BehaviorNCT05092100
Neural Mechanisms for Reducing Interference During Episodic Memory Formation
A study testing Visual stimulus similarity, fMRI and Eye tracking in people with Behavior, run by University of Oregon at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Healthy individuals from the University of Oregon and surrounding community will be recruited for participation in behavioral, fMRI and eye tracking experiments that investigate human memory. Recruitment will involve emails, flyers, and local advertisements. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 80 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Behavior
- What is being tested?
- Visual stimulus similarity, fMRI and Eye tracking
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 2,900 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 29 Sep 2021to Jan 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 80 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Participants in behavioral studies must be:
- healthy and between the ages of 18-35 years old
- native English speakers
- right-handed.
- Participants in fMRI studies must be:
- healthy and between the ages of 18-80 years old
- native English speakers
- right-handed.
Who cannot join
- For behavioral studies:
- Potential participants will be informed that use of psychoactive drugs, mental health disorders, and chronic or temporary sleep deficits (an average of less than 6 hours of sleep over the past month or less than 4 hours of sleep the night prior to the experimental session) are reasons for exclusion because of the potential influence on cognitive functioning.
- For fMRI studies:
- For some sub-studies, individuals older than age 35 will be excluded because of potential differences in cognitive and brain function across age groups that are beyond the scope of the proposed studies.
- Individuals will be informed that use of psychoactive drugs, mental health disorders, and chronic or temporary sleep deficits (an average of less than 6 hours of sleep over the past month or less than 4 hours of sleep the night prior to the experimental session) are reasons for exclusion because of the potential influence on cognitive functioning.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
About this study
Healthy individuals from the University of Oregon and surrounding community will be recruited for participation in behavioral, fMRI and eye tracking experiments that investigate human memory. Recruitment will involve emails, flyers, and local advertisements. Individuals between the ages of 18-80 (or 18-35 for some studies) will be eligible.
The broad objective of the research is to understand how humans form distinct memories for similar experiences. Experimental sessions will involve studying and trying to remember various images (e.g., images of natural scenes). The intervention will involve manipulating the similarity and/or learning protocol for the studied images. Outcome measures will include (a) behavioral measures of memory, and/or (b) fMRI measures of hemodynamic activity, and/or (c) eye tracking measures of gaze direction. Experimental sessions will last approximately 1-3 hours.
Read the detailed description
Objective: The goal of the research studies is to understand how memories are formed for similar experiences such that interference (confusion) between these memories is minimized. Of particular interest is the role of the hippocampus (a brain region important for memory).
Participants: Healthy individuals from the University of Oregon and surrounding community will be recruited through fliers, emails, and advertisements. For some of the studies, individuals between 18-80 years of age will be recruited. For others, individuals between 18-35 will be recruited.
Design: All studies will involve studying and trying to remember various images (e.g., natural scenes) displayed on a computer screen. Memory decisions will be made and recorded using a computer keyboard or external button box. The similarity of images and/or the specific learning procedures (e.g., number of repetitions, order of study, etc.) will be manipulated. Experimental sessions will be conducted in behavioral testing rooms (with or without eye tracking equipment) and/or in an MRI scanner.
Outcomes: Measures of interest will include (a) behavioral responses, (b) fMRI measures of hemodynamic responses, and/or (c) gaze direction as measured by eye tracking equipment. Behavioral responses will consist of simple memory decisions, such as indicating whether or not an image has been seen before or trying to remember associations between images. fMRI data will be analyzed using multivariate pattern similarity analyses. Eye tracking data will be used to measure the specific spatial locations of images that participants fixate on.
- Conditions
- Behavior
- Being tested
- Visual stimulus similarity, fMRI, Eye tracking
- Keywords
- behavior, memory
- Medical subject headings
- Behavior
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Visual stimulus similarityBehavioural
Also called Learning protocol
Visual stimulus similarity will be varied in order to test for effects on memory. Learning protocol (the order and frequency with which stimuli are learned) will also be varied.
fMRIOther
fMRI will be used to measure patterns of BOLD activity during learning.
Eye trackingBehavioural
Eye tracking will be used to measure patterns of eye movements when viewing images.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioral | Experimental | This arm will use behavioral procedures to test memory for different visual stimulus conditions. Receives: Behavioral: Visual stimulus similarity |
| fMRI pattern similarity | Experimental | This arm will use fMRI and behavioral methods to test memory for different visual stimulus conditions. Receives: Behavioral: Visual stimulus similarity; Other: fMRI |
| eye tracking | Experimental | This arm will use eye tracking and behavioral methods to test memory for different visual stimulus conditions. Receives: Behavioral: Visual stimulus similarity; Behavioral: Eye tracking |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Behavior
Behavioral responses will be recorded by keyboard or external button boxes. These responses will be used to assess the accuracy with which participants remember individual images. Accuracy will be averaged across stimuli within each learning condition to obtain measures of mean memory accuracy (i.e., the percentage of stimuli that were successfully remembered) per condition and participant.
Measured: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.
fMRI pattern similarity
fMRI will be used to measure hemodynamic (BOLD) responses as participants study images. Pattern similarity analyses will be applied to the fMRI data. Pattern similarity will be indexed by the correlation (r) between patterns of BOLD activity. Pattern similarity will be computed for images within and across different learning conditions.
Measured: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.
eye tracking
Eye tracking equipment will be used to measure gaze direction and fixations as participants study images. These data will be used to calculate variables such as the number of saccades (eye movements) made and the percentage of time (within each trial) spent looking at each portion of an image. Data from individual trials will be averaged across trials within each learning condition. This will yield mean values per condition and participant.
Measured: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted25 Oct 2021
- Study start29 Sep 2021
- Primary completionDec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completionJan 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for BehaviorStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 2,900 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Oregon
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Brice A Kuhl, Ph.D., Principal investigator, University of Oregon
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05092100
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 06302015.045
- Status last verified
- Oct 2025
- First submitted
- 15 Sep 2021
- Last updated
- 31 Aug 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: de-identified fMRI data will be shared via a public repository
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 31 Aug 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Neural Mechanisms for Reducing Interference During Episodic Memory Formation
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05092100
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 06302015.045
- Conditions
- Behavior
- Keywords
- behavior, memory
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Enrolling by invitation
- Enrolment
- 2,900 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University of OregonUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 29 Sep 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Dec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Jan 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 25 Oct 2021 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Healthy individuals from the University of Oregon and surrounding community will be recruited for participation in behavioral, fMRI and eye tracking experiments that investigate human memory. Recruitment will involve emails, flyers, and local advertisements. Individuals between the ages of 18-80 (or 18-35 for some studies) will be eligible.
The broad objective of the research is to understand how humans form distinct memories for similar experiences. Experimental sessions will involve studying and trying to remember various images (e.g., images of natural scenes). The intervention will involve manipulating the similarity and/or learning protocol for the studied images. Outcome measures will include (a) behavioral measures of memory, and/or (b) fMRI measures of hemodynamic activity, and/or (c) eye tracking measures of gaze direction. Experimental sessions will last approximately 1-3 hours.
Detailed description
Objective: The goal of the research studies is to understand how memories are formed for similar experiences such that interference (confusion) between these memories is minimized. Of particular interest is the role of the hippocampus (a brain region important for memory).
Participants: Healthy individuals from the University of Oregon and surrounding community will be recruited through fliers, emails, and advertisements. For some of the studies, individuals between 18-80 years of age will be recruited. For others, individuals between 18-35 will be recruited.
Design: All studies will involve studying and trying to remember various images (e.g., natural scenes) displayed on a computer screen. Memory decisions will be made and recorded using a computer keyboard or external button box. The similarity of images and/or the specific learning procedures (e.g., number of repetitions, order of study, etc.) will be manipulated. Experimental sessions will be conducted in behavioral testing rooms (with or without eye tracking equipment) and/or in an MRI scanner.
Outcomes: Measures of interest will include (a) behavioral responses, (b) fMRI measures of hemodynamic responses, and/or (c) gaze direction as measured by eye tracking equipment. Behavioral responses will consist of simple memory decisions, such as indicating whether or not an image has been seen before or trying to remember associations between images. fMRI data will be analyzed using multivariate pattern similarity analyses. Eye tracking data will be used to measure the specific spatial locations of images that participants fixate on.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioral | Experimental | Behavioral: Visual stimulus similarityThis arm will use behavioral procedures to test memory for different visual stimulus conditions. |
| fMRI pattern similarity | Experimental | Behavioral: Visual stimulus similarity, Other: fMRIThis arm will use fMRI and behavioral methods to test memory for different visual stimulus conditions. |
| eye tracking | Experimental | Behavioral: Visual stimulus similarity, Behavioral: Eye trackingThis arm will use eye tracking and behavioral methods to test memory for different visual stimulus conditions. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (8 listed)
- healthy and between the ages of 18-35 years old
- native English speakers
- right-handed.
- healthy and between the ages of 18-80 years old
- native English speakers
Key exclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Potential participants will be informed that use of psychoactive drugs, mental health disorders, and chronic or temporary sleep deficits (an average of less than 6 hours of sleep over the past month or less than 4 hours of sleep the night prior to the experimental session) are reasons for exclusion because of the potential influence on cognitive functioning.
- For some sub-studies, individuals older than age 35 will be excluded because of potential differences in cognitive and brain function across age groups that are beyond the scope of the proposed studies.
- Individuals will be informed that use of psychoactive drugs, mental health disorders, and chronic or temporary sleep deficits (an average of less than 6 hours of sleep over the past month or less than 4 hours of sleep the night prior to the experimental session) are reasons for exclusion because of the potential influence on cognitive functioning.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Visual stimulus similarityAlso: Learning protocolVisual stimulus similarity will be varied in order to test for effects on memory. Learning protocol (the order and frequency with which stimuli are learned) will also be varied. | Behavioural | Behavioral, eye tracking, fMRI pattern similarity |
| fMRIfMRI will be used to measure patterns of BOLD activity during learning. | Other | fMRI pattern similarity |
| Eye trackingEye tracking will be used to measure patterns of eye movements when viewing images. | Behavioural | eye tracking |
Primary outcome
Behavior
Time frame: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.
Behavioral responses will be recorded by keyboard or external button boxes. These responses will be used to assess the accuracy with which participants remember individual images. Accuracy will be averaged across stimuli within each learning condition to obtain measures of mean memory accuracy (i.e., the percentage of stimuli that were successfully remembered) per condition and participant.
fMRI pattern similarity
Time frame: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.
fMRI will be used to measure hemodynamic (BOLD) responses as participants study images. Pattern similarity analyses will be applied to the fMRI data. Pattern similarity will be indexed by the correlation (r) between patterns of BOLD activity. Pattern similarity will be computed for images within and across different learning conditions.
eye tracking
Time frame: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.
Eye tracking equipment will be used to measure gaze direction and fixations as participants study images. These data will be used to calculate variables such as the number of saccades (eye movements) made and the percentage of time (within each trial) spent looking at each portion of an image. Data from individual trials will be averaged across trials within each learning condition. This will yield mean values per condition and participant.
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 31 Aug 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. de-identified fMRI data will be shared via a public repository
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Brice A Kuhl, Ph.D. principal investigator
University of Oregon
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Visual stimulus similarity, fMRI and Eye tracking in people with Behavior, run by University of Oregon at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 8 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: enrolling by invitation, as of the sponsor's last update on 31 Aug 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Behavior (time frame: Data will be collected over a 5 year period. Results from sub-studies will be analyzed within 6 months of the conclusion of data collection.). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 31 Aug 2026.