Development and Validation of Learning and Decision-Making Tasks
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- MRI
- Conditions
- Normal Physiology
- Sponsor
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Enrollment
- 550
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- task performance
- Status
- Recruiting
- Last Updated
- last month
Overview
Brief Summary
Background:
Substance use disorders (SUD) can be considered disorders in the way people process incentives, learn, and make decisions. To understand why some people develop SUD, researchers need to develop reliable tests that show how people think and learn. This natural history study seeks to develop a set of tasks that could then be used to test how people learn and make decisions.
Objective:
To develop and validate behavioral tasks that could be used in future studies.
Eligibility:
Healthy people aged 18-45 years from the Baltimore area. They must also be enrolled in the NIDA screening protocol.
Design:
Participants will perform different tasks. Most tasks require 1-4 study visits; some may require up to 12. Visits are 1-14 days apart. All visits will last about 1-7 hours.
Participants will perform tasks on a computer. As they work they may be given different stimuli:
Smells. Participants will sniff odors through a plastic tube or mask on their nose.
Flavors. Participants will wear a mouthpiece and small amounts of different flavored liquids will be placed in their mouth.
Pictures. Participants will look at different images.
Sounds. Participants will wear headphones and various sounds will be played for them.
Food. Participants may be asked to eat a meal before, during, or after a task. The researchers will provide the meal.
During each task, participants will wear sensors to monitor their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and other physical changes in their bodies.
Some participants will have a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. They will lie on a table that slides into a cylinder. They will perform tasks on a computer screen during the fMRI.
Detailed Description
Study Description: From a behavioral perspective, substance-use disorders (SUD) can be considered as disorders of incentive processing, learning, and decision-making. The Learning and Decision-Making Unit at NIDA IRP conducts Basic Experimental Studies involving Humans (BESH) to study the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying these functions, and their disruption in SUD. For this, behavioral tasks suitable for use both in and outside the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner need to be developed and validated. Objectives: The primary objective of this protocol is to develop and validate behavioral tasks inside and outside the fMRI scanner, and to determine their practical feasibility for future studies. Endpoints: The primary endpoint is to determine if the developed tasks reliably and appropriately measure specific cognitive functions, and if they yield measurable and interpretable fMRI results in the associated brain systems.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •INCLUSION CRITERIA:
- •There are two levels of inclusion and
Exclusion Criteria
- •; those applying to all participants and those applying to participants in the MRI phase only. Participants will be cleared for both the behavioral and MRI phases, if eligible, and will be invited to sign one or both consents depending on what tasks are active at the time of consent. If a person is not MRI compatible, they will only be offered enrollment into the behavioral phase of the study.
- •In order to be eligible to participate in this study, an individual must meet the following criteria:
- •Male or female, aged 18-45 years old. Justification: Many neural processes change with age, and these changes could introduce unwanted variability in both behavioral and MRI signals.
- •In good general health.
- •In order to be eligible to participate in the MRI phase of this study, an individual must - in addition - also meet all of the following criteria:
- •Right-handed.
- •EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
- •Individuals who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation:
- •History of neurological illnesses or neurosurgery including but not limited to cerebrovascular accident, Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, Huntington disease, CNS tumor, significant head trauma with sequelae, multiple sclerosis or other demyelinating diseases, epilepsy, movement disorders. The MAI will also retain discretion to exclude based on a history of a neurological illness or trauma that may compromise data integrity.
- •History of currently unresolved psychiatric disorders with current (past 12 months) regular use of psychiatric medications. Past/remitted (\>12 months ago) psychiatric disorders with no currently active symptoms and no current use of psychiatric medications may be included in the study, per MAI discretion.
Arms & Interventions
healthy controls
generally healthy volunteers
Intervention: MRI
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
task performance
Time Frame: each study visit
to determine if the developed tasks reliably and appropriately measure specific cognitive functions, and if they yield measurable and interpretable fMRI results in the associated brain systems.