An interventional study of Value-manipulation in Memory, Short-Term, sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-17.
Sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Learning to make good decisions in the present, and accurately recalling events and information from the past, are critical aspects of human cognition that are often impaired in many psychiatric disorders. This project aims to identify the how the choices individuals make influence what, and how, people remember by combining disparate techniques in computational modeling and direct brain recordings in human subjects. The researcher developed a dual-task paradigm, probing how decisions in one task affect immediate recognition memory. To examine the neural mechanisms underlying model-free RL's influence on memory, the researcher will record local field potential (LFP) and single neuron activity in various brain regions as epilepsy patients perform the proposed task. The results of this project will identify specific neurocomputational mechanisms unifying decision-making and memory processes.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the lead sponsor of 496 studies on the registry; 130 are open to participants now.
Of its 38 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 30 (79%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants with epilepsy will complete a behavioral task in which they use a laptop computer to do a decision-making and memory task.
Behavioral: Value-manipulation
During the decision-making task, different choices are assigned different values probabilistically.
Local-field potentials changes
Detection of local-field potentials (LFPs) in the various regions (hippocampus, amygdala, and frontal cortex). Local field potentials are the biological voltages recorded by macroelectrodes implanted in participant's subcortical regions as part of their treatment for epilepsy. LFP changes (measured as increases or decreases in voltage) as a function of participant behavior will be recorded, and in response to the task manipulation of the value of choices during the decision-making task
Time frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay
Firing rate changes
Single-neuron activity recorded from the hippocampus, amygdala, and frontal cortex. Single-neuron activity refers the micro-scale changes in single-neuron action potentials recorded by microelectrodes implanted in subcortical regions. Firing rate changes (measured as difference in spikes/seconds \[Hz\]) will be reported for neurons as a function of how behavior changes when the value of choices is altered.
Time frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay
Reaction time
Reaction times involve measuring how quickly the participant makes each choice during the decision-making and memory tasks, in milliseconds. This will be recorded by logging keypresses and mouse inputs to the behavioral computers. Slow reaction times indicate increased cognitive processing.
Time frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay
Number of hit rates for decision-making
Choices in decision-making task involved logging the decision-making selections that participants make. This will be recorded by logging keypresses and mouse inputs (left or right) to the behavioral computers. This will be used to track whether participants decisions change when value manipulations occur.
Time frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay
Number of hit rates for Memory performance
Memory performance involved logging the memory-recognition selections that participants make. This will be recorded by logging keypresses and mouse inputs (old or new) to the behavioral computers. This will be used to track whether participants memory performance changes when value manipulations occur.
Time frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay
Plan to share: Yes — Access to the raw, de-identified behavioral and neural data will be limited to qualified researchers due to the potential for misuse of participant demographic and neural data within 12 months following article publication. Datasets generated by this project will be made available through the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive (NDA).
Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf
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Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey