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LPFC Organization in Emotion-Duration Difference Estimation

Lateral Prefrontal Organization in Emotion: Representational and Causal Mechanism - Duration Difference Estimation

Who can join

Ages 18 to 45 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* right-handed
* between the ages of 18 and 45
* be a fluent English speaker
* have normal to corrected-to-normal vision.

Exclusion Criteria:

* if they report a current or prior diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder requiring hospitalization and/or are currently using psychiatric medication; o If they report a history of or current neurological disease (i.e., stroke, concussion, epilepsy, major head trauma, complicated migraine);
* If they ever had a seizure;
* If they have a family history of epilepsy or seizure disorders;
* If they have a history of fainting;
* If they are sleep deprived (TMS only);
* If they have a history of prior surgery with metal clips, implants, devices, prosthetics, cardiac or neural implants (e.g., pacemaker; neurostimulator), or cochlear implants;
* If they are unable to safely and comfortably complete an MRI: have metal in the body, recent surgery, presence of surgically implanted devices not cleared for MRI, extreme claustrophobia, if they report tattoos of the head or neck region, non-removable metal piercing anywhere on the body
* Women will be asked to self-report their pregnancy status and have the option to take a pregnancy test if they wish. If there is a chance a participant is pregnant, they will not be scanned.
* As part of the newly adopted UCSB BIC prescreening procedure, participants will be asked about their history of hearing issues (including loss, hyperacuity, sensitivity to loud noises, history of tinnitus (ringing in ears), job with high noise exposure, and chronic migraines. Participants will be excluded if one or more hearing issues are reported.

About the study

To support optimal behavior in daily life, goals and responses following emotional events should ideally incorporate not only the valence and intensity of prior emotional episodes but also their temporal features, such as the relative duration of positive vs. negative attributes. However, how specific brain regions contribute to the integration of temporal and emotional information and promote goal-directed response remains unknown.

The goal of this study is to examine how specific brain regions track both emotional and temporal information of dynamic emotional events to inform other related brain regions to guide goal-oriented and context-appropriate actions. The investigators will scan healthy human participants using functional MRI (fMRI) while they view emotional image sequences and track the associated emotional and temporal (duration) information, and act accordingly. The investigators will employ multivariate patterns analysis and pattern similarity analysis to identify brain regions that represent (can decode) emotion, time, and their combined signals, as well as brain regions that represent the associated action goal. In addition, to infer the causal contributions of these brain regions in forming task-relevant representations (emotion, time, and action goal), the same participants will be recruited to receive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in these regions.

What is being tested

• Emotion valence (other)
• Time (other)
• TMS Stimulation (device)

Sponsor: University of California, Santa Barbara · Participants: 50 · Started: Jan 29, 2024

Contact the study team

• Mengsi Li, M.S. · Phone: 805-837-5206

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06276400

Locations in the U.S.

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Oct 2, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.