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Stress & Self-Control Costs
Sponsor: NYU Langone Health
Summary
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.
Official title: Neural and Affective Mechanisms Underlying Prospective Self-control Costs
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 70 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
300
Start Date
2024-10-01
Completion Date
2028-04-01
Last Updated
2026-03-11
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Cold-Pressor Task (CPT)
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)
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
The modified non-stress CPT involves participants continuously submerging their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes.
Modified Non-Stress TSST
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)
Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.
Locations (1)
NYU Langone Health
New York, New York, United States