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NCT Number: NCT06550245

Babies' Brain Responses to Strangers

Researchers at the Diversity in Development Lab at UC Santa Cruz are investigating how babies' brain activities respond to people from familiar and unfamiliar racial backgrounds.

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Key information

Conditions

Infant Development

Age range

7 month–12 month

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Social Science 2 Building

Santa Cruz, California, 95064, United States

Location status: Recruiting

About this study

The goal of this observational study is to learn how infants' brain activities, as captured by EEG, differ for familiar or unfamiliar racial group in typically developing infants. The main questions of the study are:

  • Will infants show greater event-related desynchronization (i.e., more motor system activation), frontal theta synchronization (i.e., more attention), and more positive frontal alpha asymmetry (i.e., more approach motivation) to familiar than unfamiliar racial group?
  • How does infants' exposure to racial diversity in their social network and neighborhoods relate to these EEG activities? Participants will visit a laboratory at the UC Santa Cruz campus for this study. Infants will put an EEG cap on and watch about 15 minutes of videos, in which people from different racial backgrounds do different actions (e.g., grabbing an object, saying hi and approaching closer, and playing peek-a-boo). Caregivers will be asked to fill out a demographic form and a social network survey.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • typically developing
  • age 7 to 12 months
  • at least 37 weeks gestation

Exclusion criteria

  • any known developmental delays
  • less than 37 weeks gestation

Treatment and study plan

Infants observing familiar and unfamiliar racial groups

Other

All infants will see videos of people from familiar and unfamiliar racial backgrounds. Depending on the caregiver's race, infants will be assigned to see people who are from the same racial background as their caregiver (i.e., familiar) and people who are not.

Primary outcomes

  1. Mu event related desynchronization

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 10 years.

    EEG oscillation in alpha power over central regions

  2. Frontal theta synchronization

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 10 years.

    EEG oscillation in theta power over frontal regions

  3. Frontal alpha asymmetry

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 10 years.

    left and right hemispheric difference in EEG oscillation in alpha power in the frontal regions

Interested in participating?

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Interested in participating?

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Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of California Santa Cruz

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Malleability of Social Group Understanding in Infancy and Early Childhood

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Aug 13, 2024
Registry last updated
Mar 6, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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