State-Dependent Interoception, Value-Based Decision Making, and Introspection
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Summary
Background: Negative emotional states can affect a person s behavior as they make decisions. For example, hunger may make people more impatient; they may then make riskier choices. Other negative emotional states that can change behavior include stress, pain, and sadness. By learning more about how emotions affect thinking and behavior in healthy people, researchers hope to better understand how to identify and treat people with mental disorders. Objective: To learn how negative emotions affect the brain and decision-making behavior. Eligibility: Healthy people aged 18 to 55 years. Design: Participants will have 3 clinic visits in 3 weeks. Participants will fill out questionnaires. They will be asked about their personal history, their personality, and state of mind. For 2 visits, participants will be assigned to different groups. Each group will experience 1 type of emotional stressor: Some participants will watch a video. Some will have to do arithmetic problems. Some will have heat applied to an arm or leg. Some will experience cold by immersing their hand in ice water. For a snack craving test, some will be tempted by food after a 4-hour fast. During these tests, participants will have sensors attached to their bodies. They will be videotaped. Saliva samples will be collected. After the stressors, participants will do tasks on a computer. They will need to make choices. Some participants will perform these decision-making tasks while lying in a brain scanner for functional magnetic resonance imaging. The brain scan involves lying on a table that slides into a cylinder that takes images of the brain. ...
Description
Study Description: This study involves a series of experiments consisting of within-subject experimental manipulations of state. In separate sub-studies, we will induce 5 types of negative valence states (negative emotion, loss, pain, stress, and craving) compared to a neutral state to test the hypothesis that negative valence states impact value-based decision-making and the neural mechanisms involved in decision-making. Objectives: Primary Objective: Determine the effect of induced negative valence states on value-based decision-making and examine how brain value representation during dec…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–55 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
* INCLUSION CRITERIA: Subject selections will be equitable among those individuals who meet the inclusion criteria. Every effort will be made to balance sex and race. In order to be eligible to participate in this study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria: * Ability of subject to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document. * All sexes; Age 18 to 55. * Able to read and write in English to guarantee understanding of all written and spoken instructions, which are in English. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: An individual who meets any of the following cri…
Interventions
- OtherPain
Thermal pain
- OtherStress
Stress state induction
- BehavioralCraving
Snack craving induction
- BehavioralFrustration
Real effort task
- BehavioralNegative valence emotion
Passive video watching with emotional valence
Location
- National Institutes of Health Clinical CenterBethesda, Maryland