Recruiting

tACS & Multisensory Stimulation

Sponsor:

Medical College of Wisconsin

Code:

NCT07650188

Conditions

Primary Progressive Aphasia

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 45+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

tACS or multisensory stimulation

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this project is to investigate whether transcranial electrical stimulation and sensory stimulation affect language outcomes in individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA). The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) affect verbal short-term memory (STM) in individuals with PPA? Does a single session of multisensory stimulation affect verbal STM in individuals with PPA? Researchers will compare active tACS to sham tACS (a fake stimulation condition) to see if active tACS improves verbal STM. Researchers will compare pre-multisensory stimulation to post-stimulation performance to see if multisensory stimulation improves verbal STM.

Participants will:

Undergo EEG, MRI (anatomical and functional) May complete a cognitive exam Undergo tACS over 3 separate sessions Undergo multisensory stimulation Complete language tasks before, during and/or after stimulation

Conditions

Primary Progressive Aphasia

Study ID

NCT07650188

Start date

Jun 1, 2026

Status verified date

Jun, 2026

Completion date

May 30, 2035

Anticipated

Primary completion date

May 30, 2031

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 45+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical exam supports diagnosis of PPA and/or MCI with no report of difficulty functioning in basic or instrumental activities of daily living.
  • Completed clinical cognitive exam within 6 months of study baseline visit OR neuropsychological research battery within 6 months of study baseline visit.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Evidence of dementia at baseline
  • Known history of neoplasm, symptomatic stroke, moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, or other significant neurologic event
  • Age <45 years.
  • Evidence of severe psychiatric illness (e.g., bipolar disorder, schizophrenia).
  • Presence of cardiac stimulators or pacemakers
  • Any other implants near the scalp or in the eye
  • Contraindications to MRI or stimulation
  • Pregnancy
  • History of ongoing or unmanaged seizures
  • History of dyslexia or other developmental learning disabilities

Study Design

Enrollment

20 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: tACS or multisensory stimulation

All participants in a within-subject design will receive high-Definition-tACS, delivered via a battery operated alternating current stimulator (Soterix) using two center-surround montages. Targets of stimulation will be localized based on the 10-10 International EEG system with center electrodes placed at a frontal and a temporoparietal site. The current is turned on and increased in a ramplike fashion over approximately 30 seconds. Participants will undergo tACS with frequencies ranging from 4-40Hz for 20-minutes with 2 milliampere (mA) peak-to-peak intensity. For sham stimulation, tACS is turned off after the first 30 seconds.

All participants will receive light and/or sound flicker stimulation using an off-the-shelf app for 20 minutes.

Interventions

tACS or multisensory stimulation

Active or sham tACS Light and/or sound flickers

Primary outcome measure

  • Changes in STM capacity assessed using a verbal STM task [ Time Frame: Changes monitored over pre, during and immediately after 20 minutes of tACS ]
  • Changes in STM capacity with multisensory stimulation using a verbal STM task [ Time Frame: Changes monitored pre and immediately after 20 minutes of stimulation ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Sidney Schoenrock, MA

414-955-7579sschoenrock@mcw.edu

Locations

Medical College of Wisconsin

Recruiting

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53226

Contacts

Sidney Schoenrock, MA

414-955-7579sschoenrock@mcw.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Medical College of Wisconsin

Last update posted

Jun 16, 2026

Last verified

Jun, 2026

Keywords

  • Transcranial alternating current stimulation
  • Multisensory stimulation

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Medical College of Wisconsin on 2026-06-16.