NCT05591404

Investigating the Effects of Social Stress on Brain Imaging

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 50 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine whether experiencing a social stressor prior to the collection of neuroimaging measures is associated with differences in brain activation in healthy participants.

Detailed description

Using a randomized, parallel-group study design, this scientific investigation will examine the effect that experiencing the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), the gold-standard for ethically inducing stress in a controlled laboratory setting, may have on neuroimaging measures of anxiety in healthy subjects. The study will enroll 50 healthy subjects who will be randomized to either experience the TSST or watch a nature film prior to undergoing task-based neuroimaging measures of emotional processing and self-referential processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This study will be conducted primarily at Massachusetts Institute of Technology with research and clinical support from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Conditions

• Social Stress

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)	Participants randomized to the TSST arm will experience the Trier Social Stress Test.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-11-17
• Primary completion: 2026-09-01
• Completion: 2026-11-01
• First posted: 2022-10-24
• Last updated: 2025-12-03

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States