movement Disorder
- How many people
- 70 participants
- Where
- 1 siteCanada
- Study dates
- Sep 2025to Dec 2028
- Phase
- Observational
- 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 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: movement disorder clinic
Who may be able to join
- Diagnosed with a functional movement disorder (2) Age >18 years
Who cannot join
- Moderate to severe action tremor in the dominant hand that interferes with the tasks. (2) Upper limb peripheral neuropathy. (3) Inability to read or understand English.
- -
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Canada1 site
University Hospital
London, Ontario, N6A5A5
Aditya Murgai, MD DM MBBS, +15196633121, aditya.murgai@lhsc.on.ca
Aditya Murgai Assistant Porfessor, MBBS MD DM
About this study
Functional movement disorders (FMD) are conditions where people experience unusual movements or difficulties with walking, not caused by a specific brain or nerve injury but related to how the brain controls movements. Functional movement disorders are common in clinical practice and can lead to significant disability and healthcare costs.
A key feature of FMD is a problem with self-agency-the feeling that we are in control of our own movements. Many patients with FMD feel that their abnormal movements happen without their control. Sensory attenuation is closely linked to self-agency. It's the brain's way of reducing the intensity of sensations caused by our own movements. For example, you can't tickle yourself because your brain knows it's your own action. In people with FMD, this process doesn't work properly. As a result, they might feel their movements are involuntary.
Previous research shows that sensory attenuation is reduced in FMD, but the studies so far have been small. This study will investigate sensory attenuation in a larger group of FMD patients and compare it with healthy individuals. The goal is to see if reduced sensory attenuation could be used as a marker to measure the severity of FMD.
Read the detailed description
Objective: The primary objective of the study is to investigate sensory attenuation in patients with functional movement disorders using the force-matching paradigm. The secondary objective is to determine whether sensory attenuation metrics are correlated with disability and functional movement disorder scores.
Materials: The data will be collected using a stand-alone, mechatronic system, capable of applying precise forces to a patient's finger and capturing a patient's force inputs into the system. This device has an integrated data collection system that ensures all results are captured and stored on an SD card.
Experimental Design: Thirty-five patients diagnosed with FMD and 35 healthy controls will be included in the study. Patients will be enrolled from the integrated functional movement disorders clinic and the movement disorders clinic at the London Health Sciences Center.
Each participant will be tested on two conditions: (1) Self condition: matching a target force by pressing on a movement arm with an integrated pressure transducer over the non-dominant index finger. (2) External condition: Matching a target force by moving a slider that controls the pressure generated by the movement arm placed over the non-dominant index finger. Five different target forces, with 0.5 Newtons increments, from 1 Newton to 3 Newtons, will be randomly presented in both conditions. All subjects will complete a total of 30 randomly generated forces for each condition. The applied forces are small and not painful.
Procedure: Participants will sit in front of a table and place the tip of their non-dominant index finger under the force transducer. In the self-condition (condition 1), the motor will exert one of the five target forces in each trial. The participants will then start matching the target force by directly pressing onto the movement arm, which rests on the non-dominant index finger, using the contralateral index finger. In the external condition (condition 2), the motor will exert one of the five target forces. The participant will then match the target force by moving a potentiometer slider, which controls the force generated by the movement arm placed over the non-dominant index finger. The study visit will be completed in one hour.
The ratio between the matched force and the target force will be calculated and serve as a sensory attenuation measure. This measure will be averaged across trials to give the mean attenuation for each force level and condition.
Statistical analysis: A Mixed Design ANOVA will be used to measure the differences between the within-subjects factors (conditions and force levels) and the between-subjects factor (healthy control vs. FMD groups). Post-hoc analysis will be conducted using Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons to determine which specific means are significantly different. Pearson's correlation will be used to determine how scores on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS2) and the Psychogenic Movement Disorders Scale (PMDS) are related to the degree of sensory attenuation.
- Conditions
- Functional Movement Disorder
- Keywords
- functional movement disorder, sensory attenuation, sense of agency
- Medical subject headings
- Conversion Disorder
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | Functional Movement Disorder | |
| Controls | Healthy subjects |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Sensory attenuation measurement
The primary outcome of this study is to measure sensory attenuation in patients with functional movement disorders (FMD) using the force-matching paradigm. Sensory attenuation will be quantified by calculating the ratio of matched forces to target forces in both self and external conditions.
Measured: Day 1
Secondary outcomes (1)
Correlation between WHODAS2 and PMDS with sensory attenuation.
Correlation between The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS2) and Psychogenic Movement Disorders scale (PMDS) scores with the amount of sensory attenuation.
Measured: Day 1
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted12 Mar 2025
- Study startSep 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completionSep 2028 (estimated)
- Study completionDec 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Functional Movement DisorderStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Western University, CanadaThe 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
- Observational
- Observational model
- Case-control
- Time perspective
- Cross-sectional
- Enrolment
- 70 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Western University, Canada
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Aditya Murgai, Western University, Canada
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06872788
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 126375
- Status last verified
- Mar 2025
- First submitted
- 2 Mar 2025
- Last updated
- 12 Mar 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No: At this time, IPD will not be shared due to confidentiality concerns.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 12 Mar 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Study of Sensory Attenuation in Functional Movement Disorders
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06872788
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 126375
- Conditions
- Functional Movement Disorder
- Keywords
- functional movement disorder, sensory attenuation, sense of agency
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 70 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Western University, CanadaUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- Sep 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- Sep 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Dec 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 12 Mar 2025 (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.
Functional movement disorders (FMD) are conditions where people experience unusual movements or difficulties with walking, not caused by a specific brain or nerve injury but related to how the brain controls movements. Functional movement disorders are common in clinical practice and can lead to significant disability and healthcare costs.
A key feature of FMD is a problem with self-agency-the feeling that we are in control of our own movements. Many patients with FMD feel that their abnormal movements happen without their control. Sensory attenuation is closely linked to self-agency. It's the brain's way of reducing the intensity of sensations caused by our own movements. For example, you can't tickle yourself because your brain knows it's your own action. In people with FMD, this process doesn't work properly. As a result, they might feel their movements are involuntary.
Previous research shows that sensory attenuation is reduced in FMD, but the studies so far have been small. This study will investigate sensory attenuation in a larger group of FMD patients and compare it with healthy individuals. The goal is to see if reduced sensory attenuation could be used as a marker to measure the severity of FMD.
Detailed description
Objective: The primary objective of the study is to investigate sensory attenuation in patients with functional movement disorders using the force-matching paradigm. The secondary objective is to determine whether sensory attenuation metrics are correlated with disability and functional movement disorder scores.
Materials: The data will be collected using a stand-alone, mechatronic system, capable of applying precise forces to a patient's finger and capturing a patient's force inputs into the system. This device has an integrated data collection system that ensures all results are captured and stored on an SD card.
Experimental Design: Thirty-five patients diagnosed with FMD and 35 healthy controls will be included in the study. Patients will be enrolled from the integrated functional movement disorders clinic and the movement disorders clinic at the London Health Sciences Center.
Each participant will be tested on two conditions: (1) Self condition: matching a target force by pressing on a movement arm with an integrated pressure transducer over the non-dominant index finger. (2) External condition: Matching a target force by moving a slider that controls the pressure generated by the movement arm placed over the non-dominant index finger. Five different target forces, with 0.5 Newtons increments, from 1 Newton to 3 Newtons, will be randomly presented in both conditions. All subjects will complete a total of 30 randomly generated forces for each condition. The applied forces are small and not painful.
Procedure: Participants will sit in front of a table and place the tip of their non-dominant index finger under the force transducer. In the self-condition (condition 1), the motor will exert one of the five target forces in each trial. The participants will then start matching the target force by directly pressing onto the movement arm, which rests on the non-dominant index finger, using the contralateral index finger. In the external condition (condition 2), the motor will exert one of the five target forces. The participant will then match the target force by moving a potentiometer slider, which controls the force generated by the movement arm placed over the non-dominant index finger. The study visit will be completed in one hour.
The ratio between the matched force and the target force will be calculated and serve as a sensory attenuation measure. This measure will be averaged across trials to give the mean attenuation for each force level and condition.
Statistical analysis: A Mixed Design ANOVA will be used to measure the differences between the within-subjects factors (conditions and force levels) and the between-subjects factor (healthy control vs. FMD groups). Post-hoc analysis will be conducted using Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons to determine which specific means are significantly different. Pearson's correlation will be used to determine how scores on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS2) and the Psychogenic Movement Disorders Scale (PMDS) are related to the degree of sensory attenuation.
Study design
- Observational model
- Case-control
- Time perspective
- Cross-sectional
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | – | –Functional Movement Disorder |
| Controls | – | –Healthy subjects |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
- Study population
- movement disorder clinic
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Diagnosed with a functional movement disorder (2) Age >18 years
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Moderate to severe action tremor in the dominant hand that interferes with the tasks. (2) Upper limb peripheral neuropathy. (3) Inability to read or understand English.
- -
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Primary outcome
Sensory attenuation measurement
Time frame: Day 1
The primary outcome of this study is to measure sensory attenuation in patients with functional movement disorders (FMD) using the force-matching paradigm. Sensory attenuation will be quantified by calculating the ratio of matched forces to target forces in both self and external conditions.
1 secondary outcome
Correlation between WHODAS2 and PMDS with sensory attenuation.
Time frame: Day 1
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 12 Mar 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. At this time, IPD will not be shared due to confidentiality concerns.
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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.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Functional Movement Disorder, run by Western University, Canada at 1 site in Canada.
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 1 inclusion and 2 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: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 12 Mar 2025. 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 Canada. 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?
Contact Aditya Murgai, MBBS MD DM (+15196633121, aditya.murgai@lhsc.on.ca), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Sensory attenuation measurement (time frame: Day 1). 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 12 Mar 2025.