An interventional study of Ventral tegmental area of dopaminergic midbrain (VTA) fMRI neurofeedback in Motivation, Memory and Self-regulation, sponsored by Duke University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-10.
Sponsored by Duke University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
The purpose of this research study is to understand how healthy individuals self-regulate motivation by observing brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Neuromodulatory nuclei detect and transform brain network activity into simpler signals, then send neurotransmitters back out to large-scale brain networks to change their function. Such nuclei are centrally implicated in mental disorders and adaptive resilience, and their regulation remains an untapped resource for interventions. The purpose of this study is to understand how neuromodulatory nuclei detect and in turn influence distributed patterns of brain activity to impact behavior. In order to understand their regulation and effects on brain function, the investigative team has developed novel neuroimaging, behavioral, and analytic methods. These methods include: training participants to endogenously self-regulate dopaminergic midbrain and then relating midbrain activation to memory-conducive states, effort exertion, and decision making.
If the aims of this project are achieved, the investigators will have methods for regulating midbrain noninvasively, an improved understanding of its impact on learning and motivated behavior, and reliable cognitive strategies for a wide array of interventions across educational and clinical applications.
168 studies on the registry are indexed under Self-Control; 22 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 190 is above the median of 88 across 144 interventional studies indexed under Self-Control.
Browse Self-Control studies →Duke University is the lead sponsor of 2,063 studies on the registry; 273 are open to participants now.
Of its 204 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 167 (82%) have results posted.
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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.
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.
Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
DSM diagnostic criteria
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
TIA (transient ischaemic attack)
A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.
Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants meeting study inclusion will be scheduled for two sessions: one baseline behavioral visit and an fMRI session to assess the ability to self-stimulate VTA activation. Session one will include a battery of cognitive assessments and a demonstration of the reward-based learning task in session two. The experimental imaging task session will be done within one week of session one. Participants will been randomly split into two group: group one will complete a reward-based learning task before the VTA activation task and group two will complete reward task after VTA activation. During the VTA activation task, participants will be instructed to achieve a heightened state of motivation using personally relevant thoughts and imagery.
Behavioral: Ventral tegmental area of dopaminergic midbrain (VTA) fMRI neurofeedback
Participants will be randomly assigned to an MRI group or a behavioral control group. All participants will complete an effort-based learning task and a series of questionnaires in session one. Session two may include an MRI based on group assignment. Participants in the MRI group will complete the VTA activation task. Following, they will complete the effort task and questionnaires a second time. The behavioral control group will complete a second session consisting of the effort task and questionnaires.
Behavioral: Ventral tegmental area of dopaminergic midbrain (VTA) fMRI neurofeedback
Participants will take part in four sessions: visit 1-baseline + memory encoding, visit 2-memory retrieval, visit 3-memory encoding, visit 4-memory retrieval). Encoding and retrieval of the memoranda will occur 24 hours apart. Study visits will take place no more than 7 days apart. One group of participants will complete all sessions at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. The remainder of participants will complete the encoding sessions in the MRI machine, .
Behavioral: Ventral tegmental area of dopaminergic midbrain (VTA) fMRI neurofeedback
fMRI neurofeedback training of sustained midbrain/VTA activation via motivational imagery.
Percent signal change in VTA BOLD activation
Time frame: During the MRI scan, approximately 2 hours
Change in effort-based decision making, as measured by the Effort Expenditure for Reward Task (EEfRT)
Decisions to exert effort.
Time frame: During the MRI scan, approximately 2 hours
Change in motivated memory, as measured by the Monetary Incentive Encoding task (MIE)
Improved motivated memory formation.
Time frame: During the MRI scan, approximately 2 hours
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jul 2023 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Sep 2026, 37 months after the start.
Of 104 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Self-Control, half reached primary completion within 16 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 34. This study's planned 37 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 105 studies reached it within 16 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 34.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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