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K08 VR Fear Conditioning
Intracranial Recording and Stimulation of the Human Hippocampal-Amygdala Circuit During Virtual Reality Fear Conditioning
Who can join
Ages 18 to 70 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome
Full eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Male * Female * Between 18 and 70 years of age * Adequate visual and auditory acuity to allow neuropsychological testing * Have undergone surgical placement of NeuroPace RNS System for the treatment of epilepsy or post-traumatic stress disorder Exclusion Criteria: \- History of traumatic brain injury
About the study
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how people respond to fear-related experiences in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The study will also look at how brain activity and body responses are connected to learning and memory of fear. To do so, we recruit individuals who are already implanted with a Responsive Neurostimulator (RNS) device for the treatment of epilepsy. This research may help improve our understanding of anxiety disorders and how to better treat them in the future.
The main questions it aims to answer are: 1) How do people learn to associate certain cues in VR with feelings of fear or safety? 2) What brain and body responses happen during fear learning?
Participants will: 1) Wear a virtual reality headset and experience different environments and sounds, 2) Have their brain activity, heart rate, and sweating measured, and 3) Receive safe, mild electrical pulses through the RNS device during the study to help study fear learning. Participants will attend one or more study sessions, each lasting about 3-4 hours.
What is being tested
- Deep Brain Stimulation (device)
Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles · Participants: 70 · Started: Mar 1, 2025
Contact the study team
- Jonny Baham · Phone: 424-242-2423
Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT07216222
Locations in the U.S.
| California | UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles |
Conditions
From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Nov 15, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.