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Brain Mechanisms of Human Motivation

Multi Level Analysis of Positive Valence Systems Across Mood Disorders

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01976975
Enrollment
270
Registered
2013-11-06
Start date
2013-10-31
Completion date
2018-01-31
Last updated
2021-08-04

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder

Keywords

Depression, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Mania, Hypomania, EEG, MRI, Reward

Brief summary

This study aims to investigate reward learning across the mood disorder spectrum and to investigate the predictive validity of reward learning for subsequent symptom severity.

Detailed description

The study involves five sessions. In the first session, participants will play a computer task. In the second session, participants will go through a clinical interview and will have an EEG recording while playing another computer task. In the third session, participants will undergo an fMRI scan while playing another computer task. All tasks assess reward learning. At three and six months after the final session, participants will come back for a follow-up interview session during which a clinician will assess symptom severity. There will be no intervention in this study.

Interventions

None listed

Sponsors

Mclean Hospital
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Observational model
CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 50 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Written informed consent * Right-handed * (For mood disorder group only) Stable medication over the past 8 weeks OR absence of any psychotropic medications for at least 2 weeks (for follow-up analyses testing effects in medication-free patients): * 6 weeks for fluoxetine, * 6 months for neuroleptics, * 2 weeks for benzodiazepines, * 2 weeks for any other antidepressants * 4 weeks for any mood-stabilizers

Exclusion criteria

* Suicidal ideation where outpatient treatment is determined unsafe by the study clinician * Pregnant women or women of childbearing potential who 1) have not completed a negative urine pregnancy test prior to the MRI scan and/or 2) are seeking to become pregnant or believe that they may be pregnant * Serious/unstable medical illness (e.g., cardiovascular, renal, endocrine, neurologic disease) * Clinical or laboratory evidence of hypothyroidism * History of seizure disorder, history or current diagnosis of dementia, score \< 26 on the MMSE at screening * History or current diagnosis of the following DSM-IV psychiatric illness: organic mental disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, psychotic disorder NOS, patients with mood congruent or mood incongruent psychotic features, anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder * Lifetime history of stimulant dependence (e.g., cocaine, amphetamines) * Current use of Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and other ADHD medications with dopaminergic effects * Patients with a lifetime history of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) * Failure to meet standard MRI safety requirements

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in Response BiasAdministered during the first session.The Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT) is a behavioral task that measures an individual's ability to learn to choose a more rewarding outcome versus a less rewarding one (Response Bias). The response bias score is a ratio of the number of times a participant correctly chooses the high reward stimulus (the rich stimulus) versus the low reward stimulus (the lean stimulus). Response bias scores range between -1 and +1. A higher Response Bias score indicates a stronger bias toward the rich stimulus, and a negative Response Bias indicates a stronger bias toward the lean stimulus. The Change-in-Response-Bias is calculated by subtracting Response Bias in block 1 (trials 0-100) of the task from Response Bias in block 3 (trials 201-300) of the task. This metric represents the degree to which an individual is able to update behavior as a function of the asymmetrical reinforcement schedule.
Mean Accuracy on Gain Trials During an Instrumental Learning TaskAdministered in session 3 during 1.5 hour MR scanThe instrumental learning task requires participants to choose between two abstract symbols. Each symbol in the pair is associated with an 80% or 20% probability of a given outcome (gain: win $1 or $0; loss: lose $1 or $0; neutral: view a gray square or see the word 'nothing'). The task consists of three blocks. Behavioral performance focuses on the number of times the participant chose the symbol that was associated more frequently associated with the more desirable outcome. A participant scores 1 if they choose correctly, and 0 if they choose in correctly, and correct choices across all three blocks are added and converted to a percentage relative to the total number of trials in that condition (i.e., gain, loss, or neutral). This study focused on percent of accuracy responses in the gain condition.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Symptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-up6 months* Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Severity of depressive symptoms, from 0 (no symptoms) to 63 (severely depressed) * Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Severity of manic symptoms, from 0 (not manic) to 60 (severely manic) * Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS). The TEPS is an 18-item questionnaire. Ten items make up the TEPS-Anticipatory Pleasure scale with a range from 10 (not motivated) to 60 (highly motivated). * The other eight TEPS items make up the TEPS-Consummatory Pleasure scale; range from 8 (not responsive) to 48 (highly responsive) * Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire - Anhedonic Depression (MASQ-AD). The MASQ is a 62-item self-report on the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The AD subscale is a 22-item measure of severity of anhedonic symptoms. Range: 22 -110 (higher scores mean greater severity) * Barrett Impulsiveness Scale 11 (BIS-11): a 30-item assessment of Trait Impulsivity. Range: 30-120 (higher scores mean more impulsiveness)

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Mood Disorder Patients
Patients with depressive and/or manic or hypomanic symptoms
226
Healthy Controls
Participants with no lifetime history of psychiatric illness
44
Total270

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicMood Disorder PatientsHealthy ControlsTotal
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
8 Participants3 Participants11 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
218 Participants41 Participants259 Participants
Age, Continuous33 years30 years32 years
Beck Depression Inventory-II27.87 units on a scale.32 units on a scale22.59 units on a scale
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
1 Participants0 Participants1 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
22 Participants11 Participants33 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
32 Participants4 Participants36 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
17 Participants2 Participants19 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
1 Participants0 Participants1 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
9 Participants0 Participants9 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
144 Participants27 Participants171 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
226 Participants44 Participants270 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
140 Participants20 Participants160 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
86 Participants24 Participants110 Participants
Young Mania Rating Scale1.97 units on a scale1.97 units on a scale

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
0 / 2260 / 44
other
Total, other adverse events
0 / 2260 / 44
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 2260 / 44

Outcome results

Primary

Change in Response Bias

The Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT) is a behavioral task that measures an individual's ability to learn to choose a more rewarding outcome versus a less rewarding one (Response Bias). The response bias score is a ratio of the number of times a participant correctly chooses the high reward stimulus (the rich stimulus) versus the low reward stimulus (the lean stimulus). Response bias scores range between -1 and +1. A higher Response Bias score indicates a stronger bias toward the rich stimulus, and a negative Response Bias indicates a stronger bias toward the lean stimulus. The Change-in-Response-Bias is calculated by subtracting Response Bias in block 1 (trials 0-100) of the task from Response Bias in block 3 (trials 201-300) of the task. This metric represents the degree to which an individual is able to update behavior as a function of the asymmetrical reinforcement schedule.

Time frame: Administered during the first session.

Population: Population includes patients and healthy controls who completed the PRT during the first session.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Mood Disorder PatientsChange in Response Bias.0546 log-transformed ratio of scores
Healthy ControlsChange in Response Bias.0787 log-transformed ratio of scores
Primary

Mean Accuracy on Gain Trials During an Instrumental Learning Task

The instrumental learning task requires participants to choose between two abstract symbols. Each symbol in the pair is associated with an 80% or 20% probability of a given outcome (gain: win $1 or $0; loss: lose $1 or $0; neutral: view a gray square or see the word 'nothing'). The task consists of three blocks. Behavioral performance focuses on the number of times the participant chose the symbol that was associated more frequently associated with the more desirable outcome. A participant scores 1 if they choose correctly, and 0 if they choose in correctly, and correct choices across all three blocks are added and converted to a percentage relative to the total number of trials in that condition (i.e., gain, loss, or neutral). This study focused on percent of accuracy responses in the gain condition.

Time frame: Administered in session 3 during 1.5 hour MR scan

Population: All participants who had readable Pessiglione task data

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)
Mood Disorder PatientsMean Accuracy on Gain Trials During an Instrumental Learning Task16.65 Percent of accurate responses
Healthy ControlsMean Accuracy on Gain Trials During an Instrumental Learning Task17.03 Percent of accurate responses
Secondary

Symptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-up

* Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Severity of depressive symptoms, from 0 (no symptoms) to 63 (severely depressed) * Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Severity of manic symptoms, from 0 (not manic) to 60 (severely manic) * Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS). The TEPS is an 18-item questionnaire. Ten items make up the TEPS-Anticipatory Pleasure scale with a range from 10 (not motivated) to 60 (highly motivated). * The other eight TEPS items make up the TEPS-Consummatory Pleasure scale; range from 8 (not responsive) to 48 (highly responsive) * Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire - Anhedonic Depression (MASQ-AD). The MASQ is a 62-item self-report on the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The AD subscale is a 22-item measure of severity of anhedonic symptoms. Range: 22 -110 (higher scores mean greater severity) * Barrett Impulsiveness Scale 11 (BIS-11): a 30-item assessment of Trait Impulsivity. Range: 30-120 (higher scores mean more impulsiveness)

Time frame: 6 months

Population: Population includes patients and controls who completed the 6-month follow up session

ArmMeasureGroupValue (MEAN)
Mood Disorder PatientsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upBDI-II15.24 units on a scale
Mood Disorder PatientsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upYMRS1.41 units on a scale
Mood Disorder PatientsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upTEPS Anticipatory Pleasure Scale39.41 units on a scale
Mood Disorder PatientsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upTEPS Consummatory Pleasure Scale36.54 units on a scale
Mood Disorder PatientsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upMASQ-AD; Anhedonic Depression severity70.59 units on a scale
Mood Disorder PatientsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upBIS Impulsiveness67.47 units on a scale
Healthy ControlsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upMASQ-AD; Anhedonic Depression severity42.63 units on a scale
Healthy ControlsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upBDI-II.33 units on a scale
Healthy ControlsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upTEPS Consummatory Pleasure Scale40.30 units on a scale
Healthy ControlsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upYMRS.07 units on a scale
Healthy ControlsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upBIS Impulsiveness47.93 units on a scale
Healthy ControlsSymptom Severity at 6 Month Follow-upTEPS Anticipatory Pleasure Scale47.63 units on a scale

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 10, 2026