Stress & Self-Control Costs

Conditions

• Self-Control

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - 70 Years

Healthy Volunteers

Accepted

Interventions

• Cold-Pressor Task (CPT) — BEHAVIORAL
  CPT is a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes.
• Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) — BEHAVIORAL
  The TSST is a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges.
• Modified Non-Stress CPT — BEHAVIORAL
  The modified non-stress CPT involves participants continuously submerging their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes.
• Modified Non-Stress TSST — BEHAVIORAL
  For the modified non-stress TSST, participants are asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper.
• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) — DEVICE
  Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.

Study Details

Self-control failures are a universal challenge for healthy and clinical populations. Recent work suggests these failures may arise from excessive cognitive costs associated with exercising self-control, yet the mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown. To address this, the investigators will use a validated decision-making task that measures how much individuals will pay (from a study endowment) to restrict access to tempting rewards that may lead to self-control failures. The investigators will examine these costs to identify their cognitive, neural and affective mechanisms. First, the investigators will identify the cognitive and computational mechanism that gives rise to self-control costs. Second, the investigators will characterize the neural correlates of self-control costs and identify neural mediators and connectivity patterns stemming from these costs. Finally, the investigators will examine how different classes of stressors (physical, social, or lifetime stress) shape the behavioral and neural representations of self-control costs.

Key Dates

Start date

Oct 1, 2024

Status verified

Mar 2026

Primary completion

Dec 1, 2027

Completion

Apr 1, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment

300 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

• Experimental: Physiological Stress
  Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to a physiological stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the physiological stress group, this task is the Cold-Pressor Task (CPT), a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.
• Experimental: Social Stress
  Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the social stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the social stress group, this task is the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.
• Active Comparator: Physiological Non-Stress
  Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the physiological non-stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the physiological non-stress group, participants will continuously submerge their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.
• Active Comparator: Social Non-Stress
  Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the social stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the social non-stress group, participants will be asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.

Primary Outcome Measure

Average Self-Control Cost [ Time Frame: Day 1 ]

Central Contacts

• Candace Raio
  [email protected]

Locations (1)

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