NCT06934356

Subcortical Arousal in Perceptual Awareness

Shared Subcortical Arousal Systems Across Perceptual Modalities

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 72 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Yale University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The study is a multi-site study and will be conducted at up to 11 investigative sites in the United States. The study will investigate subcortical arousal circuits in visual perception using techniques with complementary strengths based on promising initial studies.

Detailed description

The study will investigate subcortical arousal circuits in visual perception using techniques with complementary strengths based on promising initial studies. This study is expected to shed important light on the precise relationship between transient increases in subcortical arousal and perceptual awareness, generalizable across the visual modality. This research will therefore provide important general potential benefits, including 1. Identification of subcortical arousal systems in perception, which can benefit treatment of many disorders where perceptual deficits are common, e.g. traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, developmental disorders, schizophrenia, epilepsy and others. 2. Understanding the role of specific subcortical arousal circuits in perception may help target improved treatments, including transient thalamic stimulation like that planned for the present investigations, or less invasive treatments (TMS, tDCS, designer drugs) to improve function of these circuits. 3. The planned no-report paradigms may detect perceptual awareness in severe brain damage and anesthesia, where people are unable to overtly respond. The main hypotheses are that 1. the thalamic awareness potential (TAP) will be associated with visual perception independent of report, and 2. thalamic intralaminar stimulation at the time of stimulus presentation will augment the probability of perceptual awareness.

Conditions

• Epilepsy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	EEG	Participants will have scalp EEG recorded with the international 10-20 system sampled at 256Hz using EEG amplifiers for purposes of surface event related potential analysis
DEVICE	Eye Tracking	An eye-tracking device may be used during the perceptual awareness task. Pupillary and gaze location measurements are recorded using either a ViewPoint\~VoltagePro.EyeLink 1000 Plus system, or Argus Science ETVision system. If using the ViewPoint\~VoltagePro system or the Argus Science ETVision system, participants will be asked to wear an eye tracker during the perceptual awareness task (similar to wearing sunglasses). If using the EyeLink 1000 Plus system, participants may be asked to place their head inside of a padded head-chin rest to stabilize head position
DEVICE	Behavioral task	For the visual perceptual awareness task, the participant will be presented with barely perceptible visual stimuli. After a variable delay, the participant will be asked to report perception of each stimulus and identify its location.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-10-13
• Primary completion: 2030-12-01
• Completion: 2030-12-01
• First posted: 2025-04-18
• Last updated: 2026-04-02

Locations

8 sites across 1 country: United States

Regulatory

• FDA-regulated device study