Neurocognitive Predictors of Health Risk Behaviors

This study proposes to extend the ongoing longitudinal study of health risk behaviors and obtain new data from former adolescents (followed previously from ages 13-22; Times 1-8) now from ages 23 to 28 (Times 9-11). The goal of this study is to examine the contribution of developing neurocognitive markers to substance use in young adulthood by following a well-characterized longitudinal sample.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

Key information

Conditions

Substance Use Chemically-Induced Disorders Mental Disorders Substance-Related Disorders

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

About this study

The main questions it aims to answer is: what are the long-term effects of valuation and control decision-making systems on health risk behaviors? Participants will complete online surveys assessing their substance use behaviors and perform neurocognitive tasks related to risk processing and cognitive control across three time points.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

Adolescents (now young adults) who participated in the original longitudinal project.

Exclusion criteria

standard contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging at the study onset
history of seizures/stroke
a head injury with > 10 min of unconsciousness or neurological sequelae

Treatment and study plan

neurocognitive tasks

Other

risk-processing: Participants choose between two choices across 72 trials of a forced choice decision-making neurocognitive task (Holt and Laury, 2002). Each trial included a high and low monetary outcome with an associated probability of occurring. Each choice option is shown as a pie with ten slices represented probabilities, in which each piece corresponded to ten percent.
cognitive control: A multi-source interference task (MSIT; Bush et al., 2003) is used in which participants are presented with three digits and asked to identify the digit different from the others. In the neutral condition, the target's identity is congruent with its relative position. In the interference condition, the target's identity does not match its relative position. There are a total of 96 neutral trials and 96 interference trials.

Primary outcomes

substance use behaviors

Time frame: Approximately every 18 months, 3 times across 5 years

Frequency (past year and past month use) of cigarette/tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and other drug use will be asked.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2014
Primary completion: 2029
Study completion: 2029
First posted: Apr 23, 2025
Registry last updated: Feb 12, 2026

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.

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

Active, Not Recruiting