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Use Electroencephalogram to Study Neural Dynamics of Fear Conditioning and Avoidance Learning Circuit in Humans
Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Summary
The purpose of this study is to examine which event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related oscillations (EROs) are associated with fear conditioning, avoidance learning, and memory recall for fear and avoidance, where are the source generators of the observed scalp EEG activity, the impact of fear and avoidance learning on the decision to avoid or not to avoid conditioned stimuli , to examine the large-scale functional connectivity across distributed brain regions across experimental phases, and to examine whether spontaneous EEG data during resting-state correlate with the EEG measures during experimental tasks.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 70 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
150
Start Date
2024-02-08
Completion Date
2026-12-30
Last Updated
2025-12-05
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Conditioning and active avoidance paradigm (CAAP)
On day 1 subjects will undergo image viewing, fear conditioning, and avoidance learning. Subjects will be instructed to passively view the images from 3 categories on the screen, with 2 of the 3 categories being paired with a mild shock to the subjects' foot. Then they will see a picture of a button on the screen together with all three categories. If they press the button, they may prevent the shock from occurring. Pressing the button for one of the conditioned categories will prevent the shock from happening. Pressing the button to the other conditioned cue will not prevent the shock .Pressing the button to the third category does nothing. On day 2, subjects will be given $5 and will be told that they can press a button to avoid a shock. The number of times the button was pressed will be counted and if it is less than the number by another randomly selected participant then the participant will get to keep the money.
Locations (1)
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Houston, Texas, United States