ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03254576ChildLearnUpdated Jan 29, 2024

Cue-Reward Learning and Weight Gain in Youth

An observational study in Overweight and Obesity, sponsored by University of California, San Diego. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 8 Years to 11 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-01-29.

Primary conditionObesityRegistry: OverweightReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Overweight — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Obesity
Why
  1. The study's listed conditions name Obesity, a narrower term within Overweight.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by University of California, San Diego · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
147
Ages
8 Years to 11 Years
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-12

Among 59 studies in Obesity by University of California, San Diego — 3 open to participants now, 8 under way, none of them phase 3. Obesity · University of California, San Diego.

Started
2016
with 1 other
Observational
8 of 59
none open now
Registered
37th of 59
by date

Among the 59 studies in Obesity by University of California, San Diego, this one is one of 2 that started in 2016, is one of 8 observational ones, and was the 37th registered.

Obesity

11,522 studies on the registry are indexed under Obesity; 2,033 are open to participants now.

Browse Obesity studies →

Open to participants now

3 of the 59 studies in Obesity by University of California, San Diego are open now, in 1 country. Recruiting first, the newest first:

By country, each count listing its studies:

All 3 open studies →

Where they have run

Who these studies take

Of the 1,336 Obesity studies recruiting now, 377 (28%) set no upper age limit and 856 (64%) stop at 75 or younger; 168 take children under 18; 491 take healthy volunteers.

This study: 8 Years to 11 Years · all sexes · healthy volunteers too.

The full table on the hub →

This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.

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Watch this landscapeDownload CSVNarrow it in search →With an account: a weekly mail of what changed among 59 studies in Obesity by University of California, San Diego, or all of them as a file.
02

Study summary

The objective of the study is to compare children at low risk for obesity (two healthy weight parents) to children at high risk for obesity (two overweight parents) in their response rate to food taste and in their rate of learning using fMRI.

Read the detailed description

The primary aim of this project is to conduct an adequately powered study that compares children at low risk for obesity to children at high risk for obesity on their brain responses to food tastes during a pavlovian learning task. Seven assessment visits will be conducted at three separate time points; baseline, 1-year follow up, and 2-year follow up. Assessments will include anthropometry, interviews, computer tasks, questionnaires, and an fMRI scan. This program of research tests a novel hypothesis regarding overeating and the development of obesity in children, and could provide critical data on individual vulnerabilities to overeating for further research. Furthermore, this study could provide mechanisms for intervention with regards to cue-reward learning in children, to ultimately prevent obesity in youth.

03

Conditions studied

  • Overweight
  • Obesity

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Overweight
  • Obesity
  • Body Mass Index
  • Weight
  • Brain imaging
  • Child
  • Learning
04

In context

Obesity Reclassified

11,522 studies on the registry are indexed under Obesity; 2,033 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 147 is above the median of 114 across 2,154 observational studies indexed under Obesity.

Browse Obesity studies →

Lead sponsor

University of California, San Diego is the lead sponsor of 980 studies on the registry; 195 are open to participants now.

Of its 113 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 71 (63%) have results posted.

Compared within Obesity, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Overweight. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

05

Who can participate

Ages eligible
8 Years to 11 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Healthy-weight children (5-75thBMI%) between the ages of 8 and 11 years old with either two over-weight parents (BMI>25) or two healthy-weight parents (BMI = 18-24.9)

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

  • Healthy weight children between the ages of 8 and 11 Years
  • 5-75th percentile
  • Child must be right-handed
  • Child must be willing to participate in an fMRI scan
  • Either two biological parents who are overweight/obese or no biological parents that are overweight/obese
  • One biological parent willing to bring child to assessment visits
  • Child and participating parent Fluent in English for speaking, reading, and writing
  • Child must like cheese pizza and chocolate milkshake

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Child overweight (≥85th percentile)
  • Child diagnoses of a serious chronic physical disease (e.g., diabetes) for which physician supervision of diet and exercise prescription are needed
  • Child who is taking medications that may impact brain responses (can take kids who are stable on meds)
  • Child with MRI (presence of metallic foreign object or device in body, piercings that cannot be removed, tattooed permanent makeup that contain metal, braces, head trauma, claustrophobia, use of Bigen permanent hair dye)
  • Child with an active eating disorder (reported on EDE interview) or with first degree relative with Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa
  • Cognitive impairment or disability determined through parent and child self-report measures, and parent reported child individual education plan
  • Vision problems uncorrectable with lenses
  • Food allergies related to cheese pizza, chocolate milkshake, or the snack foods used in the study
  • Menarche in female participants at time of enrollment
  • Children scoring within the midpubertal range or higher based on the Pubertal Development Scale
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

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.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

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.

06

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
147 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Children at high-risk for obesity

    Healthy-weight children (5th-75thBMI%) with two overweight/obese parents (BMI\>25)

    Other: Functional MRI

  • Children at low-risk for obesity

    Healthy-weight children (5th-75thBMI%) with two healthy-weight parents (BMI = 18-24.9)

    Other: Functional MRI

Interventions

  • OtherFunctional MRI
07

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Cue-reward learning

    Whether rate of the shift in BOLD response from food cue to neutral cue is different between high and low-risk children

    Time frame: Baseline only

  2. Reward Sensitivity

    Whether the BOLD response to food cue differs between high and low-risk children

    Time frame: Baseline only

  3. Weight gain

    Whether rate of cue reward and reward sensitivity predict weight gain

    Time frame: Change from baseline at an average of 12 months and 24 months

08

Study locations

1 site
  • UCSD Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research (CHEAR)
    La Jolla, California 92093, United States
09

References and documents

Publications

  • Boutelle KN, Wierenga CE, Bischoff-Grethe A, Melrose AJ, Grenesko-Stevens E, Paulus MP, Kaye WH. Increased brain response to appetitive tastes in the insula and amygdala in obese compared with healthy weight children when sated. Int J Obes (Lond). 2015 Apr;39(4):620-8. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2014.206. Epub 2014 Dec 11. PubMed 25582522 ↗
  • Mestre ZL, Bischoff-Grethe A, Eichen DM, Wierenga CE, Strong D, Boutelle KN. Hippocampal atrophy and altered brain responses to pleasant tastes among obese compared with healthy weight children. Int J Obes (Lond). 2017 Oct;41(10):1496-1502. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2017.130. Epub 2017 Jun 2. PubMed 28572588 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

10

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

Ran from Dec 2016 to primary completion in Dec 2023, 84 months.

Of 791 non-industry observational studies under Obesity, half reached primary completion within 40 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 106. This study's 84 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 836 studies reached it within 39 months; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 96.

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

Registered
Aug 16, 2017
First posted
Aug 18, 2017
StartActual
Dec 2016
Primary completionActual
Dec 27, 2023
CompletionActual
Dec 27, 2023
Last update
Jan 29, 2024
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 Jan 29, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03254576
Responsible party
Kerri Boutelle (Professor, University of California, San Diego) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 18, 2017
Start date
Dec 2016
Primary completion
Dec 27, 2023
Completion
Dec 27, 2023
Last update
Jan 29, 2024

Study contacts

Kerri Boutelle, Ph.D.
principal investigator · UCSD

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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