Brain Function and Decision-Making

Social Interaction Clinical Trial

Official title:

Brain Function and Decision-Making

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03974282
• Other study ID #: HM20015724
• Secondary ID: UL1TR002649
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 20, 2019
• Est. completion date: March 16, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: February 2023
• Source: Virginia Commonwealth University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study is about how brain function and structure is different between two universities. Participant in this project will contribute to a better understanding of how universities affect the brain.

Description:

Some study details are purposely omitted at this time to preserve scientific integrity. Now that the study is completed, full details are included below.

The true purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the two computer tasks that participants completed. Specifically, researchers wanted to know if they would be able to accurately measure motivated empathy. To better understand this, participants were asked to rate images of people expressing pain and were told that these were either students from their university or students from a different university. This was not the case. The faces shown were random images produced for a research study.

Researchers also wanted to know if they could accurately measure moral decision making and how those judgments relate to aggression. To examine this, participants were asked whether various scenarios were immoral and then asked about aggressive tendencies.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 36
• Est. completion date: March 16, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: March 16, 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 35 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Undergraduate students aged 18 - 35 years of age

• No current or regular use of prescribed or illicit psychoactive drugs

• Free of major health problems (e.g., diabetes, HIV, Parkinson's disease)

• Free of a neurological or psychiatric disorders

• No current drug abuse (e.g., recreational drug use, average alcohol intake in excess of 4 drinks per day).

• Right hand dominant

• Free of claustrophobia

• Free of pregnancy or suspected pregnancy

• Absent MRI risk factors (e.g., implanted medical device, body mass index > 35, braces)

• Free of medical conditions that render individuals with overly sensitive hearing

• No colorblindness

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not meeting the inclusion criteria listed above.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Behavior, Social
• Interpersonal Relations
• Psychology, Social
• Social Interaction

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Psychological task
Participants will complete a psychological task that evokes antisocially- and prosocially-motivated empathic responding

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond	Virginia

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Virginia Commonwealth University	National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in Prefrontal Cortex Brain Activity Assessed by fMRI	Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent signal change in the cognitive empathy brain network will be assessed using functional MRI	Baseline to 3 hours
Primary	Change in Accuracy of Empathic Pain Judgments	Difference in pain judgment scores rated from 1 (low) to 4 (high) between antisocial vs prosocial empathy trials	Baseline to 3 hours