Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Human Emotion Network

Part of paid clinical trials in San Francisco, California.

Sponsor
University of California, San Francisco
Study ID
NCT05152992
Status
Enrolling By Invitation

Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 50 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Viewing visual stimuli and electrical stimulation of the brain — BEHAVIORAL
    View emotionally evocative videos and undergo stimulation of brain regions involved in emotion. In a 20-minute block (5 total blocks), eighteen 30-second movie clips will be used to elicit different categories of emotions (sadness, fear, disgust, awe, affection, and amusement). Additionally, each hub of the emotion network will be stimulated to identify areas that generate similar emotional states as those elicited by the videos. Each stimulation trial consists of 3 minutes of 1-3 mA, 50 Hz, 100 us pulse-width stimulation.

Study Details

The overall goal of this study is to elucidate how emotion network dynamics relate to the behavioral, autonomic, and experiential changes that accompany emotions and to investigate how emotion network dysfunction relates to affective symptoms. Affective symptoms are a common feature of neuropsychiatric disorders that reflect dysfunction in a distributed brain network that supports emotion. How aberrant functioning in a single emotion network underlies a wide range of affective symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, is not well understood. Anchored by the anterior cingulate cortex and ventral anterior insula, the emotion network responds to numerous affective stimuli. The recording of neural activity directly from the cortical surface from individuals is a promising approach since intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) can provide direct estimates of neuronal populations to map the spatiotemporal dynamics of the emotion network at a millisecond level resolution. This study will exam how activity within emotion network hubs changes during emotions and how emotion network properties make some individuals more vulnerable to affective symptoms than others. A multidisciplinary approach is critical for understanding the dynamic brain network to advance neuroanatomical models of emotions and for guiding the development of novel treatments for affective symptoms.

Key Dates

Start date
Apr 20, 2015
Status verified
Jun 2025
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2026
Completion
Jun 30, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Video and stimulation-based induction of emotion
    Participants viewed visual stimuli while undergoing stimulation of brain regions involved in emotion during their inpatient hospitalization at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Primary Outcome Measure

Mean Change from Baseline in Heart Rate [ Time Frame: During inpatient hospitalization, approximately 4-14 days ]

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of California, San FranciscoSan FranciscoCalifornia94143-

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By condition
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By specialty
PsychiatryMental healthBehavioral healthNeurologyBrain disorders
By research site
University of California, San Francisco· San Francisco, CA

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