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Behavioral and Functional Task Development, Implementation, and Testing

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Alcohol Dependence
Alcohol Drinking
Addiction
Alcoholism
Alcohol Use Disorder
Interventions
Device: 7T MRI
Registration Number
NCT02108054
Lead Sponsor
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Brief Summary

Background:

- Scientists know that alcohol use disorders affect brain structure. They want to know more about the effects of alcohol use disorders on a person s behavior. They want to develop tasks that can be done inside a scanner that can help them better understand these effects in later studies.

Objective:

- To develop tasks that investigate a person s behavior that can be used in later studies.

Eligibility:

* Inpatient participants of another study. They must be physically healthy right-handed adults 18-60 years old.

* Healthy right-handed volunteers 18-65 years old.

Design:

* Participants will be screened with medical history and physical exam. They will have an EKG to record heart activity. They will give blood and urine samples and have a psychiatric interview.

* Participants will have between one and three visits.

* Participants will be asked about their alcohol drinking to see if they have an alcohol use disorder.

* Participants will complete one of three simple computerized tasks either inside the magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) scanner or outside of it.

* The MRI scanner takes pictures of the brain. The scanner is a metal cylinder. Participants lie on a table that can slide in and out of the cylinder. They will be in the scanner for about 60 minutes. They may have to lie still for up to 20 minutes. The scanner makes loud knocking noises, but they will get earplugs.

Detailed Description

Objective:

The purpose of this protocol is three-fold: 1) to develop tasks examining various cognitive, motivational, and decision-making behaviors outside the scanner; 2) to modify, refine, and verify the feasibility and applicability of tasks for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure intended concomitant brain activation; and 3) to examine equivalent or surrogate signals using other devices such as electroencephalograph (EEG) and functional near infrared spectrometer (fNIRS) when the MR contraindication(s) are present in the participant.

Study population:

Healthy volunteers without an alcohol use disorder, and inpatient participants with alcohol dependence as determined by the DSM-IV-TR or at least Moderate Alcohol Use Disorder as determined by DSM-5.

Design:

The participants will pilot one or both aspects of this study depending on whether the task is de novo or a modification to previously verified or published task.

Outcome measures:

The outcome is to develop and examine tasks that reliably measure specific cognitive, motivational and decision-making behaviors and invoke associated brain systems and functions in our targeted subject populations.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
400
Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria
  • Presence of ferromagnetic objects in the body including implanted pacemakers, medication pumps, aneurysm clips, metallic prostheses (including metal pins and rods, heart valves or cochlear implants), shrapnel fragments, permanent eye liner or small metallic fragments in the eye that welders and other metal workers may have;
  • Are pregnant, as determined by a negative pregnancy test
  • Left handed
  • Claustrophobia.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
17T MRIPeople with alcohol use disorder
27T MRIPeople without alcohol use disorder
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
outcome is to develop and examine tasks that reliably measure specific cognitive, motivational and decision-making behaviorsONGOING

Tasks that are suitable for fMRI studies and other clinical research measurements

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

🇺🇸

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

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