An interventional study of Psychological task in Behavior, Social, Psychology, Social and Social Interaction, sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 35 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-02-06.
Sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
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.
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.
Virginia Commonwealth University is the lead sponsor of 641 studies on the registry; 82 are open to participants now.
Of its 88 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 62 (70%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants who score at the low end of the psychopathy distribution
Behavioral: Psychological task
Participants who score at the high end of the psychopathy distribution
Behavioral: Psychological task
Participants will complete a psychological task that evokes antisocially- and prosocially-motivated empathic responding
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
Time frame: Baseline to 3 hours
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
Time frame: Baseline to 3 hours
| Milestone | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Started | 18 | 18 |
| Completed | 18 | 18 |
| Not completed | 0 | 0 |
Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent signal change in the cognitive empathy brain network will be assessed using functional MRI
| Percent BOLD Signal Change | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Prefrontal Cortex Brain Activity Assessed by fMRI | -0.002 ± 0.163 | 0.015 ± 0.105 |
Difference in pain judgment scores rated from 1 (low) to 4 (high) between antisocial vs prosocial empathy trials
| difference in pain scores | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Accuracy of Empathic Pain Judgments | .49 ± .14 | .39 ± .14 |
Collected over 3 hours. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.
| Group | Deaths | Serious | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Participants | 0/36 (0%) | 0/36 (0%) | 0/36 (0%) |
| Age, Continuous(years) | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | 20.24 ± 2.75 | 20.59 ± 2.12 | 20.41 ± 2.43 |
| Sex: Female, Male(Participants) | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Male | 18 | 18 | 36 |
| Race/Ethnicity, Customized(Participants) | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race — Asian | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Race — Black or African-American | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Race — Pacific Islander | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Race — White - Hispanic | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Race — Missing Data | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Race — Multiracial | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Race — Other Race | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Race — White - Non-Hispanic | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| Region of Enrollment(participants) | Low Psychopathy Distribution | High Psychopathy Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 18 | 18 | 36 |
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: No
This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Virginia Commonwealth University