Stress & Self-Control Costs

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Self-Control

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05795179

Run by

NYU Langone Health

People needed

300

Starts

2024-10-01

Expected to finish

2028-04-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-03-11

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 70. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• 18-70 years of age, able to speak, read, and write fluently in English
• be willing and able to follow study procedures and provide informed consent.
• Must additionally confirm they are on a diet to maintain/lose weight and are implementing/maintaining dietary changes.

You may not qualify if…

• History of or medication for neurologic or psychiatric disease
• High-blood pressure or heart condition
• Diabetes, food allergies, metabolic disorders or history of eating disorder
• Use of corticosteroids or beta-blockers
• Metallic implants or devices contraindicating magnetic resonance imaging.
• Pregnancy is considered an exclusion criteria due to all stress and scanning procedures, thus pregnant participants will not be permitted to participate in the study.

Where it is running

• NYU Langone Health — New York, New York, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.