Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT05150951

An Attempt at Translating Novelty-enhanced Extinction of Context Conditioning From Rodents to Humans

In rodents, novel exploration has been used to strengthen the consolidation of a variety of hippocampal-dependent learning tasks. To our knowledge, no attempt have been made to translate the effect of strengthening the memory of an extinction of a context conditioning memory. This study uses virtual reality for both context conditioning and novel exploration in an attempt at translating these findings from rodents to humans, thus, using novel exploration to strengthen an extinction memory. Threat responses are measured with skin conductance and startle responses. If this effect could be shown experimentally in humans, that experimental setup could become an important tool in understanding important memory processes of fear, such as reconsolidation and behavioral tagging.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Healthy

Age range

18 year–50 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Uppsala University, deparmtent of Psychology

Uppsala, 75142, Sweden

About this study

The study employs healthy participants and includes three experimental sessions, roughly 24 h apart. During the first session, participants undergo context conditioning in virtual reality where the CS+ and CS- are two different rooms. During the second session, half of the participants perform an exploration of a novel virtual environment, and the other half performs a visual attention task. About 60 min later, participants undergo extinction to the context conditioning performed in session 1, again in virtual reality. In session 3, remaining threat responses are measured through a reinstatement procedure, again in virtual reality.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Willing and able to provide informed consent and complete study procedures

Exclusion criteria

  • Current psychiatric disorder.
  • Current use of psychotropic medication
  • Current use of neurological conditions

Treatment and study plan

Novel Exploration

Behavioral

Exploration of a novel 3D-environment in virtual reality.

Threat conditioning

Behavioral

Session 1. Threat conditioning to two different (CS+, CS-) virtual reality contexts (i.e rooms). One of these is paired with a mild electric shock. The context paired with the electric shock (CS+) is counterbalanced across participants. Participants are instructed that they may receive electrical shocks during the procedure.

Extinction

Behavioral

Session 2. Participants are repeatedly exposed to the both contexts from session 1 (CS+, CS-), but no shocks are delivered.

Reinstatement

Behavioral

Session 3. Participants are again repeatedly exposed to both contexts from session 1 (CS+, CS-), after a few shocks delivered in a neutral context.

Visual attention control task

Behavioral

Session 2. A visual attention task used as a control task instead of novel exploration.

Primary outcomes

  1. Physiological arousal response during reinstatement.

    Time frame: Day 3

    Startle responses and skin conductance responses are used as measures of physiological arousal response.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Physiological arousal response during extinction

    Time frame: Day 2

    Startle responses and skin conductance responses are used as measures of physiological arousal response

  2. Physiological arousal response during threat conditioning

    Time frame: Day 1

    Startle responses and skin conductance responses are used as measures of physiological arousal response

  3. Subjective fear ratings

    Time frame: Day 1, 2 & 3.

    Subjective ratings of fear (0-100) where 0 is no fear and 100 is worst imaginable fear.

  4. Subjective discomfort ratings

    Time frame: Day 1, 2 & 3

    Subjective ratings of discomfort where 0 is no discomfort and 100 is worst imaginable discomfort.

Other outcomes

  1. Navigation success

    Time frame: Day 2

    Questions designed to probe the amount of navigation performed by participants doing the novel exploration task. Three yes/no question of "Did you find object X?" and then participants are asked to point at their position in a stylized map overviewing the novel exploration context.

  2. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T)

    Time frame: Day 2

    This is a self-rated questionnaire measuring trait anxiety. Higher scores indicate higher level of trait-anxiety (range 20-80).

  3. Generalized anxiety disorder 7 (GAD-7)

    Time frame: Day 2

    This is a self-rated questionnaire for screening and severity measuring of generalized anxiety disorder (range 0-21). Higher scores indicate more symptoms of generalized anxiety.

  4. Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9)

    Time frame: Day 2

    This is a self-rated questionnaire for screening for the presence and severity of depression (0-27). Higher scores indicate a more symptoms, and severity of symptoms, of depression

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Uppsala University

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
Dec 9, 2021
Registry last updated
Jun 10, 2022

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.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.