An interventional study of Active Implicit Priming and Control Implicit Priming in Overweight and Obesity, sponsored by University of Colorado, Denver. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-07.
Sponsored by University of Colorado, Denver · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The purpose of this study is to determine how different behavioral interventions designed to alter food perceptions and behaviors affect brain responses to food, eating behaviors, and body weight.
11,522 studies on the registry are indexed under Obesity; 2,033 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 161 is above the median of 67 across 9,006 interventional studies indexed under Obesity.
Browse Obesity studies →University of Colorado, Denver is the lead sponsor of 1,543 studies on the registry; 317 are open to participants now.
Of its 147 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 92 (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 →
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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants will complete active implicit priming, in which food images are implicitly primed (i.e., below conscious awareness) with images of positive or negative affect. This will be completed on a weekly basis for 12 weeks, for approximately 10 minutes each time.
Behavioral: Active Implicit Priming
Participants will complete control implicit priming, which matches the active intervention, but with neutral stimuli as primes. This will be completed on a weekly basis for 12 weeks, for approximately 10 minutes each time.
Behavioral: Control Implicit Priming
Participants will complete a Food Exposure Task, in which they will be asked to smell, feel, lick, and imagine eating food items, but without actually eating them. This will be completed on a weekly basis for 12 weeks, for approximately 10-30 minutes each time.
Behavioral: Food Exposure Task
Approximately 10-minute behavioral intervention
Approximately 10-minute behavioral intervention
Approximately 10-30 minute behavioral intervention
Percent Change in Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) Response to Visual Food Cues as Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Percent change in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response from baseline to after the 12-week intervention while viewing visual food cues will be measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), focusing on insula, striatum, and prefrontal cortex.
Time frame: Baseline, 12 weeks
Change in Food Image Ratings
Food image ratings change from baseline to after the 12-week intervention. Food images are rated on "desire to eat" by visual analogue scale (0-100), with higher scores indicating greater desire to eat.
Time frame: Baseline, 12 weeks
Change in Food Intake
Food intake change from baseline to after the 12-week intervention. Food intake will be measured as total calories consumed during an ad libitum meal.
Time frame: Baseline, 12 weeks
Percent Change in Body Weight
Percent change in body weight (kg) from baseline to after the 12-week intervention.
Time frame: Baseline, 12 weeks
Change in Fat Mass
Change in fat mass, as measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, from baseline to after the 12-week intervention.
Time frame: Baseline, 12 weeks
Ran from Nov 2021 to primary completion in Sep 2026, 57 months.
Of 3,680 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Obesity, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 43. This study's 57 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 3,843 studies reached it within 22 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 42.
Since we started tracking on Sep 25, 2026, the dates moved once, on Oct 7, 2026: primary completion Aug 2026 → Sep 2026 and completion Aug 2026 → Sep 2026.
Earlier changes are on the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Colorado, Denver →