Brain Function and Decision-Making

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Psychology, Social; Social Interaction; Interpersonal Relations; Behavior, Social
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Psychological task

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 36
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Virginia
    • Richmond, Virginia, United States, 23298
      • Virginia Commonwealth University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 35 years (ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

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.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
OTHER: Low psychopathy distribution; Participants who score at the low end of the psychopathy distribution	Behavioral: Psychological task; Participants will complete a psychological task that evokes antisocially- and prosocially-motivated empathic responding
OTHER: High psychopathy distribution; Participants who score at the high end of the psychopathy distribution	Behavioral: Psychological task; Participants will complete a psychological task that evokes antisocially- and prosocially-motivated empathic responding

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Virginia Commonwealth University
• Collaborators: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): June 20, 2019
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): March 16, 2020
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): March 16, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 31, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 3, 2019
• First Posted (ACTUAL): June 4, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): February 6, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 1, 2023
• Last Verified: February 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HM20015724; UL1TR002649 (NIH)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No