Oscillations in Reward-guided Behavior

NCT ID: NCT04761471

Last Updated: 2023-12-13

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 70 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-02-01
• Study Completion Date: 2023-12-04

Brief Summary

While people are reading, talking or playing computer games, their brain cells elicit electrical signals so they could perform these actions. The firing of these cells is not random but is organized in a temporal pattern, such that a group of cells are simultaneously active at a particular frequency. The researchers can read the frequency of brain signals and identify their location using different brain-imaging tools like EEG and fMRI. These methods are applied to healthy individuals and do not pose any danger.

The investigators of this project would like to use these techniques to study the brain signals, while healthy participants are making the decisions choosing between 2 rewards, e.g., 2 food items. Participants who have depression show different behavior while performing decision-making tasks and the investigation of processes that underlie them will lead to a better understanding of this disease.

Furthermore, there is another category of tools, which help to study the brain. This category includes electrical stimulation, which mimics the electrical pattern that brain cells elicit. Application of external electrical stimulation can enhance this pattern or disrupt it and this process will affect the behavior of a person. Recent investigations have led to the development of a new stimulation technique that allows targeting deep brain regions. The investigators of this project want to apply this method to change the performance of healthy participants in the tasks on decision-making. If this experiment is successful, then stimulation can be used as a therapy for participants with depression.

Conditions

Reward-guided Behaviour

Keywords

Brain oscillations; Neural oscillations; Transcranial electrical stimulation tCS; Temporal Interference stimulation TI; Decision-making

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

TI stimulation

Temporal interference (TI) stimulation is a type of low-intensity transcranial electrical stimulation with alternating current (tACS). In case of TI stimulation, 2 electric fields in kHz range are delivered to 4 electrodes, which are placed on the surface of the skull, to modulate neural oscillations.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

TI transcranial electrical stimulation

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Participants will undergo transcranial electrical stimulation, which will be delivered with low current amplitudes (<= 2 mA) established with international safety guidelines for electrical stimulation. Threshold for the current amplitude will be established by participants themselves, such that they cannot distinguish when stimulation is applied and not applied.

Duration of stimulation will not last longer than 30 minutes.

Interventions

TI transcranial electrical stimulation

Participants will undergo transcranial electrical stimulation, which will be delivered with low current amplitudes (<= 2 mA) established with international safety guidelines for electrical stimulation. Threshold for the current amplitude will be established by participants themselves, such that they cannot distinguish when stimulation is applied and not applied.

Duration of stimulation will not last longer than 30 minutes.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• signed informed consent
• Age 18-40 years
• Normal physical and mental status (i.e. no neurological, musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cognitive, or psychiatric disorders)
• If a participant already took part in the experiment with the same decision-making task

Exclusion Criteria

• pregnancy
• epilepsy
• head traumas
• implants (cochlear, neurostimulators, cardiac pacemakers, medication infusion device)
• metal in the brain or skull
• work in the metal industry
• scars or inflammations on the regions, where the stimulation electrodes are placed
• administration of antipsychotic or anti-epileptic medication
• hearing problems or ringing in the ears
• syncope or fainting spells in the last 5 years
• severe side-effects after transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or electrical stimulation if participant underwent it before

• pregnancy
• claustrophobia
• history of brain surgery
• family member that suffers from epilepsy
• suffering from medication abuse for more than a year or drug intake
• taking medications for medical reasons for more than a month
• receiving of depot injections
• one or more of the following materials in the body: metallic objects (e.g., dental implants, a metallic splinter in the eye, but not braces); wire, pacemaker or implanted defibrillator; artificial heart valves; vascular grafts; bio-stimulator or nerve stimulator; aneurysm or intracranial clip; cochlear implant; other prostheses or orthoses; implanted medication pump (insulin or pain pump); medicated patch (e.g., nitro-patch, pain patch, nicotine patch, hormone patch, motion sickness patch); other implants; tattoo or jewelry
• history of any of these illnesses: brain thrombosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury, meningitis, heart attack, prolonged loss of consciousness, migraine, epilepsy

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 40 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Rafael Polania

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Rafael Polania, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

ETH Zürich

Locations

ETH Zurich

Zurich, Schweiz, Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Other Identifiers

TI_Reward

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id