Does Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation Improves Fear Extinction in Humans (t-VNSext)
A recent study with rats showed that electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve (VNS) facilitates extinction of fear (Pena, Engineer, & McIntyre, Biological Psychiatry, 2013). The hypothesized mechanism is that VNS both enhances memory consolidation (by increasing noradrenergic neurotransmission) and reduces anxiety (thus: preventing fear responses to the CS which may re-consolidate the fear memory). The effect was only apparent when VNS occurred during exposure of the fear conditioned stimulus (CS), and not when stimulation was given immediately following exposure. These results may have implications for the treatment of anxiety disorders in humans. However, until recently, the only means to investigate the effects of VNS on human fear learning would have required the invasive implantation of vagus nerve stimulators. This has fortunately changed, as a non-invasive transcutaneous VNS device has been approved for use in the E.U. for the treatment of psychological disorders.
This study proposes to use a t-VNS to investigate its effects on fear learning and extinction in (healthy) humans. Previous research has only investigated the effects it has on human mood and memory. The results obtained suggest that it reduces negative affect and enhances memory, findings which are consistent with those reported for rats. It is thus reasonable to expect that t-VNS will facilitate the extinction of fear in humans.
The present study aims to answer the following research questions:
Does t-VNS during extinction training:
- accelerates extinction curves
- reduces spontaneous recovery of previously extinguished fear
- reduce re-acquisition of fear
- reduce generalization of fear to other stimuli that resemble the CS+?
- facilitates the generalization of inhibitory learning to stimuli that resemble the CS-?
Studieoversigt
Status
Status
Betingelser
Betingelser
Intervention / Behandling
Intervention / Behandling
Undersøgelsestype
Undersøgelsestype
Tilmelding (Forventet)
Tilmelding
Fase
Fase
- Ikke anvendelig
Kontakter og lokationer
Studiekontakt
Studiekontakt
- Navn: Ilse Van Diest, PhD
- Telefonnummer: +32 16 32 60 29
- E-mail: ilse.vandiest@ppw.kuleuven.be
Studiesteder
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Leuven, Belgien, 3000
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science
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Deltagelseskriterier
Berettigelseskriterier
Berettigelseskriterier
Aldre berettiget til at studere
Tager imod sunde frivillige
Køn, der er berettiget til at studere
Beskrivelse
Inclusion Criteria:
- healthy men and women aged 16 - 50 years
Exclusion Criteria:
- current or past psychiatric or neurological disorder
- use of psychopharmaca
- use of medication that affects autonomic nervous functioning (e.g., bèta-blockers)
- current cardiac or respiratory disorder
- pregnancy
Studieplan
Hvordan er undersøgelsen tilrettelagt?
Design detaljer
- Primært formål: Grundvidenskab
- Tildeling: Randomiseret
- Interventionel model: Parallel tildeling
- Maskning: Enkelt
Antal våben
Våben og indgreb
Deltagergruppe / ArmDeltagergruppe / Arm |
Intervention / BehandlingIntervention / Behandling |
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Eksperimentel: t-VNS
electrical stimulation of the concha of the ear 30sec trains of 0.25msec-duration monophasic square wave pulses at 25Hz, with a stimulation intensity not exceeding 0.5 mA |
The device that will be used is approved for systematic use by those with epilepsy and depression in the European Union.
It has been used in studies of acute stimulation with healthy participants with no significant changes in heart rate or breathing (Kraus et al., 2007; Busch et al., 2013).
Andre navne:
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Sham-komparator: sham t-VNS
Sham stimulation of the earlobe will be conducted by positioning the electrode upside down 30sec trains of 0.25msec-duration monophasic square wave pulses at 25Hz, with a stimulation intensity not exceeding 0.5 mA |
electrodes will be put upside down
Andre navne:
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Hvad måler undersøgelsen?
Primære resultatmål
Primære resultatmål
Resultatmål |
Foranstaltningsbeskrivelse |
Tidsramme |
|---|---|---|
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fear response
Tidsramme: 3 test days
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startle blink EMG skin conductance response ECG respiration self-reports
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3 test days
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Samarbejdspartnere og efterforskere
Sponsor
Sponsor
Samarbejdspartnere
Samarbejdspartnere
Efterforskere
Efterforskere
- Ledende efterforsker: Ilse Van Diest, PhD, KU Leuven
Datoer for undersøgelser
Studer store datoer
Studiestart
Studiestart
Primær færdiggørelse (Forventet)
Primær færdiggørelse
Datoer for studieregistrering
Først indsendt
Først indsendt
Først indsendt, der opfyldte QC-kriterier
Først indsendt, der opfyldte QC-kriterier
Først opslået (Skøn)
Først opslået
Opdateringer af undersøgelsesjournaler
Sidste opdatering sendt (Skøn)
Sidste opdatering sendt
Sidste opdatering indsendt, der opfyldte kvalitetskontrolkriterier
Sidste opdatering indsendt, der opfyldte kvalitetskontrolkriterier
Sidst verificeret
Sidst verificeret
Mere information
Begreber relateret til denne undersøgelse
Andre undersøgelses-id-numre
Andre undersøgelses-id-numre
- t-VNS extinction
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