Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.

Code:

NCT04041154

Conditions

Fatigue

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 35

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Cognitive Fatigue

Physical Fatigue

Rewarding Stimuli

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this proposal is to understand the common and distinct behavioral and neural representations of subjective effort valuation, and how these representations are influenced by fatigue and changes in motivation. It is hypothesized that the brain will use overlapping and distinct neural circuits to represent cognitive and physical effort value, and that fatigue and enhanced motivation will influence the subjective value of effort.

Conditions

Fatigue

Study ID

NCT04041154

Start date

Aug 1, 2018

Status verified date

Jan, 2026

Completion date

Dec 31, 2029

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2029

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 35

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Right-handed
  • Age between 18 and 35 years old - Male or female
  • Any ethnicity

Exclusion Criteria:

Individuals with a history of any of the following will be excluded from the study:

  • Neurological problems such as stroke, head injury, epilepsy, seizures, brain tumors, brain surgery, Parkinson's Disease (self- report)
  • Diagnosed history of severe psychiatric disease such as depression, schizophrenia (self-report)
  • Metal in the head or eyes
  • If they are pregnant or suspect that you may be pregnant
  • If they experience discomfort from the MRI scan, such as severe claustrophobia or excessive heating of tattoos

Study Design

Enrollment

185 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Non randomized

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Cognitive Fatigue

We will use a behavioral intervention. Participants will perform a cognitively demanding task, repeatedly, to induce cognitive fatigue.

experimental: Physical Fatigue

We will use a behavioral intervention. Participants will perform a physically demanding task (grip force exertion task), repeatedly, to induce cognitive fatigue.

experimental: Rewarding Stimuli

We will use a behavioral intervention. Reward-associated stimuli will be used to study how reward-induced changes in motivational state influence effort choices.

Interventions

Cognitive Fatigue

Participants will perform a cognitively demanding task (spatial attention task), repeatedly, to induce cognitive fatigue.

Physical Fatigue

Participants will perform a physically demanding task (grip force exertion task), repeatedly, to induce cognitive fatigue.

Rewarding Stimuli

Reward-associated stimuli will be used to study how reward-induced changes in motivational state influence effort choices.

Primary outcome measure

  • Mean of cognitive subjective effort parameters (from behavioral choice data) [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Differences between cognitive subjective effort parameters before and after fatigue (from behavioral choice data) [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Mean of physical subjective effort parameters (from behavioral choice data) [ Time Frame: 1 days ]
  • Differences between physical subjective effort parameters before and after fatigue (from behavioral choice data) [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Difference between cognitive effort cost parameters between the low and high reward stimuli [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Difference between physical effort cost parameters between the low and high reward stimuli [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Regions of the brain encoding cognitive effort [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Regions of the brain encoding physical effort [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Regions of the brain encoding changes cognitive effort value following cognitive fatigue [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Regions of the brain encoding changes physical effort value following physical fatigue [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Regions of the brain encoding differences in cognitive effort value resulting from reward-induced changes in motivation [ Time Frame: 1 day ]
  • Regions of the brain encoding differences in physical effort value resulting from reward-induced changes in motivation [ Time Frame: 1 day ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Anthony Gonzalez

443-923-2716gonzalezan@kennedykrieger.org

Locations

Kennedy Krieger Institute

Recruiting

Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21209

Contacts

Anthony Gonzalez

443-923-2716gonzalezan@kennedykrieger.org

More Information

Sponsor

Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.

Last update posted

Jan 26, 2026

Last verified

Jan, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc. on 2026-01-26.