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Study Brain Mechanisms of Frustration With Magnetoencephalography in Healthy Volunteers

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) · NCT06484088

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 18–55 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Early Phase 1
Target enrollment
90
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
February 21, 2025
Record last updated
October 23, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

Background

Irritability can be defined as an unusually strong response to frustration; these responses may include severe temper outbursts and a constant grumpy mood. Irritability is a common symptom of many mental health disorders. Little is known about how the brain responds to frustration, and few treatments are available for this problem. Researchers want to know more about how the brain responds to frustration.

Objective

To learn how the brain responds to frustration.

Eligibility

Healthy adults aged 18 to 55 years. They must have been screened through studies 01-M-0254 or 17-M-0181.

Design

Participants will have up to 3 study visits in 2 months. Each visit will last up to 4 hours.

Visit 1: Participants will be screened. They will have a physical exam. They will complete questionnaires about how often and how easily they get angry or grumpy. They will be trained to use a device that measures hand grip.

Visit 2: Participants will have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. They will lie on a table that slides into a tube. Padding will hold their head still.

Visit 3: Participants will undergo magnetoencephalography (MEG). A cone with detectors will be lowered over their head while they are seated. The MEG will measure the magnetic fields in the participant s brain both while they are resting and while they are doing the frustration task. For the task, they will hold a grip device in each hand. They will use the devices to pick 1 of 2 doors on a computer screen. The task has 3 parts. The participant s face will be filmed during this task.

Being studied: Frustration task

Conditions: Irritability

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

-INCLUSION CRITERIA:

This study will include adult healthy volunteers.

  • Age: 18-55
  • Consent: can give consent
  • Speak and read English

--The instruments have not been validated in other languages.

  • At the NIH site, previously screened through other NIH protocols such as protocol 01-M-0254, 17-M-0181, and 93-M-0170 and determined eligible as healthy volunteers.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA

An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this

study:

-Any serious medical condition

  • History, physical exam, or laboratory testing including drug abuse screen.

-Prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements with psychoactive properties (e.g., St. John's Wort, Melatonin, Valerian)

-Any condition that interferes with MRI or MEG**

  • History

-Any current psychiatric diagnosis

  • SCID-V, clinical assessment, or history.

-Pregnancy

  • Pregnancy testing will be done before all MRIs.

-People who work on night shifts

  • History

-Drug use

  • Subjects with drug use or positive drug screen more than two years ago are eligible for participation.

-Need to wear eye glasses to work with computers*

  • History

-Need to wear contact lenses to work with computers,*

  • History

-Dental retainer**

  • Subjects wearing removable dental retainers are eligible for participation
  • Eye glasses create artifacts in MEG and their rigid shape does not fit well in the MEG scanner. The MEG core has plastic optometry lenses that can be placed in paper frames. However, the paper frames need to be secured with tape which makes wearing them very uncomfortable, potentially promoting negative emotion and reducing the reliability of facial expression analysis.
  • Only applies to the NIH site.
  • Contact lenses create artifacts that interfere with eye-tracking.

Recruiting US locations

  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

    Bethesda, MD 20892

    Site contact: Office of Patient Recruitment (OPR) · 800-411-1222 · ccopr@nih.gov

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Zheng Li, Ph.D. · (301) 594-2269 · lizheng2@mail.nih.gov
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Study Brain Mechanisms of Frustration With Magnetoencephalography… (NCT06484088) | Bored Studies