Ignite Creation Date:
2024-05-06 @ 8:07 PM
Last Modification Date:
2024-10-26 @ 3:20 PM
Study NCT ID:
NCT06251284
Status:
RECRUITING
Last Update Posted:
2024-02-09
First Post:
2024-01-24
Brief Title:
Expectation Effects on Emotional Processing in Late Life
Sponsor:
Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Organization:
Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Study Overview
Official Title:
Expectation Effects on Emotional Processing in Late Life
Status:
RECRUITING
Status Verified Date:
2024-02
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:
Understanding the mechanisms of expectation effects in the affective system is vital given high placebo rates in antidepressants Evidence has consistently confirmed that expectations can influence our emotional experience Recently a crucial role of prefrontal top-down regulation and cognitive capacity was shown in verbally instructed expectation effects within the affective system
Empirical findings systematically point to a positivity effect in emotionally healthy aging linked to prefrontal functioning It is unclear whether the effects and mechanisms of positive expectations on emotional processing might also change throughout the lifespan Hence the investigators goal is to explore the neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying positive expectation effects in healthy aging Healthy older adults N55 50 female will be invited to a cross-over positive expectation vs no expectations induced fMRI experiment during which they will perform an emotional interference task that manipulates cognitive resources The investigators hypothesize that older adults demonstrate a resource-dependent positivity effect and that this effect will be further enhanced through the induction of positive expectations Additionally it is expected that these result are related to participants general cognitive control ability and to be reflected on the corresponding neural correlates in prefrontal-limbic networks
Empirical findings systematically point to a positivity effect in emotionally healthy aging linked to prefrontal functioning It is unclear whether the effects and mechanisms of positive expectations on emotional processing might also change throughout the lifespan Hence the investigators goal is to explore the neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying positive expectation effects in healthy aging Healthy older adults N55 50 female will be invited to a cross-over positive expectation vs no expectations induced fMRI experiment during which they will perform an emotional interference task that manipulates cognitive resources The investigators hypothesize that older adults demonstrate a resource-dependent positivity effect and that this effect will be further enhanced through the induction of positive expectations Additionally it is expected that these result are related to participants general cognitive control ability and to be reflected on the corresponding neural correlates in prefrontal-limbic networks
Detailed Description:
Understanding the mechanisms of expectation effects on mood states and emotion processing can be crucial to develop depression treatment strategies Evidence has related positive expectations to a perception bias towards positive information and changes in neural networks of affective processing In a recent study conducted by our group the investigators showed that verbally instructed positive expectations in healthy young adults improved subjective mood reduced distractibility by aversive stimuli and activated top-down regulation processes in neural networks of emotion regulation Moreover these findings were related to cognitive control ability mediated by prefrontal-parietal networks involved in attentional orienting Together these results emphasize the crucial role of top-down control regulation processes and cognitive capacity in verbally instructed expectation effects within the affective system Additionally evidence has frequently pointed to a positivity effect in emotionally healthy aging linked to prefrontal functioning This suggests that older adults tend to focus more on positive information compared to younger adults It is unclear whether the effects and mechanisms of positive expectations on emotional processing change throughout the lifespan assuming age-related alterations might affect neural networks responsible for emotional regulation and cognitive control in expectation effects Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate whether older adults also benefit from positive expectations and which neurobehavioral mechanisms and brain areas are related to this phenomenon
Applying our previously established experimental setup in this study the investigators will invite 55 older healthy adults to participate in two fMRI sessions During an initial screening participants will complete demographic and psychometric questionnaires Beck Depression Inventory BDI and previous experience with oxytocin In addition cognitive healthiness will be ensured via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment MoCA and participants will perform a visual search task to assess cognitive control ability Singleton Task
On two study days separated by 1 week participants will undergo fMRI scanning Before scanning they will receive a saline nasal spray introduced as oxytocin oxytocin condition or saline control condition in a counterbalanced cross-over design Positive expectations about oxytocin will be induced by a custom 5-minute video documentary After the video participants will be told whether they are in the oxytocin or control condition and then self-administer the nasal-spray Participants will report their expectations through a 11-point-scale 0 for no expected mood enhancement and 10 for large expected mood enhancement GEEE as well as mood state using a visual analogue scale VAS before the application of the nasal spray during and after the fMRI measure In the scanner they will perform an emotion-interference task The task is a modified spatial cueing paradigm established in our lab Participants will have to respond to left- or right- sided dots that are preceded by a spatially informative cue arrow pointing to the side where the dot is most likely to appear or uninformative cue doubled arrow pointing to both sides The cues will appear superimposed to a neutral happy sad fearful or scrambled face distractors that participant will be told to ignore Previous studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that without a directional cue more attentional resources are available to process emotional faces in a goal-directed manner
The investigators will examine the influence of positive expectations and attention on reaction times and neural processes Specifically they hypothesize that older adults will focus more on happy faces andor less on negative faces compared to neutral faces ie higherlower reaction times when more attentional resources are available attention is not constrained and that this bias will increase in the positive expectation condition and will be associated with better mood VAS Moreover it is expected that positive expectation effects are related to participants cognitive control ability Additionally the expected positivity and expectation effects will be primarily modulated by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex This prediction is based on evidence suggesting the preservation of this structure in aging which compensates for the decline of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex Therefore the investigators predict that positive expectation effects in older adults are related to a shift from the lateral prefrontal cortex to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Applying our previously established experimental setup in this study the investigators will invite 55 older healthy adults to participate in two fMRI sessions During an initial screening participants will complete demographic and psychometric questionnaires Beck Depression Inventory BDI and previous experience with oxytocin In addition cognitive healthiness will be ensured via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment MoCA and participants will perform a visual search task to assess cognitive control ability Singleton Task
On two study days separated by 1 week participants will undergo fMRI scanning Before scanning they will receive a saline nasal spray introduced as oxytocin oxytocin condition or saline control condition in a counterbalanced cross-over design Positive expectations about oxytocin will be induced by a custom 5-minute video documentary After the video participants will be told whether they are in the oxytocin or control condition and then self-administer the nasal-spray Participants will report their expectations through a 11-point-scale 0 for no expected mood enhancement and 10 for large expected mood enhancement GEEE as well as mood state using a visual analogue scale VAS before the application of the nasal spray during and after the fMRI measure In the scanner they will perform an emotion-interference task The task is a modified spatial cueing paradigm established in our lab Participants will have to respond to left- or right- sided dots that are preceded by a spatially informative cue arrow pointing to the side where the dot is most likely to appear or uninformative cue doubled arrow pointing to both sides The cues will appear superimposed to a neutral happy sad fearful or scrambled face distractors that participant will be told to ignore Previous studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that without a directional cue more attentional resources are available to process emotional faces in a goal-directed manner
The investigators will examine the influence of positive expectations and attention on reaction times and neural processes Specifically they hypothesize that older adults will focus more on happy faces andor less on negative faces compared to neutral faces ie higherlower reaction times when more attentional resources are available attention is not constrained and that this bias will increase in the positive expectation condition and will be associated with better mood VAS Moreover it is expected that positive expectation effects are related to participants cognitive control ability Additionally the expected positivity and expectation effects will be primarily modulated by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex This prediction is based on evidence suggesting the preservation of this structure in aging which compensates for the decline of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex Therefore the investigators predict that positive expectation effects in older adults are related to a shift from the lateral prefrontal cortex to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Study Oversight
Has Oversight DMC:
None
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?:
None