Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Human Emotion Network

Enrolling by invitation · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Epilepsy, Depression, Anxiety, Emotions

In brief

The overall goal of this study is to elucidate how emotion network dynamics relate to the behavioral, autonomic, and experiential changes that accompany emotions and to investigate how emotion network dysfunction relates to affective symptoms. Affective symptoms are a common feature of neuropsychiatric disorders that reflect dysfunction in a distributed brain network that supports emotion. How aberrant functioning in a single emotion network underlies a wide range of affective symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, is not well understood. Anchored by the anterior cingulate cortex and ventral anterior insula, the emotion network responds to numerous affective stimuli. The recording of neural activity directly from the cortical surface from individuals is a promising approach since intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) can provide direct estimates of neuronal populations to map the spatiotemporal dynamics of the emotion network at a millisecond level resolution. This study will exam how activity within emotion network hubs changes during emotions and how emotion network properties make some individuals more vulnerable to affective symptoms than others. A multidisciplinary approach is critical for understanding the dynamic brain network to advance neuroanatomical models of emotions and for guiding the development of novel treatments for affective symptoms.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05152992

Run by

University of California, San Francisco

People needed

100

Starts

2015-04-20

Expected to finish

2026-06-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-06-23

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 80. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Participants with epilepsy at UCSF undergoing surgical electrode implantation for seizure localization and
• Participants with electrodes implanted in at least two regions of interest who are willing and able to cooperate with study tasks.

You may not qualify if…

• Participants who lack capacity or decline to provide informed consent,
• Participants who have significant cerebral lesions or
• Participants with cognitive deficits that preclude reliable completion of study tasks.

Where it is running

• University of California, San Francisco — San Francisco, California, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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