The Effect of Positive and Negative Emotions on Brain Activity in Alcoholics and Nonalcoholics

Completed

• Conditions: Healthy; Alcoholism

• Registration Number: NCT00001675
• Lead Sponsor: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Brief Summary

This study was designed to learn more about the areas of the brain involved in the experience of positive and negative emotions.

Patients who would like to participate in this study will first undergo a screening process to see if they will be eligible for the study. Patients eligible to participate in the study will go through two sessions.

During session one, researchers will attempt to evoke positive and negative emotions by showing patients slides of different emotion-arousing stimuli (pictures of pleasant and unpleasant scenes). While patients are viewing these slides, researchers will be measuring patient's heart rate, sweating, and eye-blinking.

During session two, patients will undergo an MRI of the brain while seeing similar emotion-arousing pictures as in session one. In addition, patients may be asked to play a simple computer game for a reward of money while researchers use the MRI to measure brain activity.

Researchers hope to develop methods to evoke positive and negative emotions and simultaneously (at the same time) see brain activation in normal volunteers, alcoholics, and recovered alcoholics.\<TAB\>

Detailed Description

Objective: The purpose of this protocol is two-fold: 1) to determine how individual differences in evoked brain responses relate to generalized trait personality and behavior differences (as assessed by psychometric questionnaire instruments and behavioral measures), and 2) to determine whether individual differences in evoked brain responses relate specifically to genetic polymorphisms in genes governing neurotransmitter activity.

Study population: Healthy non-alcoholic adult volunteers, healthy adolescents aged 12 to 17 years (with or without a family history of alcohol use disorder), inpatient or outpatient alcoholics, and recovering alcoholics.

Design: In this event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we will attempt to evoke positive and negative affect via several different standardized methods including: (1) pictures of emotion-arousing stimuli; (2) pictures of emotional facial expression; (3) cues signaling reward or punishment. This protocol is designed to cover many different functional magnetic imaging studies all using similar techniques to evoke and measure positive and negative affect in the brain. Most subjects will not participate in studies involving all the methods described in the protocol.

Outcome measures: The outcome measure is differences in blood oxygenation dependent level (BOLD) signal measured using standard fMRI techniques and analyzed using AFNI software.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 1998-01-23
• Study First Submitted: 1999-11-03
• Study First Submitted QC: 2006-04-19
• Study First Posted: 2006-04-20
• Status Verified: 2015-12-23
• Study Completion: 2015-12-23
• Last Update Submitted: 2019-12-06
• Last Update Posted: 2019-12-09

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1194

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike; 🇺🇸 Bethesda, Maryland, United States