Studying the Neuronal Basis of Human Social Cognition

NCT ID: NCT05324579

Last Updated: 2024-12-05

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

20 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-05-20

Study Completion Date

2026-06-01

Brief Summary

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This proposal aims to study the role that the dorsal prefrontal cortex plays in human social cognition.

Detailed Description

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Despite ongoing progress in the understanding of social behavior, little is known about the single-neuronal mechanisms that underlie human social cognition. The investigators will obtain single-neuronal recordings from the prefrontal cortex in participants undergoing clinically planned deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode placement.

The study population will consist of subjects undergoing planned DBS placement. Prospective participants will be selected for surgery irrespective of their participation in the study. After consenting to the study, the participants will be allowed to withdraw from participation at any time. No control subjects will be used. Instead, each subject will act as their own control based on task performance.

For the study, neuronal recordings will be integrated within planned neurosurgical care and will be obtained from the prefrontal cortex as participants perform a brief behavioral task. During recordings and prior DBS placement, the participants are normally asked to make movements or answer questions based on verbal cues to aid in targeting the correct areas. The participants will be additionally asked to perform a brief linguistic-based task in which scenarios containing social agents are presented to the participants and in which they have to verbally describe/answer questions about them. Following cortical recordings and stimulation, the standard clinical procedure and DBS electrode placement proceeds as planned. The neuronal and behavioral data will then be analyzed off-line.

Conditions

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Neurosciences

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NA

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Human subjects undergoing clinically planned neurosurgical procedures
Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Neurosurgical subjects

Subjects undergoing intracranial neurosurgical procedures

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral testing during neuronal recordings

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants undergoing clinically planned neurosurgical procedures will undergo single-neuronal recordings as they perform brief behavioral tasks.

Interventions

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Behavioral testing during neuronal recordings

Participants undergoing clinically planned neurosurgical procedures will undergo single-neuronal recordings as they perform brief behavioral tasks.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. 18 years old or older
2. patients able to give informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

1. Children under 18
2. Significant co-morbidities
3. Claustrophobia or general anxiety that may impact intraoperative testing
4. Use of CNS-active medications including stimulants and antipsychotics which may alter
5. Pregnancy
6. Operative events that will require expedition of the surgery.
7. Poor tolerance of testing by the patient
8. Increased abnormal cortical excitability
9. Necessity to administer drugs that will interfere with mapping
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Brown University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Massachusetts General Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Ziv Williams, MD

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Ziv Williams, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Massachusetts General Hospital

Locations

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Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Rhode Island Hospital

Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Site Status NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Ziv Williams, MD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: 6173126534

Email: [email protected]

Yoav Kfir, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Email: [email protected]

Facility Contacts

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Ziv Williams, MD

Role: primary

Yoav Kfir, PhD

Role: backup

Wael Asaad, MD

Role: primary

Other Identifiers

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2009P000218

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id