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CompletedNCT00458432Updated Jul 2, 2017

Functional Neuroanatomy of Emotion Perception, Recognition, Learning, and Memory

An observational study in Healthy, sponsored by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 40 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-07-02.

Sponsored by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) · Observational

Study type
Observational
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
180
Ages
20 Years to 40 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to explore the areas of the brain involved in different types of mental processes, in particular, the brain regions involved in perception, recognition, learning, and memory. MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of body tissues and organs. In this study it is also used to measure blood flow in different regions of the brain while the subject is presented auditory or visual stimuli. The subject lies on a table that can slide in and out of the scanner (a narrow cylinder), wearing earplugs to muffle loud noises that occur during the scanning process. Subjects are in the scanner no more than 2 hours.

Healthy, right-handed normal volunteers between 20 and 40 years of age who have at least a high school education may be eligible for this study.

While undergoing MRI, participants are presented visual stimuli (pictures or geometric shapes on a projection screen) or auditory stimuli (tones played through a set of headphones). Unpleasant stimuli such as loud noise, electric shocks, heat, or tactile stimuli are administered occasionally. The intensity of these stimuli is similar to those experienced in practice sessions before the scanning. Participants receive between 30 and 60 visual or auditory stimuli during the scanning session, and each stimulus lasts about 1 second. In some studies participants are asked to move a joystick that controls a rating bar presented on a projection screen to indicate when they expect to receive these stimuli and how sure they are that they will occur. Heart rate, respiration rate, and sweat gland activity are monitored during the MRI sessions, using electrodes placed on the fingers to measure heart rate and sweat gland activity and a sensor strapped around the chest to measure respiration. Subjects are in the scanner no more than 2 hours.

Following the experiment, subjects may be asked questions about their experiences during the study.

Read the detailed description

The long-term goals of this study are to understand the neural substrates of aversive Pavlovian conditioning in human subjects. The general approach is to use whole brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to describe brain regions and circuits that contribute to the acquisition and performance of this form of learning. The specific aims of this proposal are:

  1. To identify brain regions that respond to aversive stimuli.
  2. To identify brain regions primarily responsible for the expression of cognitive and autonomic responses versus those involved in stimulus processing and memory encoding.
  3. To relate patterns of activity within selected brain areas to implicit versus explicit memory performance.
  4. To compare the parallel development of implicit and explicit knowledge about stimulus relationships during Pavlovian delay and trace fear conditioning.
  5. To test specific predictions regarding the nature of learning-related activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and prefrontal cortex as they develop during conditioning and to integrate these findings into a more general theoretical understanding of memory phenomena in humans.
02

Conditions studied

  • Healthy

Keywords

  • fMRI
  • Pavlovian Conditioning
  • Functional Activity
  • Brain
  • Fear
  • Healthy Volunteer
  • HV
03

In context

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead sponsor of 367 studies on the registry; 45 are open to participants now.

Of its 25 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 24 (96%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 40 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

Normal right-handed volunteers with at least a high school education, age 20 to 40 years, will be recruited to participate in this study.

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects will be excluded if they have evidence of or a history of learning disability, psychiatric condition, head trauma, seizures or other neurological condition, alcoholism or substance abuse, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease. We will also exclude subjects with vision and/or hearing problems severe enough to interfere with testing. Lab work will be limited to a urine pregnancy test for females. Females with a positive pregnancy test will be excluded from neuroimaging studies. All subjects will be questioned prior to MRI scanning for possible occupational exposure to metal slivers or shavings, which may have become accidentally lodged in the tissues of the head or neck. Those whose history is suggestive of such a problem will be excluded. Subjects with surgical clips or shrapnel in or near the brain or blood vessels, subjects with cochlear implants, subjects with any metallic body in the eye or CNS, and subjects with any form of implant wire or metal device which may concentrate radiofrequency fields will be excluded because of possible risks during MRI scanning.

05

Study design

Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
180 participants
06

Study locations

1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
    Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Baumgartner U, Magerl W, Klein T, Hopf HC, Treede RD. Neurogenic hyperalgesia versus painful hypoalgesia: two distinct mechanisms of neuropathic pain. Pain. 2002 Mar;96(1-2):141-51. doi: 10.1016/s0304-3959(01)00438-9. PubMed 11932070 ↗
  • Bechara A, Tranel D, Damasio H, Adolphs R, Rockland C, Damasio AR. Double dissociation of conditioning and declarative knowledge relative to the amygdala and hippocampus in humans. Science. 1995 Aug 25;269(5227):1115-8. doi: 10.1126/science.7652558. PubMed 7652558 ↗
  • Andrew D, Greenspan JD. Peripheral coding of tonic mechanical cutaneous pain: comparison of nociceptor activity in rat and human psychophysics. J Neurophysiol. 1999 Nov;82(5):2641-8. doi: 10.1152/jn.1999.82.5.2641. PubMed 10561433 ↗
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Apr 2007, a primary completion of Aug 2009 and a completion of Aug 2009. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

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

Registered
Apr 7, 2007
First posted
Apr 10, 2007
Start
Apr 5, 2007
Primary completionActual
Aug 31, 2009
CompletionActual
Aug 31, 2009
Last update
Jul 2, 2017
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 Jul 2, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00458432
First posted
Apr 10, 2007
Start date
Apr 5, 2007
Primary completion
Aug 31, 2009
Completion
Aug 31, 2009
Last update
Jul 2, 2017
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2009. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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