Neurophysiology of Reward Signaling in Parkinson's Disease

February 6, 2026 updated by: Sarah Bick, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
The goal of this study is to learn more about the brain activity underlying Parkinson's disease risk taking and reward seeking behaviors. The investigators will utilize neural recordings from corticostriatal structures performed during deep brain stimulation surgery to measure neural activity underlying nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

75

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Tennessee
      • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212
        • Recruiting
        • Vanderbilt University Medical Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sarah Bick, MD

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
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Scheduled to undergo deep brain stimulation surgery under local anesthesia at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
  • Planned clinical electrode trajectory that contacts caudate
  • Age greater than or equal to 40
  • Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or other movement disorder
  • Able to participate in intraoperative testing
  • English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age less than 40
  • Not able to participate in intraoperative testing (for example unable to comprehend instructions or follow directions)

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Neural recordings and stimulation
Other: Neurophysiology recordings
Neurophysiology recordings will be performed during deep brain stimulation surgery and their relationship to performance on a gambling task evaluated
Other: Neural stimulation
Neural stimulation will be delivered during a gambling task and its impact on task performance quantified

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in caudate DLPFC beta coherence
Time Frame: Baseline to end of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), approximately 3-4 hours
Caudate DLPFC coherence will be computed at rest and during the gambling task and correlated with cognitive metrics
Baseline to end of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), approximately 3-4 hours
Changes in gambling task performance with neural stimulation
Time Frame: Baseline to end of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), approximately 3-4 hours
The gambling task will involve seeing a series of cards presented on the screen and pressing a button to respond with a bet. Gambling task performance will be compared between stimulated and non stimulated blocks and between stimulation targets
Baseline to end of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), approximately 3-4 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in beta power with neural stimulation
Time Frame: Baseline to end of deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, approximately 3-4 hours
Beta power will be computed and compared between stimulation on and off conditions for different targets
Baseline to end of deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, approximately 3-4 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sarah Bick, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

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)

September 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 30, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 30, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • K08NS140767 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • 201868 (Vanderbilt University Medical Center IRB)

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

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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