MotivationNCT06257446
InformationSeekingMesolimbicEngagementStudy1
A study testing Task Instructions in people with Motivation, run by Temple University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Study 1 will use a novel Game Show task, in which the investigators manipulate participant's agency to control their learning environment to specify unguided exploration. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 45 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Motivation
- What is being tested?
- Task Instructions
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 76 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 25 Oct 2023to 9 Feb 2024
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
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 45 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- 20/40 far acuity (either corrected or uncorrected)
- In good medical health
Who cannot join
- History of head injury
- History of illness with Central Nervous Systems implications
- On Medications that Affect blood flow response and alertness
- Consumption of smoking and/or coffee 30 minutes prior to laboratory testing
- Placement of a device contraindicated for magnetic resonance imaging including cardia pacemaker, aneurysm clip, cochlear implants, pregnancy, intra-uterine device, shrapnel, metal fragments in the eyes, neurostimulators
- Weight > 250lbs
- Claustrophobia
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: The Influence of Mesolimbic-hippocampal Interactions on Episodic Memory During Active Information Seeking
Study 1 will use a novel Game Show task, in which the investigators manipulate participant's agency to control their learning environment to specify unguided exploration.
Read the detailed description
Study 1 will use a novel Game Show task, in which the investigators manipulate participant's agency to control their learning environment to specify unguided exploration. In the encoding session, participants play the producer for a game show. On each trial, participants are shown a trial-unique contestant (2s), and then they select one of 3 presented doors to reveal a hidden object (4 seconds). The selected door is then highlighted (2-4s), which is then removed to show a trial-unique object image, which is framed as a prize (2s). On exploration trials, participants actively select which door to open. On control trials, the participant is forced to select a highlighted door, fostering passive rather than active information seeking. Unbeknownst to participants, there is no relationship between selected doors and revealed objects, as objects are pre-selected for each trial. Thus, timing, motor demands, and visual information are fixed across conditions. Participants will complete 3 runs of both the exploration and control condition, with each run containing 20 trials. Temporal jitters are placed between cues and outcomes and between trials, as determined by design optimization software77. Run will be pseudo-randomized across participants so no more than 2 runs of the same condition will appear in a row. Following encoding, participants will complete immediate and delayed item-associative memory test. On each trial of the memory test, participants will view the characters presented during exploration and control trials as well as new foil characters. If a participant indicates that they have previously seen a character before, the participants will be shown three object images encountered during encoding, and decide which item served as a prize for that specific character. In this way, the investigators can resolve memory for contestants (i.e., cues), and associative binding across contestants and prizes (i.e., cue-outcome). Participants memory will be tested for half the stimuli immediately and at a 24-hour delay.
- Conditions
- Motivation
- Being tested
- Task Instructions
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Task InstructionsBehavioural
Participants will be given cued instructions as to whether they are in a high or low motivation condition
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Motivation | Experimental | Trials in which participants are motivated by agency or not in a within-subjects design Receives: Behavioral: Task Instructions |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Mesolimbic-hippocampal Interactions
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activation characterizing mesolimbic-hippocampal interactions as queried using representational simliarity analysis across these two regions of interest. In this analysis, we explore the pattern similarity within the same set of regions (mesolimbic and hippocampal regions) across different trial types. In this way the standard unit for these values reflect a correlation that is summarized by a standardized beta-value extracted from a nested mixed effects model.
Measured: During Procedure
Episodic Memory
Item and Associative memory for memoranda shown during the task. This measure reflects the percent of memory test retrieval trials in which participants were able to successfull remember an item and its associated features compared across a high and low reward condition.
Measured: 24-hours, we administered our memory test 24 hours after the first session but this is the first time we are administering this test.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted14 Feb 2024
- Study start25 Oct 2023
- Primary completion9 Feb 2024
- Study completion9 Feb 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for MotivationStudies 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
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 76 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Temple University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06257446
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- R01DA055259-1
- Other IDs
- R01DA055259-03
- Status last verified
- Apr 2026
- First submitted
- 31 Jan 2024
- Last updated
- 23 Apr 2026
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Deidentified data will be shared on the open science framework.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 23 Apr 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Influence of Mesolimbic-hippocampal Interactions on Episodic Memory During Active Information Seeking
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06257446
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- R01DA055259-1
- Conditions
- Motivation
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 76 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Temple UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Study start
- 25 Oct 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 9 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 9 Feb 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 14 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 23 Apr 2026
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Study 1 will use a novel Game Show task, in which the investigators manipulate participant's agency to control their learning environment to specify unguided exploration.
Detailed description
Study 1 will use a novel Game Show task, in which the investigators manipulate participant's agency to control their learning environment to specify unguided exploration. In the encoding session, participants play the producer for a game show. On each trial, participants are shown a trial-unique contestant (2s), and then they select one of 3 presented doors to reveal a hidden object (4 seconds). The selected door is then highlighted (2-4s), which is then removed to show a trial-unique object image, which is framed as a prize (2s). On exploration trials, participants actively select which door to open. On control trials, the participant is forced to select a highlighted door, fostering passive rather than active information seeking. Unbeknownst to participants, there is no relationship between selected doors and revealed objects, as objects are pre-selected for each trial. Thus, timing, motor demands, and visual information are fixed across conditions. Participants will complete 3 runs of both the exploration and control condition, with each run containing 20 trials. Temporal jitters are placed between cues and outcomes and between trials, as determined by design optimization software77. Run will be pseudo-randomized across participants so no more than 2 runs of the same condition will appear in a row. Following encoding, participants will complete immediate and delayed item-associative memory test. On each trial of the memory test, participants will view the characters presented during exploration and control trials as well as new foil characters. If a participant indicates that they have previously seen a character before, the participants will be shown three object images encountered during encoding, and decide which item served as a prize for that specific character. In this way, the investigators can resolve memory for contestants (i.e., cues), and associative binding across contestants and prizes (i.e., cue-outcome). Participants memory will be tested for half the stimuli immediately and at a 24-hour delay.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Motivation | Experimental | Behavioral: Task InstructionsTrials in which participants are motivated by agency or not in a within-subjects design |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 45 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- 20/40 far acuity (either corrected or uncorrected)
- In good medical health
Key exclusion criteria (7 listed)
- History of head injury
- History of illness with Central Nervous Systems implications
- On Medications that Affect blood flow response and alertness
- Consumption of smoking and/or coffee 30 minutes prior to laboratory testing
- Placement of a device contraindicated for magnetic resonance imaging including cardia pacemaker, aneurysm clip, cochlear implants, pregnancy, intra-uterine device, shrapnel, metal fragments in the eyes, neurostimulators
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Task InstructionsParticipants will be given cued instructions as to whether they are in a high or low motivation condition | Behavioural | Motivation |
Primary outcome
Mesolimbic-hippocampal Interactions
Time frame: During Procedure
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activation characterizing mesolimbic-hippocampal interactions as queried using representational simliarity analysis across these two regions of interest. In this analysis, we explore the pattern similarity within the same set of regions (mesolimbic and hippocampal regions) across different trial types. In this way the standard unit for these values reflect a correlation that is summarized by a standardized beta-value extracted from a nested mixed effects model.
Episodic Memory
Time frame: 24-hours, we administered our memory test 24 hours after the first session but this is the first time we are administering this test.
Item and Associative memory for memoranda shown during the task. This measure reflects the percent of memory test retrieval trials in which participants were able to successfull remember an item and its associated features compared across a high and low reward condition.
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 23 Apr 2026.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Deidentified data will be shared on the open science framework.
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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. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Task Instructions in people with Motivation, run by Temple University 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 2 inclusion and 7 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: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 23 Apr 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?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 23 Apr 2026). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
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?
Mesolimbic-hippocampal Interactions (time frame: During Procedure). The study lists 2 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 23 Apr 2026.