Actively Recruiting
Behavioral and Neural Representations of Subjective Effort Cost
Led by Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc. · Updated on 2026-01-26
185
Participants Needed
1
Research Sites
N/A
Total Duration
On this page
Sponsors
H
Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.
Lead Sponsor
N
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Collaborating Sponsor
AI-Summary
What this Trial Is About
Researchers are exploring how people perceive the effort needed to perform physical and cognitive tasks, focusing on how fatigue and motivation affect these perceptions. The study aims to understand the brain and behavior mechanisms behind subjective effort valuation, which plays a key role in decision-making and motivation. Using healthy adult volunteers, the research seeks to identify common and unique brain systems involved in evaluating physical and cognitive effort and how these are influenced by fatigue and motivation. Participants will engage in several behavioral interventions including repeated cognitively demanding tasks to induce cognitive fatigue, repeated physically demanding tasks involving grip force exertion to induce physical fatigue, and exposure to reward-associated stimuli to study how motivation affects effort choices. These tasks are designed to evoke fatigue and motivational changes and assess their impact on effort valuation through behavioral and neural measures. Throughout the study, participants' subjective valuation of effort will be measured using behavioral choice data before and after fatigue induction and motivational manipulation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to observe brain regions involved in encoding effort valuation and changes due to fatigue and motivation. The study evaluates multiple outcome measures related to cognitive and physical effort parameters and brain activity. Participation involves a total duration of one day for primary outcomes assessment, focusing on understanding effort valuation mechanisms and their neural correlates.
CONDITIONS
Brief Title
Behavioral and Neural Representations of Subjective Effort Cost
Who Can Participate
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if you...
- Right-handed
- Age between 18 and 35 years old
- Male or female
- Any ethnicity
You will not qualify if you...
- History of neurological problems such as stroke, head injury, epilepsy, seizures, brain tumors, brain surgery, or Parkinson's Disease (self-report)
- Diagnosed history of severe psychiatric disease such as depression or schizophrenia (self-report)
- Presence of metal in the head or eyes
- Pregnancy or suspicion of pregnancy
- Discomfort from MRI scan such as severe claustrophobia or excessive heating of tattoos
AI-Screening
AI-Powered Screening
Complete this quick 3-step screening to check your eligibility
Your Study Journey
Duration - 2 to 4 weeks
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial.
1 visit (in-person)
Duration - 1 day
Participants perform cognitively and physically demanding tasks repeatedly to induce cognitive and physical fatigue, and engage with reward-associated stimuli to study motivation and effort valuation.
1 day of testing with multiple behavioral tasks and fMRI scanning
Trial Site Locations
Total: 1 location
1
Kennedy Krieger Institute
Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21209
Actively Recruiting
Research Team
A
Anthony Gonzalez
How is the study designed?
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Masking
NONE
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Number of Arms
3
Similar Trials
Frequently Asked Questions
Have more questions? Get in touch with our team for quick support
Not the Right Trial for You?
Explore thousands of other clinical trials that might be a better match.
Sign up to get personalized trial recommendations delivered to your inbox.
Already have an account? Log in here