Intracranial Neurophysiological Signatures of Fear and Anxiety in Humans

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Emotional Memory; Fear; PTSD; GAD

• Registration Number: NCT05120635
• Lead Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles

Brief Summary

Anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) affect a large number of individuals with a significant portion of patients failing to improve with current treatments.

The purpose of this study is to understand the brain mechanisms that produce fear and anxiety in humans. To accomplish this goal, we will measure the brain activity along with the heart rate and skin perspiration of patients while they are completing tasks on a computer. Some of the tasks will also use a virtual reality headset and transport the patient in a video game-like environment. These tasks will expose the participants to various levels of fear-provoking images.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-10-01
• Study First Submitted: 2021-10-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-11-03
• Study First Posted: 2021-11-15
• Status Verified: 2025-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-04-23
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-27
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-31
• Study Completion: 2026-06-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 80

Inclusion Criteria

• 12 years of age or older
• Has undergone acute depth or chronic responsive neurostimulation (RNS) electrode placement
• Willing to provide informed consent and participate in the study Ability to read and write English fluently

Exclusion Criteria

• Unwilling to provide informed consent
• Has not undergone acute depth or chronic responsive neurostimulation (RNS) electrode placement
• Pregnant women
• Participants with active psychosis
• Participants with suicidal ideation
• Participants with substance abuse issues

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Neurophysiological activity	during the intervention/behavioral tasks with and without stimulation	Neurophysiological activity will be measured in Hz
Physiological change - heart rate variability	during the intervention/behavioral tasks with and without stimulation	heart rate variability will be measured in milliseconds.
Physiological change - skin conductance	during the intervention/behavioral tasks with and without stimulation	Skin conductance will be measured in microSiemens.
Physiological change - eye-blinks	during the intervention/behavioral tasks with and without stimulation	Eye blinks will be measured using an eye tracking device and will be measure in blinks per second.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of California Los Angeles; 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, California, United States