Real-time fMRI for Insular Cortex Brain State-triggered Experience Sampling

In a neuroimaging session, study participants will repeatedly and intermittently report the content of their ongoing, self-generated experiences based on an experience-sampling protocol in which self-report ratings will be triggered based on real-time analysis of the participant's current brain state. The protocol will be conducted while participants are undergoing MRI scanning.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Experience sampling

Detailed Description

The investigators will develop a new approach called real-time functional MRI (fMRI)-triggered experience-sampling to efficiently sample spontaneous neural events (of a predefined type) and to map those events to specific qualities of self-generated experiences. Within 60 healthy adults, the investigators will use online (real-time) fMRI analysis to detect brain activations and trigger the appearance of visual rating scales so that participants can report their experiences immediately after the occurrence of a neural event of interest. The investigators will develop and validate the approach with a focus on real-time fMRI analysis of the dorsal anterior insular cortex (daIC), a brain region implicated in salience detection that is consistently identified as having aberrant structure, function, and connectivity in psychiatric illness at a transdiagnostic level. Aim 1 is to determine whether spontaneous daIC activation events are time-locked to instances of salient, high-arousal self-generated experience. The investigators will sample self-generated experiences both during instances of daIC activation and during baseline (intermediate daIC activity) events. The investigators hypothesize that daIC activation, relative to baseline events, will be time-locked to self-generated experiences with higher subjective ratings of arousal and vividness (regardless of affective valence). Aim 2 is to determine how distinct instances of daIC activation are coupled to physiological and whole-brain activity. Using a hypothesis-driven approach, the investigators will determine whether spontaneous fMRI activations in the daIC are associated with pupil dilation and activation of the locus coeruleus, a subcortical generator of arousal-related neuromodulation. Additionally, using a more data-driven approach, the investigators will test whether different instances of daIC activation are associated with multiple, distinct whole-brain co-activation patterns, and whether these co-activation patterns are associated with fluctuations in subjective affect (positive vs. negative experiences). If successful, the protocols can later be applied in patients with psychiatric illness and to potentially guide the development of interventions (e.g., neurostimulation, neurofeedback) that aim to target the neural processes that produce self-generated experiences that are core to mental illness.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Tiara Bounyarith, BA; Phone Number: 2155537124; Email: tb3344@drexel.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
      • Recruiting
      • Drexel University
      • Contact: Tiara Bounyarith, BA; Email: tb3344@drexel.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 18-35

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of psychiatric or neurological disorder
• contraindication for MRI

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Real-time fMRI; Participants will repeatedly and intermittently report the content of their ongoing, self-generated experiences based on an experience-sampling protocol in which self-report ratings will be triggered based on real-time analysis of the participant's current brain state. The protocol will be conducted while participants are undergoing MRI scanning.	Behavioral: Experience sampling; Participants will repeatedly and intermittently report the content of their ongoing, self-generated experiences based on an experience-sampling protocol in which self-report ratings will be triggered based on real-time analysis of the participant's current brain state. The protocol will be conducted while participants are undergoing MRI scanning.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of participants showing an association between self-reported arousal (simple rating scale) and fMRI activation level in anterior insula	Participants will rate their subject arousal level on trials that are triggered by anterior insula activation (using real-time fMRI analysis) and control trials not involving anterior insula activation. The outcome is the number of participants showing an association between self-reported arousal and fMRI activation in anterior insula.	Two sessions over one month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Drexel University
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Aaron Kucyi, PhD, Drexel University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 15, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 30, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 3, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): May 11, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 22, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 18, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2208009393; 1R21MH129630-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The data generated from this study will become publicly available. After de-identifying and anonymizing all neuroimaging and behavioral data, the investigators plan to share data via the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Availability: December 2024 until 2030
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Publicly available
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No