Protocol Number: 04-N-0192

Title:

The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Economic Decision-Making in Reciprocal Trust Games Using Functional Hyperscanning Neuroimaging

Number:

04-N-0192

Summary:

This study will identify which areas of the brain mediate the interaction between people involved in economic decision-making.

Healthy, right-handed native English speakers between 21 and 55 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a telephone interview, a questionnaire to determine handedness, and a neurological examination if one has not been performed within the last year by an NIH physician.

Participants bargain for money by playing two-person trust games, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). MRI uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of body organs and tissues. The MRI scanner is a metal cylinder surrounded by a strong magnetic field. During the procedure, the subject lies on a stable that can slide in and out of the scanner, wearing earplugs to muffle loud knocking sounds that occur with electrical switching of the magnetic fields. Functional MRI involves taking MRI scans while the subject performs a task-this to learn about how the brain regions are involved in performing the task. For this test, the subject plays or watches two-person games involving trust. The game may be played against a stranger or a friend. The winner receives a cash payoff.

The subject performs one of the following two tasks during MRI scanning:

- Playing the trust games and indicating as quickly as possible by pressing a right or left button whether he or she wants to stop or continue playing, or

- Observing games that others have played and predicting as quickly as possible by pressing a right or left button whether the players wanted to stop or continue the games.

The test takes about 90 minutes. After the scan, participants complete written questionnaires about their experience in the scanner and their views on issues related to participating in competitive games.

Sponsoring Institute:

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Recruitment Detail

Type: Active Accrual Of New Subjects

Gender: Male & Female

Referral Letter Required: No

Population Exclusion(s): Children

Eligibility Criteria:

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

In all the studies, subjects will consist of healthy, native English-speaking, right-handed volunteers, as measured by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971). Subjects will range in age from 21 to 55 years old and they will be included regardless of race. Due to the complex experimental design that matches up partners who are familiar with each others or strangers, we decided to carry out separate studies for groups of males and females.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Non-native English speakers and non-right handers will be excluded as mentioned above, as will non-neurologically normal volunteers. Subjects younger than 21 and older than 55 will be excluded. A urine pregnancy test will be employed with all women of childbearing age. The results must be negative in order to proceed with the MRI.

Participants with any of the following: aneurysm clip; implanted neural stimulator; implanted cardiac pacemaker or auto-defibrillator; cochlear implant; ocular foreign body, e.g. metal shavings; permanent eyeliner; insulin pump; or irremovable body piercing will be excluded from the study due to the possible dangerous effects of the magnet upon metal objects in the body. Participants taking central nervous system active medications will be excluded.

Special Instructions: Currently Not Provided

Keywords:

PFC

Competition

Bargaining Games

Hyper-Brain Scanning

fMRI

Recruitment Keywords:

Healthy Volunteer

HV

Conditions:

Healthy

Investigational Drug(s):

None

Investigational Device(s):

None

Contacts:

Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office
Building 61
10 Cloister Court
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4754
Toll Free: 1-800-411-1222
TTY: 301-594-9774 (local),1-866-411-1010 (toll free)
Fax: 301-480-9793

Electronic Mail:prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov

Citations:

Bell AJ, Sejnowski TJ. An information-maximization approach to blind separation and blind deconvolution. Neural Comput. 1995 Nov;7(6):1129-59. PMID: 7584893

Belliveau JW, Kennedy DN Jr, McKinstry RC, Buchbinder BR, Weisskoff RM, Cohen MS, Vevea JM, Brady TJ, Rosen BR.

Functional mapping of the human visual cortex by magnetic resonance imaging. Science. 1991 Nov 1;254(5032):716-9.

PMID: 1948051

Belliveau JW, Rosen BR, Kantor HL, Rzedzian RR, Kennedy DN, McKinstry RC, Vevea JM, Cohen MS, Pykett IL, Brady TJ. Functional cerebral imaging by susceptibility-contrast NMR.

Magn Reson Med. 1990 Jun;14(3):538-46. PMID: 2355835

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