Stress & Self-Control Costs

Summary

Self-control failures are a universal challenge for healthy and clinical populations. Recent work suggests these failures may arise from excessive cognitive costs associated with exercising self-control, yet the mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown. To address this, the investigators will use a validated decision-making task that measures how much individuals will pay (from a study endowment) to restrict access to tempting rewards that may lead to self-control failures. The investigators will examine these costs to identify their cognitive, neural and affective mechanisms. First, the investigators will identify the cognitive and computational mechanism that gives rise to self-control costs. Second, the investigators will characterize the neural correlates of self-control costs and identify neural mediators and connectivity patterns stemming from these costs. Finally, the investigators will examine how different classes of stressors (physical, social, or lifetime stress) shape the behavioral and neural representations of self-control costs.

Conditions

• Self-Control

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cold-Pressor Task (CPT)

CPT is a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)

The TSST is a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges.

BEHAVIORAL

Modified Non-Stress CPT

The modified non-stress CPT involves participants continuously submerging their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Modified Non-Stress TSST

For the modified non-stress TSST, participants are asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper.

DEVICE

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• NYU Langone Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Candace Raio · NYU Langone Health

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-01

Primary Completion

2027-12-01

Completion

2028-04-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations