Enhancing Prospective Thinking in Early Recovery (BEAM) (BEAM)

January 5, 2026 updated by: Brandon G. Oberlin, PhD, Indiana University

Enhancing Prospective Thinking in Early Recovery

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the prosocial effects of personally-relevant, high-intensity episodic future-thinking (EFT) cues in alcohol use disorder persons and related brain mechanisms. The main question[s] this trial aims to answer are:

  • Will high-intensity EFT cues will produce greater delayed reward preference than low-intensity cues?
  • Will high-intensity EFT cues effect greater treatment-seeking interest?
  • Will high-intensity EFT cues elicit greater response in regions for prospective thinking during delay discounting (vs. low-intensity)
  • Will nucleus accumbens-precuneus resting connectivity correlate with behavioral SS?
  • Will the novel behavioral SS decision-making task activate the nucleus accumbens?

Researchers will compare the experimental (high-intensity group) and control (low-intensity) groups to see if there are differences in the results for the questions outlined above.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

21

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Indiana
      • Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 46202
        • Recruiting
        • Indiana University School of Medicine - Goodman Hall
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Brandon G Oberlin, PhD
        • Contact:
          • Sarah Turo, BA
          • Phone Number: 317-963-7220
          • Email: sturo@iu.edu

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals who meet current heavy drinking (≥2 heavy drinking days/month OR ≥7 drinks/week for biological females, and ≥14 drinks/week if biological male [NIAAA definition] and/or AUDIT scores ≥8)
  • English comprehension

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unstable medical disorders
  • Outside the age range of 18-60
  • Smell/taste disorders
  • Unstable psychiatric conditions

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: High-Intensity
Participants will receive high-intensity episodic future-thinking cue images, and high-intensity episodic recent-thinking cue images during an MRI decision-making task.
Behavioral: High-Intensity Cue
Participants in the high-intensity group will receive high-intensity image cues that represent self-reported events they did on the previous day and self-reported events they look forward to in the future.
Active Comparator: Low-Intensity (Control)
Participants will receive low-intensity episodic future-thinking cue images, and low-intensity episodic recent-thinking cue images during an MRI decision-making task.
Behavioral: Low-Intensity Cue
Participants in the low-intensity group will receive low-intensity image cues that represent self-reported events they did on the previous day and self-reported events they look forward to in the future.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Delayed Rewards
Time Frame: Study Day Visit (Day 1)
High-intensity episodic future-thinking image cues will change preference for delayed rewards, which will be measured using a behavioral delayed discounting task.
Study Day Visit (Day 1)
Increase Prospective Thinking
Time Frame: Study Day Visit (Day 1)
High-intensity episodic future-thinking image cues will change prospective thinking.
Study Day Visit (Day 1)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Indiana University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 17, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 21, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 21, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

February 28, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2026

Last Verified

December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1805574553; Aims 14-16
  • 2P60AA007611-403343 (Other Grant/Funding Number: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
  • 2P60AA007611 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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