Recruiting

Brain Stimulation Effects on Decision-Making in Healthy and Depressed Individuals

0 criteria met from your profileSee at a glance how your profile meets each eligibility criteria.
Study Aim

This study aims to observe how brain stimulation affects decision-making in both healthy individuals and those with depression by using tasks that measure effort and reward motivation.

What is being tested

Neurostimulation

Device
Who is being recruted

Behavior

+ Behavioral Symptoms

+ Depression

From 18 to 50 Years
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Basic Science Study

Interventional
Study Start: November 2019
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorEmory University
Study ContactMichael Treadway, PhD
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Study start date: November 11, 2019

Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

The study is focused on understanding how stimulating certain areas of the brain with techniques like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and temporal interference (TI) affects decision-making and cognitive processes. Researchers are particularly interested in how these brain areas are involved when people make decisions about effort and rewards. This study is important because it could offer new insights into how decision-making works in both healthy individuals and people with depression, which might help in developing better treatments or interventions for those with altered decision-making abilities. Participants in the study will undergo brain stimulation using rTMS or TI while performing tasks that require decisions involving different levels of effort and associated rewards. During these tasks, participants choose between options that vary in difficulty and reward potential. The study measures how participants respond to these tasks, using metrics like the speed and choice between high and low effort options, to assess motivation and decision-making. These tasks are designed to see how brain stimulation might change decision-making behavior, with potential risks or side effects of the stimulation being monitored throughout the study.

Official TitleBrain Stimulation Studies of Decision-making Using Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) and Temporal Interference (TI)
NCT04099056
Principal SponsorEmory University
Study ContactMichael Treadway, PhD
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details

500 patients to be enrolled

Total number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.

Basic Science Study

Basic science studies help researchers understand how the body works or how a disease develops. They don't test treatments, but they build the foundation for future therapies.


Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria

Any sex

Biological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.

From 18 to 50 Years

Range of ages for which participants are eligible to join.

Healthy volunteers allowed

If individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.

Conditions

Pathology

BehaviorBehavioral SymptomsDepression

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Provides written informed consent * Fluent English speaker * Absence of current drug use as assessed by subject history and/or urine drug screen Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnant or currently breastfeeding women or any woman of childbearing potential who is seeking to become pregnant or suspects that she may be pregnant, as assessed by subject report and/or urine pregnancy screen * Contraindications to fMRI scanning (including presence of a cardiac pacemaker or pacemaker wires, metallic particles in the body, vascular clips in the head or previous neurosurgery, prosthetic heart valves, claustrophobia) as assessed with the standard MRI screening form from the Facility for Research and Education in Neuroscience (FERN) * Unable to fit comfortably in the scanner * Contraindication to TMS, including history or family history of epilepsy, metallic implants in the head and/or neck, brain stimulators, vagus nerve stimulators, ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt, pacemakers * Current use of medications that may increase the risk of seizures (e.g., bupropion, varenicline, chlorpromazine, theophylline) or reduce the effects of rTMS, such as benzodiazepines * History or current serious or unstable medical illness, including cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, respiratory, endocrine, neurologic, or hematologic disease, as assessed by subject history * Not right-handed as assessed by the Chapman handedness inventory or self-report * History of head injury resulting in more than a brief loss of consciousness, as assessed by subject history * History of cocaine or stimulant use (e.g., amphetamine, cocaine, methamphetamine), as assessed by subject history * History of use of dopaminergic drugs (including methylphenidate or other stimulant medication), as assessed by subject history * Current use or more than occasional use in the past year of tobacco products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, snuff, and chewing tobacco, or nicotine replacement products such as gum or patches, as assessed by subject history * Evidence of significant inconsistencies in self-report measures Additional Exclusion Criteria for Optional Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)Component for Subject Safety * Anything above minimal risk for suicide, as assessed during the clinical interview (SCID) at screening and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSR). C-SSRS risk will be assessed as any score \> 3. * Any physical or neuropsychiatric conditions that may worsen/or prevent walking or running. Additional Exclusion Criteria for Optional Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)Component for Data Quality * Meet criteria for current psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, or severe substance use disorders as assessed by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. * Used psychotropic medications within the last six weeks as assessed by subject history. Additional Exclusion Criteria for Participants with Major Depressive Disorder: * Anything above minimal risk for suicide, as assessed during the clinical interview (SCID) at screening and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) * A symptom severity score of at least 11, as assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II * History or current diagnosis of any of the following Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV psychiatric illnesses: * Organic mental disorder * Schizophrenia spectrum disorders * Delusional disorder * Psychotic disorders not otherwise specified * Patients with mood-congruent or mood-incongruent psychotic features * Patients with bipolar mood disorders * Substance dependence * Substance abuse within the last 12 months (except cocaine or stimulant abuse), which will lead to exclusion * Absence of any psychotropic medications for at least 2 weeks. No patient will be asked to discontinue or otherwise interrupt any psychotropic medications to participate in this study. The listed "washout" periods are only applicable for patients who previously used psychotropic medications, but recently decided to discontinue their use for some other reason. * 6 weeks for fluoxetine * 6 months for neuroleptics * 2 weeks for benzodiazepines * 2 weeks for any other antidepressants Additional Exclusion Criteria for Healthy Controls: * Any current or past history of any DSM-IV psychiatric illnesses, presence of a DSM-IV psychiatric disorder within a first-degree relative, or current or past use of psychotropic medications * Score no greater than 10 on the BDI-II * Score \> 1 on the SHAPS

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives

2 intervention groups are designated in this study

This study does not include a placebo group 

Treatment Groups

Group I

Active Comparator
Participants without MDD will complete computer tasks while receiving TMS/TI

Group II

Active Comparator
Participants with MDD will complete computer tasks while receiving TMS/ TI

Study Objectives

Primary Objectives

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.

This study has 1 location

Recruiting

Emory University

Atlanta, United StatesOpen Emory University in Google Maps
Recruiting
One Study Center
Brain Stimulation Effects on Decision-Making in Healthy and Depressed Individuals | PatLynk