Viewing Study NCT05774834


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Study NCT ID: NCT05774834
Status: RECRUITING
Last Update Posted: 2025-04-11
First Post: 2023-03-07
Is NOT Gene Therapy: True
Has Adverse Events: False

Brief Title: Neural Bases of Decision-making in Healthy Individuals
Sponsor: Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA
Organization:

Study Overview

Official Title: A Non-interventional Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Study on the Neural Bases of Decision-making in Healthy Individuals
Status: RECRUITING
Status Verified Date: 2025-04
Last Known Status: None
Delayed Posting: No
If Stopped, Why?: Not Stopped
Has Expanded Access: False
If Expanded Access, NCT#: N/A
Has Expanded Access, NCT# Status: N/A
Acronym: None
Brief Summary: The goal of this single center non-interventional fMRI study is to assess the neural bases of decision-making and executive functioning in healthy individuals,and whether/how their responsiveness is modulated by ageing. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. are there specific neural correlates for ageing effects on executive functioning (particularly inhibitory control) and decision-making?
2. Is there a relationship, at the behavioral and neural levels, between ageing-related changes in executive functioning and decision-making?

Healthy participants will be recruited for

1. a behavioral assessment including multiple tests of decision-making and executive functioning/inhibitory control;
2. a fMRI session to collect data concerning a) brain activity associated with decision-making and executive functioning, b) brain structural morphometriy (grey-matter volume/density), and c) brain structural connectivity (diffusion weighted imaging).

Results will provide an useful baseline for investigating alterations of decision-making and executive functioning, and of their neural bases, in pathological conditions.
Detailed Description: The fast growth of Decision Neuroscience is contributing to unveil the cognitive processes underlying choices and their neural bases. The results obtained so far show that decision-making involves neural mechanisms underpinning a complex balance between automatic appetitive or aversive drives generated by subcortical structures, and processes of executive control centered in fronto-parietal brain networks. While the role of meso-limbic structures in reinforcement learning have been widely investigated, it is much less clear to what extent are choices shaped by a) individual differences in executive skills; b) contextual factors potentially interfering with such skills, such as knowing that the outcome of those choices will impact only on one's own vs. another's welfare. This a critical gap, since executive abilities are known to decline even in physiological ageing, thus potentially interfering with the quality of choices. On this ground, this single center non-interventional fMRI study aims to provide novel insights into the relationship between executive and decision-making skills, and their possible changes with ageing, in 150 healthy individuals. This goal will be pursued by combining a behavioral assessment of decision-making and executive skills with a multimodal fMRI session including data concerning a) brain activity associated with decision-making and executive functioning in social vs. non-social contexts, b) brain structural morphometry (grey-matter volume/density), and c) brain structural connectivity (diffusion weighted imaging). The behavioral assessment will involve the main metric of decision-making (e.g., risk aversion, loss aversion, delay discounting) and executive functioning (e.g., selective attention and inhibitory control). MRI data will unveil the neural bases of individual differences in decision-making and executive performance in terms of performance-related patterns of brain activity, structure and connectivity. Results will provide an useful baseline for investigating alterations of decision-making and executive functioning, and of their neural bases, in pathological conditions.

Study Oversight

Has Oversight DMC: False
Is a FDA Regulated Drug?: False
Is a FDA Regulated Device?: False
Is an Unapproved Device?: None
Is a PPSD?: None
Is a US Export?: None
Is an FDA AA801 Violation?: