ClinicalTrials.gg
Sign In
RecruitingNCT06608680TAFEUpdated Sep 9, 2026

Timing and Facilitation Effects of Theta-Burst Stimulation in the Reading and Language Networks

An interventional study of iTBS and cTBS in Reading, Language and Control Subjects, sponsored by Georgia State University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-09.

Sponsored by Georgia State University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 1 year 5 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Apr 2023, registered Sep 2024).
  • Started Apr 2023; still recruiting 3 years 7 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 30 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to understand how transcranial magnetic stimulation affects how quickly, easily, and accurately a person read. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a technique that uses magnetic fields to briefly affect how well certain brain regions function. The investigators would like to better understand how long the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation occur in the reading system and at what point the effect is strongest in this system. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  1. At what point after stimulation are the greatest effects on behavior seen
  2. How excitatory and inhibitory stimulation affect behavior

Researchers will compare stimulation types against a sham condition to see effects on reading and language behavior.

Participants will be asked to

  • undergo reading, language, and cognitive testing
  • receive an MRI
  • receive TMS stimulation
  • perform language, reading, and motor tasks
02

Conditions studied

  • Reading
  • Language
  • Control Subjects

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • transcranial magnetic stimulation
  • TMS
  • MRI
  • Reading
  • Language
03

In context

Language

243 studies on the registry are indexed under Language; 76 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 50 is below the median of 65 across 158 interventional studies indexed under Language.

Browse Language studies →

Lead sponsor

Georgia State University is the lead sponsor of 56 studies on the registry; 14 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 30 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects must have a minimum of low average intellectual functioning (>=80) on at least one subscale on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-2 (WASI-2; Wechsler, 2011) to be included.
  • Within a normal range of reading skills as >85 on the Test of Word Reading Efficiency - Second Edition (TOWRE-2; Torgesen et al., 2012) and the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement (WJ-IV; Schrank et al., 2014)
  • Individuals with a documented history of learning disability will not be included. This will be determined via demographics questionnaire.
  • Subjects must be between the ages of 18 and 30 to be included. This will be determined via demographics questionnaire.
  • Because reading is critically linked to language, only individuals who are native speakers of English will be included in the study. This will be determined via demographics questionnaire.
  • The reading network is typically localized to the left side of the brain. However, left-handed individuals may have different brain lateralization, introducing an important confound to the study. Therefore, only right-handed individuals will be included in the study. This will be determined via demographics questionnaire.
  • Individuals who have hearing deficits (>25dB at 500+ Hz), visual deficits (>20/40), serious emotional problems, certain neurological conditions (e.g., uncontrolled seizure disorders) will not be included. This will be determined via CABI Screening Forms and Demographics Questionnaire.
  • Individuals with certain metals in their bodies or with certain health conditions will not be included. If an individual has braces on their teeth, a cardiac pacemaker; hearing aid; other metal in their body or eyes (which may include certain metallic-embedded tattoos), including but not limited to pins, screws, shrapnel, plates, dentures or other metal objects they will not be included. This will be determined via CABI Screening forms.
  • Individuals with MRI Screening and Forms which do not pass MRI Tech review will not be included.
  • Individuals with TMS Screening Forms which do not pass TMS Tech review will not be included.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
50 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    iTBS/Sham

    Adults age 18-30 with typical reading and language abilities

    Behavioral: iTBS · Behavioral: Sham Stimulation

  • Experimental
    cTBS/Sham

    Adults age 18-30 with typical reading and language abilities

    Behavioral: cTBS · Behavioral: Sham Stimulation

Interventions

  • BehavioraliTBS

    Excitatory stimulation of supramarginal gyrus

  • BehavioralcTBS

    Inhibitory stimulation to supramarginal gyrus

  • BehavioralSham Stimulation

    Sham stimulation of supramarginal gyrus

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Phonological Decoding Reaction Time

    Time frame: Four time points after each stimulation (20, 40, 60 and 80 minutes after stimulation)

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Deidentified data will be shared via the COINS platform

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Apr 2023 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2027, 56 months after the start.

Of 89 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Language, half reached primary completion within 32 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 64. This study's planned 56 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 93 studies reached it within 33 months; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 64.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 12, 2024
First posted
Sep 23, 2024
StartActual
Apr 5, 2023
Primary completionEst.
Dec 31, 2027
CompletionEst.
Dec 31, 2028
Last update
Sep 9, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 9, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06608680
Lead sponsor
Georgia State University
Responsible party
Rachael Marie Harrington (Assistant Professor, Georgia State University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 23, 2024
Start date
Apr 5, 2023
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 9, 2026

Study contacts

Rachael Harrington, Ph.D. CCC-SLP
Contact
rharrington2@gsu.edu
404-413-6219
C. Nikki Arrington, Ph.D.
Contact
carrington3@gsu.edu
404-385-8621

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Other studies in this condition

Language →

Other studies from this sponsor

Georgia State University

Start the discussion