Recruiting

TMS

Sponsor:

Auburn University

Code:

NCT05611502

Conditions

Drinking, Alcohol

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

TMS

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to help understand how attention processes influence brain engagement during emotion and social cognition. The investigators also want to know if these processes are associated with drinking alcohol.

Participation includes three study visits of about 2 hours each over approximately a month. The first visit involves a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and answering survey questions. Each of the next two visits will involve a session of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS, a non-invasive brain stimulation technique) followed by another MRI scan.

People in the Auburn/Opelika area 19 or older are eligible to participate. People who drink alcohol and people who do not drink or don't drink very much are invited to participate.

Conditions

Drinking, Alcohol

Study ID

NCT05611502

Start date

Aug 11, 2022

Status verified date

Oct, 2025

Completion date

Dec 31, 2025

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2025

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1\. Age 18 or Older

2A. (Drinker Group): Reports consuming 4 \[if female\]/ 5 \[if male\] or more standard drinks on one occasion at least 2 times a month AND/OR reports consuming more than 7 \[if female\]/ 14 \[if male\] standard drinks per week on average

2B. (Healthy Volunteer Group): Reports consuming 4 \[if female\]/ 5 \[if male\] or more standard drinks on one occasion less than once a month AND reports consuming less than 7 \[if female\]/ 14 \[if male\] standard drinks per week on average

Exclusion Criteria:

1. MRI Contraindications

1. Presence of metal in the body that would make having a 7T MRI unsafe (including facial tattoos)
2. Claustrophobia, such that individual would be unable to stay in the MRI for up to 1 hr
3. Hearing loss, including tinnitus, that might be made worse by MRI or TMS
2. TMS Contraindications

1. Has ever had a seizure, or has a family history of epilepsy
2. Taking medications or substances that lower the seizure threshold\*
3. Implanted devices that are in the head or rely on physiological signals
4. History of neurological disease, such as stroke or brain tumor
5. Head injury with loss of consciousness greater than 30 minutes
6. Actively withdrawing from alcohol
3. Family history of schizophrenia or presence of psychotic symptoms

Study Design

Enrollment

40 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: TMS A

TMS administered over right frontal eye field at 10 Hz, 110% of MT, 60 x 5 sec trains, 25 sec ITI

active comparator: TMS B

TMS administered over right frontal eye field at 1 Hz, 110% of MT, 7 x 225 sec trains, 30 sec ITI

Interventions

TMS

TMS will be administered in a pattern that is either excitatory or inhibitory.

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in attention switching [ Time Frame: Baseline, immediately following TMS A, immediately following TMS B ]
  • Change in sociomoral attention switching [ Time Frame: Baseline, immediately following TMS A, immediately following TMS B ]
  • Change in cue reactivity [ Time Frame: Baseline, immediately following TMS A, immediately following TMS B ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

Auburn University

Recruiting

Auburn, Alabama, United States, 36849

Contacts

Principal Investigator:

Samantha J Fede, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Auburn University

Last update posted

Oct 7, 2025

Last verified

Oct, 2025

Keywords

  • alcohol
  • attention
  • TMS
  • binge drinking
  • emotion
  • social cognition
  • moral
  • MRI
  • frontal eye fields
  • moral cognition

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Auburn University on 2025-10-07.