Brain Function and Decision-Making

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Behavior, Social
Social Interaction
Interpersonal Relations
Psychology, Social

Brief Summary: This study is about how brain function and structure is different between two universities. Participant in this project will contribute to a better understanding of how universities affect the brain.

Detailed Description: Some study details are purposely omitted at this time to preserve scientific integrity. Now that the study is completed, full details are included below.

The true purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the two computer tasks that participants completed. Specifically, researchers wanted to know if they would be able to accurately measure motivated empathy. To better understand this, participants were asked to rate images of people expressing pain and were told that these were either students from their university or students from a different university. This was not the case. The faces shown were random images produced for a research study.

Researchers also wanted to know if they could accurately measure moral decision making and how those judgments relate to aggression. To examine this, participants were asked whether various scenarios were immoral and then asked about aggressive tendencies.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Undergraduate students aged 18 - 35 years of age
No current or regular use of prescribed or illicit psychoactive drugs
Free of major health problems (e.g., diabetes, HIV, Parkinson's disease)
Free of a neurological or psychiatric disorders
No current drug abuse (e.g., recreational drug use, average alcohol intake in excess of 4 drinks per day).
Right hand dominant
Free of claustrophobia
Free of pregnancy or suspected pregnancy
Absent MRI risk factors (e.g., implanted medical device, body mass index > 35, braces)
Free of medical conditions that render individuals with overly sensitive hearing
No colorblindness

Exclusion Criteria

• Not meeting the inclusion criteria listed above.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
High psychopathy distribution	Psychological task	Participants who score at the high end of the psychopathy distribution
Low psychopathy distribution	Psychological task	Participants who score at the low end of the psychopathy distribution

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Accuracy of Empathic Pain Judgments	Baseline to 3 hours	Difference in pain judgment scores rated from 1 (low) to 4 (high) between antisocial vs prosocial empathy trials
Change in Prefrontal Cortex Brain Activity Assessed by fMRI	Baseline to 3 hours	Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent signal change in the cognitive empathy brain network will be assessed using functional MRI

Secondary Outcome Measures