Clinical trials

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how 24 IU oxytocin (OT) and 24 IU arginine vasopressin (AVP), administered through the oral mucosa, affect attention to emotional faces and related brain activity in healthy adults. The study will compare OT and AVP with a placebo (PLC). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does oromucosally administered oxytocin produce a behavioral pattern of modulation of top-down and bottom-up attention to emotional faces that is qualitatively consistent with previously reported intranasal oxytocin effects, and how does this pattern compare with that produced by arginine vasopressin? 2. Do oromucosally administered oxytocin and arginine vasopressin modulate neural responses within predefined brain regions and networks involved in emotional salience, attentional control, and social information processing, and are these neural effects consistent with their behavioral effects? 3. Do oxytocin and arginine vasopressin show overlapping or distinct patterns of neural modulation across top-down and bottom-up attention and high and low attentional load conditions? Researchers will compare 24 IU OT and 24 IU AVP with a placebo to determine how these treatments influence emotional face attention and brain activity. Participants will: * Receive 24 IU OT, 24 IU AVP, or placebo via a lyophilized oromucosal lollipop * Allow the treatment to be absorbed through the oral mucosa for about 5 minutes * Provide blood samples before and after treatment to assess peripheral oxytocin and vasopressin levels * Complete emotional face attention tasks during fMRI scanning * Have response time, response accuracy, brain activity, and peripheral neuropeptide levels measured * Complete questionnaires assessing mood states and personality traits before treatment administration to control for potential confounding effects

This study aims to investigate the modulation of intranasally administered oxytocin (24 IU) on human fairness perception and related prosocial behaviors.

The objectives of this study are to investigate: 1. whether non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) can enhance human interest in social stimuli in free-viewing and stressful tasks; 2. whether its effect on brain function occurs via modulating endogenous oxytocin release; 3. how the stimulation site and various parameters of taVNS should be set to effectively promote the above-mentioned changes in brain function. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does taVNS facilitate a preference for social relative to non-social stimuli in both free-viewing and stressful tasks? 2. Does taVNS increase peripheral concentrations of the neuropeptide oxytocin, and whether these changes are associated with enhanced social attention? 3. Does taVNS stimulation of the right tragus, left tragus, or bilateral tragus sites produce the strongest effects on oxytocin release and social attention? Investigators will compare the effects of taVNS targeting the left tragus, right tragus, or bilateral tragus with ear-lobe sham stimulation (no vagal activation). Eye-tracking will be used across multiple experimental paradigns. For measurements of oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP), saliva samples will be collected at baseline, immediately after taVNS, 20 min post-stimulation, and 30 min post-stimulation. Investigators will test whether (a) taVNS facilitates social attention, and (b) its effects are associated with elevated OT and AVP release. Investigators hypothesize that taVNS will enhance social attention and oxytocin release, that changes in social attention will be associated with the magnitude of oxytocin release, and that bilateral tragus stimulation will produce the strongest effects on both social attention and oxytocin release.

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of a Motivational Interviewing-based artificial intelligence chatbot on affective arousal in college students with elevated levels of depression and anhedonia by combining a randomized active-control intervention design with pre- and post-intervention emotional video task assessments during fMRI.

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of a Motivational Interviewing-based artificial intelligence chatbot on belief updating in college students with elevated levels of depression and anhedonia by combining a randomized active-control intervention design with pre- and post-intervention behavioral belief updating task assessments.

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of a Motivational Interviewing-based artificial intelligence chatbot on social incentive processing in college students with elevated levels of depression and anhedonia by combining a randomized active-control intervention design with pre- and post-intervention Social Incentive Delay Task assessments during fMRI.

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of a Motivational Interviewing-based artificial intelligence chatbot on resting-state brain function in college students with elevated anhedonia and depressive symptoms. The study will use a randomized active-control intervention design with pre- and post-intervention resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging assessments.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate whether intranasal oxytocin can modulate the real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback training effects by facilitating the use of an interoceptive strategy.

The main goal of this study is to investigate the modulatory effects of intranasally administrated oxytocin on the processing of emotional stimuli and its acting routes.

The main aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of intermittent with continuous real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback on anterior insula regulation and associated behavioral changes.

Randomized active-sham controlled between-subject real-time fMRI neurofeedback trial aiming to modulate activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to improve subjective negative anticipation.

The main aim of this study is to investigate whether transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) can reduce anxiety and have an effect on emotional regulations

This study investigates how belief and expectation influence empathic pain-the pain we feel when observing others in distress. Healthy adult participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: no-treatment control, placebo nasal spray, oxytocin-containing nasal spray. Participants in both the placebo and oxytocin conditions will be informed that they are receiving oxytocin, described as a potent agent for pain relief. During functional MRI scanning, all participants will view naturalistic pain-related videos and provide ratings of perceived subjective pain. The study aims to examine how cognitive beliefs and neuromodulatory interventions alter subjective pain experience and brain activity, including changes in brain network communication.

The presnet study is to investigate the effect of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) treatment on modulating how human responsd to threat in a dynamic situation.

The goal of this study is to investgate whether individual differences of cognitive control capacity could predict neurofeedback performance and the behavioral effects resulting from successful anterior insula regulation via interoceptive strategy.

The main aim of the present study is to investigate whether orally (lingual spray) administered oxytocin influences human top-down attention via oxytocin receptors and whether its effects are dose- and task-dependent.

Multimodal study (Behavior, TMS, EEG) combining a sham-controlled intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) intervention with an additional-singleton task and EEG to evaluate whether left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) stimulation enhances cognitive control and modulates maladaptive attention processes in MDD and whether the effects are influenced by neuronavigated versus manual (Beam F3 method) localization of the stimulation site.

The main aim of the present study is to investigate whether orally (lingual spray) administered oxytocin influences human social attention and behaviors via oxytocin receptors and whether its effects are dose- and task-dependent.

During the fear rating task, 70 participants viewed a 600-second horror movie while continuously rating their subjective fear intensity (0-100 scale) every 0.51 seconds (1,170 total ratings). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data were simultaneously recorded using the NIRSIT LITE system to monitor cortical hemodynamic responses.

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine if transauricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS) is effective in treating moderate dysmenorrhea. The main question it aims to answer is: • Does taVNS reduce the number of times participants suffering from dysmenorrhea need to use rescue medication during menstruation? Researchers will compare taVNS stimulation with a sham stimulation (a look-alike procedure that does not stimulate the vagus nerve) to assess whether taVNS is effective in treating moderate dysmenorrhea. Participants will: * Undergo taVNS for 2 months and sham stimulation for another 2 months, each for 5 days per month, starting 2 days before the expected beginning of their menstrual cycle. * Visit the clinic twice a month for checkups and tests. * Keep a diary to record their pain levels and the number of times they use rescue medication. * Undergo functional magnetic resonance imagine two times (one after the end of the first use of taVNS and another after the end of the first use of SHAM stimulation).

The present study aims to employ real-time functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neurofeedback training in combination with cognitive reappraisal strategies for regulating negative emotions in healthy individuals. Participants will complete: * Cognitive reappraisal training with either real neurofeedback or sham feedback. * Questionnaires at pre- and post- training timepoints * A cold-pressor test at the end of the training It is hypothesized that combining real-time fNIRS neurofeedback and cognitive reappraisal training will enhance emotion regulation in healthy individuals: 1. Increased neural activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) region of the brain will be significantly higher in the real neurofeedback group after training compared to the sham feedback group. 2. Real-time fNIRS-guided upregulation of the PFC will enhance emotion regulation during exposure to negative stimuli/scenes across the training runs. 3. The effects of fNIRS neurofeedback training will extend to influence emotion regulation in a cold-pressor test administered post-training, wherein individuals in the real neurofeedback group demonstrate better regulation of stress and pain induced by the task.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as direct, intentional physical injury without suicidal intention. Problematic interpersonal relationships and decision-making have been demonstrated to play crucial roles in this maladaptive behavior, especially for adolescents. Accumulating evidence suggests that decision processes and risk-taking are strongly influenced by the affective state of the individual. However, whether these interactions are disrupted in NSSI adolescents has not been systematically examined. In the current study, the investigators modified one of the most widely used paradigms for measuring an individual's risk decision-making, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). The investigators combine social reward (green balloon), punishment (red balloon), and control feedback (yellow balloon), to investigate whether the NSSI adolescents have dysfunctional risk-taking behavior while facing different social outcomes. The investigators recruit one group of NSSI adolescents (n = 40) and one health control (HC) group (n = 40), to compare their risk-related decisions during the emotional BART. The investigators hypothesize that compared to HC, NSSI adolescents will show altered effects of social reward and punishment on risk-related decision-making, in particular higher risk avoidance in the context of social punishment.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as direct, intentional physical injury without suicidal intention. Studies revealed that dysfunctional interpersonal relationships and reward-related decision-making may play crucial roles in this maladaptive behavior, especially in adolescents. These interpersonal decision contexts are characterized by constant updating of expectations of rewards and the actual received rewards as well as the associated emotional reactions. These processes have recently been computationally formalized as prediction errors (PE), specifically reward PEs, valence PEs, and arousal PEs (Heffner et al., 2021; Nat Hum Behav). In the current study, the investigators aim to investigate whether these PEs make discernible contributions to social decisions in the context of unfair experiences among adolescents with NSSI and matched healthy control adolescents (HC). Specifically the investigators hypothesized that: 1) reward and emotional PEs show significant predictions of punishment decisions in both groups, 2) however, compared to HC adolescents, the NSSI group will exhibit selective dysfunctions in emotional but not reward PEs leading to punish a norm proposer who provided unfair offers.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as direct, deliberate bodily harm without suicidal intention. In recent years, growing evidence suggests that NSSI has become a worldwide public health issue. People with NSSI behaviors, especially adolescents, commonly exhibit emotion-related and interpersonal problems. Pain empathy represents an essential basal domain of socio-emotional processing and refers to the ability to empathize, connect and share with others' pain. However, altered empathic processing has not been systematically examined in adolescents with NSSI. To this end, the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study will recruit one group of NSSI adolescents (n=40) and one healthy control (HC) group (n=40), to compare their neural activity regarding pain empathy processing, which is measured by blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. The investigators included conditions of physical pain empathy (stimuli depicting noxious stimulation to the limbs) and affective pain empathy (stimuli depicting faces expressing pain) as well as corresponding control stimuli. The investigators hypothesize that compared to HC, NSSI adolescents show increased empathic reactivity to physical pain stimuli in salience and arousal related brain regions but decreased empathic reactivity to affective pain empathic stimuli.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as direct, deliberate bodily harm without suicidal intention. Recent studies indicate that prevalence rates are increasing worldwide, in particular under adolescents, indicating a growing public health issue. An impaired ability to regulate negative emotion has been suggested to play a potential role in NSSI behavior. Some recent interventions aim at improving dysfunctional emotion regulation via 'acceptance'. Acceptance represents an objective, nonreactive, nonjudgmental, and calming emotion regulation strategy, partly based on the philosophy of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) that has been widely used in the clinical treatment of NSSI behaviors. The aim of the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study is to examine whether adolescents with NSSI can implement the acceptance strategy in naturalistic emotional contexts (immersive video clips) and whether they differ from healthy controls in terms of behavioral and neural effects. To this end, the investigators recruit one group of NSSI adolescents (n=40) and one healthy control group (n=40), to compare the subjective emotional experience as well as underlying neural activity as measured by blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. The investigators hypothesize that compared to HC, NSSI adolescents will experience stronger negative emotions and show dysregulated neural recruitment of brain systems engaged in emotional reactivity and regulations (e.g. limbic regions, default mode network, and frontal regions).