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Expectation Effects on Emotional Processing in Late Life

NCT06251284 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 52

Last updated 2024-12-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Understanding the mechanisms of expectation effects in the affective system is vital, given high placebo rates in antidepressants. Evidence has consistently confirmed that expectations can influence our emotional experience. Recently, a crucial role of prefrontal top-down regulation and cognitive capacity was shown in verbally instructed expectation effects within the affective system.

Empirical findings systematically point to a positivity effect in emotionally healthy aging, linked to prefrontal functioning. It is unclear whether the effects and mechanisms of positive expectations on emotional processing might also change throughout the lifespan. Hence, the investigators' goal is to explore the neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying positive expectation effects in healthy aging. Healthy older adults (N=55; 50% female) will be invited to a cross-over (positive expectation vs. no expectations induced) fMRI experiment during which they will perform an emotional interference task that manipulates cognitive resources. The investigators hypothesize that older adults demonstrate a resource-dependent positivity effect and that this effect will be further enhanced through the induction of positive expectations. Additionally, it is expected that these result are related to participants' general cognitive control ability and to be reflected on the corresponding neural correlates in prefrontal-limbic networks.

Conditions

  • Expectation Effects on Emotional Processing in Late Life

Interventions

OTHER

Saline nasal spray

A saline nasal spray will be introduced as saline on the first day (no induced expectations) and as oxytocin on the second day (induced positive expectations)

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • German Research Foundation

    collaborator OTHER

  • Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
60 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-11-01
Primary Completion
2024-07-01
Completion
2024-07-01

Countries

  • Germany

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06251284 on ClinicalTrials.gov