Stress & Self-Control Costs

Neural and Affective Mechanisms Underlying Prospective Self-control Costs

Self-control failures are a universal challenge for healthy and clinical populations. Recent work suggests these failures may arise from excessive cognitive costs associated with exercising self-control, yet the mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown. To address this, the investigators will use a validated decision-making task that measures how much individuals will pay (from a study endowment) to restrict access to tempting rewards that may lead to self-control failures. The investigators will examine these costs to identify their cognitive, neural and affective mechanisms. First, the investigators will identify the cognitive and computational mechanism that gives rise to self-control costs. Second, the investigators will characterize the neural correlates of self-control costs and identify neural mediators and connectivity patterns stemming from these costs. Finally, the investigators will examine how different classes of stressors (physical, social, or lifetime stress) shape the behavioral and neural representations of self-control costs.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Self-Control
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Cold-Pressor Task (CPT); Device: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI); Behavioral: Trier Social Stress Test (TSST); Behavioral: Modified Non-Stress CPT; Behavioral: Modified Non-Stress TSST

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Candace Raio; Email: candace.raio@nyulangone.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10016
      • Recruiting
      • NYU Langone Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-70 years of age, able to speak, read, and write fluently in English
• be willing and able to follow study procedures and provide informed consent.
• Must additionally confirm they are on a diet to maintain/lose weight and are implementing/maintaining dietary changes.

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of or medication for neurologic or psychiatric disease
• High-blood pressure or heart condition
• Diabetes, food allergies, metabolic disorders or history of eating disorder
• Use of corticosteroids or beta-blockers
• Metallic implants or devices contraindicating magnetic resonance imaging.
• Pregnancy is considered an exclusion criteria due to all stress and scanning procedures, thus pregnant participants will not be permitted to participate in the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Physiological Stress; Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to a physiological stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the physiological stress group, this task is the Cold-Pressor Task (CPT), a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.	Behavioral: Cold-Pressor Task (CPT); CPT is a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes.; Device: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI); Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.
Experimental: Social Stress; Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the social stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the social stress group, this task is the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.	Device: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI); Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.; Behavioral: Trier Social Stress Test (TSST); The TSST is a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges.
Active Comparator: Physiological Non-Stress; Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the physiological non-stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the physiological non-stress group, participants will continuously submerge their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.	Device: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI); Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.; Behavioral: Modified Non-Stress CPT; The modified non-stress CPT involves participants continuously submerging their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes.
Active Comparator: Social Non-Stress; Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the social stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the social non-stress group, participants will be asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.	Device: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI); Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.; Behavioral: Modified Non-Stress TSST; For the modified non-stress TSST, participants are asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Average Self-Control Cost	The self-control cost is the amount that a participant would be willing to pay to avoid temptation. This will be tested in a self-control task in which participants are shown an images of snack food and report how much they would be willing to avoid the different food items.	Day 1
Change in fMRI BOLD Signal During Self-Control Decisions	Functional MRI (fMRI) data will be analyzed to measure changes in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC), Frontopolar Cortex (FPC) and Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC) regions of interest as participants make self-control cost decisions during the self-control activity.	Day 1 (Up to 1.5 Hours)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NYU Langone Health
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Candace Raio, NYU Langone Health

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 21, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 21, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): April 3, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 11, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 9, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Social Behavior; Self-Control; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Tomography; Diagnostic Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Psychological Tests
• Other Study ID Numbers: 22-01630

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The de-identified participant data from the final research dataset used in the published manuscript will be shared upon reasonable request beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research provided the investigator who proposes to use the data executes a data use agreement with NYU Langone Health. Requests may be directed to: candace.raio@nyulangone.org. The protocol and statistical analysis plan will be made available on Clinicaltrials.gov only as required by federal regulation or as a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: The investigator who proposed to use the data will be granted access upon reasonable request. Requests should be directed to candace.raio@nyulangone.org. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

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