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NCT Number: NCT05960331

Influence of Autonomy on Motor Learning in People With Parkinson's Disease

The goal of this clinical trial is to explore the benefits of autonomy supported learning in patients with Parkinson's disease. The main questions to answer are:

* Whether autonomy supported learning can benefit motor learning in PD patients * Whether autonomy supported learning can enhance intrinsic motivation and/ or information processing of PD patients in learning a new task. * Whether autonomy supported learning can facilitate cortical excitability change after practicing a new task.

Participants will be recruited into two groups (Self-control group, SC; and yoked group, YK) to learn a finger-pressing trajectory matching task

* Participants in SC group will have choice over feedback schedule during trial practice * Participants in YK group will receive feedback with no-choice during trial practice Researchers will compare the retention test performance to see if autonomy supported learning will lead to better learning effect.

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Key information

Conditions

Parkinson Disease Basal Ganglia Diseases Brain Diseases Central Nervous System Diseases Movement Disorders Nervous System Diseases Neurodegenerative Diseases Parkinsonian Disorders Synucleinopathies

Age range

20 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

About this study

Autonomy is the sense of learner to actively participate in determining their own behaviour. The present study aims to investigate whether an autonomy supported practice (with self-controlled feedback) would benefit adults with Parkinson's disease (PD), along with increased intrinsic motivation, information processing and cortical excitability. Two groups of healthy adults and two groups of PD patients will be recruited to learn a finger-pressing trajectory matching task. Participants will be allocated in either a self-control group (choice over feedback schedule), or a yoked group (receive feedback with no-choice). Learning will be assessed on the second day and one week later, along with an error estimation of learners' own performance to represent their information processing ability. Cortical excitability and inhibition will be assessed via transcranial magnetic stimulation as indicators of cortical plasticity. Questionnaire regarding motivation will be assessed before and after practice trials. Study hypothesized that individual with PD would benefit from autonomy supported learning, with better performance, enhanced motivation and information processing, associates with change of cortical excitability

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • age above 20-years-old
  • able to follow instructions to perform the tasks (Montreal Cognitive Assessment ≥ 24)
  • no surgery and injury in upper extremities in recent 6 months

Exclusion criteria

  • other neurological disorders in addition to Parkinson's disease
  • Parkinson's disease dementia
  • symptom of severe tremor in upper extremities (score ≥ 3 in Question 15 to 18 of UPDRS-III)
  • deep brain stimulation or pacemaker implanted
  • medical history of seizure
  • a blood-relative with history of epilepsy
  • unstable medical conditions
  • pregnancy

Treatment and study plan

Autonomy supported learning

Behavioral

The ability of learners to participate in determining their own behaviour, which is the feedback schedule regarding their practice performance in this study.

Practice with predetermined feedback

Behavioral

Learners practice the motor task, while the feedback is provided according to their counterpartner

Primary outcomes

  1. Performance accuracy

    Time frame: up to day 7

    Overall performance accuracy relative to the target waveform was assessed using root mean square error (RMSE), which is the mean difference between the target waveform and the participant's movement trajectory calculated over their actual movement time.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Intrinsic Motivation Inventory

    Time frame: day 1, day 2, day 7

    A questionnaire with subscales of perceived competence and autonomy. Questions were either taken directly or modified from the IMI, regarding to the participants subjective motivation after completing their practice trials.

  2. Error Estimation

    Time frame: day 2, day 7

    Participants will be instructed to estimate their error in RMSE after completing each trial in retention and transfer test. Error estimation is used to assess the cognitive processing of participants during the trials.

  3. Cortical excitability changes

    Time frame: Baseline, day 2, day 7

    Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device (The Magstim Company Ltd, Whitland, UK) will be used to determine the neurophysiological changes of corticomotor excitability before and after the acquisition phase.

Study contacts

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

DE-JUN LIM, Bachelor

CONTACT

[email protected]

+886-9-66716146

YA-YUN LEE, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

+886-2-33668155

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

National Taiwan University Hospital

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2023
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Jul 25, 2023
Registry last updated
Nov 18, 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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