RECRUITING

Modulating Neurocognitive Processes of Learning to Trust and Distrust in Aging

Description

Much of human interaction is based on trust. Aging has been associated with deficits in trust-related decision making, likely further exacerbated in age-associated neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer's disease/AD), possibly underlying the dramatically growing public health problem of elder fraud. Optimal trust-related decision making and avoiding exploitation require the ability to learn about the trustworthiness of social partners across multiple interactions, but the role that learning plays in determining age deficits in trust decisions is currently unknown. Aim: Probe the malleability of the underlying neurocircuitry of trust-learning deficits in aging. This study will utilize real-time fMRI neurofeedback to train older adults in brain activity up-regulation toward enhanced trust-related learning in aging and confirm critical mechanisms of experience-dependent social decisions in aging. Grant R01AG072658 Aim 3: Test the malleability of trust-learning neurocircuitry toward optimized trust-related decision making in aging.

Conditions

AgingCognitive ChangeNeurocognitive Disorders, Mild
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Related Conditions:

AgingCognitive ChangeNeurocognitive Disorders, Mild

Study Overview

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Study Details

Study overview

Much of human interaction is based on trust. Aging has been associated with deficits in trust-related decision making, likely further exacerbated in age-associated neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer's disease/AD), possibly underlying the dramatically growing public health problem of elder fraud. Optimal trust-related decision making and avoiding exploitation require the ability to learn about the trustworthiness of social partners across multiple interactions, but the role that learning plays in determining age deficits in trust decisions is currently unknown. Aim: Probe the malleability of the underlying neurocircuitry of trust-learning deficits in aging. This study will utilize real-time fMRI neurofeedback to train older adults in brain activity up-regulation toward enhanced trust-related learning in aging and confirm critical mechanisms of experience-dependent social decisions in aging. Grant R01AG072658 Aim 3: Test the malleability of trust-learning neurocircuitry toward optimized trust-related decision making in aging.

Characterizing and Modulating Neurocognitive Processes of Learning to Trust and Distrust in Aging II

Modulating Neurocognitive Processes of Learning to Trust and Distrust in Aging

Condition
Aging
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Gainesville

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32611

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Able to provide verbal and written informed consent
  • * Fluent English speaker
  • * At least 8th grade education
  • * On stable medication regimen
  • * Pregnancy
  • * Magnetic resonance imaging contraindications (e.g., certain metallic objects in body, claustrophobia)
  • * Current major depression defined as scores \>14 on the Beck Depression Inventory-II
  • * Impaired scores on the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS; cut-off of \>30)
  • * Current use of medications with significant anticholinergic properties due to potential influence on memory ("memory enhancing"; e.g., Aricept or Namenda)
  • * Current use of anticonvulsant, neuroleptic, sedatives, or other medications known to affect cognition
  • * Uncorrected visual and hearing impairments
  • * Neurologic conditions affecting the brain (e.g., severe stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury with \>30-minute loss of consciousness)
  • * Impaired scores on a cognitive screening measure, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); for older adults the cutoff will be age and education corrected
  • * Unstable medical illness (e.g., metastatic cancer)
  • * Significant cardiovascular conditions (e.g., major heart attack)
  • * Will not exclude participants who are taking anti-depressant medications. Use of antidepressants (particularly SSRI's) and anxiolytic medications will be recorded and included in post-hoc analyses

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to 100 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Collaborators and Investigators

University of Florida,

Natalie C. Ebner, PhD., PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, University of Florida

Study Record Dates

2027-03-31