NCT06254144

Neuroimaging Study for Decoding Emotional States and Identifying Neural Circuits to Disengage From Negative Thinking

• Status: Enrolling By Invitation
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 40 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Inc. · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to decode different thinking states from the brain activation patterns and identify the neural circuits that disengage from these thinking patterns using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurement in individuals with major depressive disorder.

Detailed description

This study aims to identify brain activation patterns associated with successful disengagement from negative thinking for MDD-affected participants. The investigators will use a machine learning classifier to decode thinking states from participants' fMRI signals. The decoder is utilized to trace the thinking state's time course as a measure of regulation performance. Investigating the brain activation correlated with the time course of the regulation success can indicate the neural circuits contributing to disengaging from negative thinking. The investigators will also explore the most effective regulation strategy for individual participants. Participants will be instructed to use three regulation strategies: mindfulness by focusing on breathing, distraction with positive thinking, and reinterpretation of a negative thing in a positive way. The investigators expect that the effective strategy could vary across participants, which could be associated with the variability of brain activation patterns in negative thinking.

Conditions

• Depressive Disorder, Major

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)	The investigators will utilize standard BOLD fMRI in blocked-design tasks and resting state (participant is given no overt task) in the study. Anatomical scans with T1-weighted contrast, quantitative measurement of spin relaxation times, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) are also used as an anatomical reference for functional activation as well as to investigate a brain structural relationship with the participants' task performance, including successful emotion regulation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-01-10
• Primary completion: 2026-03-01
• Completion: 2026-03-01
• First posted: 2024-02-12
• Last updated: 2025-04-15

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States