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NCT Number: NCT05452122

Decoding and Selective Modulation of Human Memory During Awake/Sleep Cycles

The proposed project seeks to elucidate memory processes and consolidation during sleep by leveraging the unique capability of direct recordings from the human brain at multiple levels of resolution-single neurons, localized neuronal assemblies, intracranial local field potentials-during rich behavioral tasks with real-life narratives and extracting neural features that relate to different aspects of episodic experience. The investigators will further probe causal mechanisms of consolidation by application of auditory and electrical stimulations during sleep and its effect on modulating memory processes.

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Key information

Conditions

Memory, Delayed

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of California Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Andreina Hampton

CONTACT

[email protected]

3236105293

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • All epilepsy patients between the ages of 18 and 65 who undergo depth electrode placement for clinical purposes
  • Eligibility is determined by the epilepsy surgery team (based on neuropsychological testing and on psychiatric evaluation)
  • Willing to provide informed consent and participate the study

Exclusion criteria

  • Neurological or psychiatric issues, other than epilepsy, that would put the patient at risk
  • Patient is younger than 18 or older than 65 years of age
  • Unwilling to provide informed consent

Treatment and study plan

Auditory and Electrical Stimulation

Other

Electrical and auditory stimulation will be applied during sleep.

Primary outcomes

  1. Recognition Accuracy

    Time frame: 1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay; Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the pre- and post-sleep memory tasks

    Accuracy will be analyzed to evaluate performance on memory tasks before and after sleep, specifically the ability to recognize correct items compared to all items. Accuracy will be measured using the sum of true positive and true negative divided by the total number of items. A within-subjects design will be employed and accuracy for stimulated vs. non-stimulated items will be compared.

  2. Recognition Discriminability (D-prime)

    Time frame: 1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay; Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the pre- and post-sleep memory tasks.

    Discriminability will be analyzed to evaluate performance on memory tasks before and after sleep, specifically the ability to recognize target items from distractor items. Discriminability will be measured using a discriminability index (d-prime). In addition to d-prime being a normalized metric, it provides critical and complementary information to the accuracy metric (Outcome 1) given that it is a measure of sensitivity (and not bias) in the cases where data labels are not balanced . A within-subjects design will be employed and discriminability for stimulated vs. non-stimulated items will be compared.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Power sleep oscillations

    Time frame: 1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay. Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the sleep period between pre and post-sleep memory tasks.

    The power of slow waves, spindles, ripples (all in units of dbm) will be computed. Employing a within-subjects design, the investigators will compare the change in the power of these oscillatory features for stimulated vs. non-stimulated items.

  2. Neuronal replay index

    Time frame: 1-2 days contained within the participants' 1-2 week hospital stay. Specifically for each experiment, the outcome measure will be computed during the sleep period between pre and post-sleep memory tasks.

    Neuronal replay index, defined as the percentage of time during which neurons manifest replay-like activation as compared to the duration of deep sleep will be computed. Employing a within-subjects design, the investigators will compare the replay measure for stimulated vs. non-stimulated items.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Andreina Hampton

CONTACT

[email protected]

3236105293

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
  • University of Iowa

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Jul 11, 2022
Registry last updated
Oct 14, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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