Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Code:

NCT06072378

Conditions

Memory, Short-Term

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Value-manipulation

Study Details

Brief summary:

Learning to make good decisions in the present, and accurately recalling events and information from the past, are critical aspects of human cognition that are often impaired in many psychiatric disorders. This project aims to identify the how the choices individuals make influence what, and how, people remember by combining disparate techniques in computational modeling and direct brain recordings in human subjects. The researcher developed a dual-task paradigm, probing how decisions in one task affect immediate recognition memory. To examine the neural mechanisms underlying model-free RL's influence on memory, the researcher will record local field potential (LFP) and single neuron activity in various brain regions as epilepsy patients perform the proposed task. The results of this project will identify specific neurocomputational mechanisms unifying decision-making and memory processes.

Conditions

Memory, Short-Term

Study ID

NCT06072378

Start date

Oct 31, 2023

Status verified date

Dec, 2025

Completion date

Sep 1, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep 1, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Has seizure activity which is deemed non-responsive to standard pharmacological intervention(s), as determined by treating Neurologist and established clinical practices
  • Has elected to receive clinically indicated intracranial EEG (electrocorticography (ECoG), stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG)) and/or temporal responsive neurostimulation (RNS) for medication-refractory epilepsy outside of this research study, as determined by treating clinician(s) and per current clinical practice
  • Capacity to provide written informed consent
  • Language proficiency in English or Spanish
  • Willing and able to comply with all study-related procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of psychosis, such as in the context of depressive or manic episode.
  • Active suicidal ideation with intent, suicide attempt within the last six months, or other serious suicide risk
  • Inability to provide informed consent or reliably participate in study assessments, as per the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA; score < 26) or in the opinion of the evaluating neuropsychologist.
  • Individuals unwilling or unable to undergo electrode implantation procedures
  • Medical contraindications to neurosurgery or for general anesthesia, neurosurgery, or an MRI scan (required for electrode implantation)
  • Neurological disorder other than epilepsy or other significant brain pathology, if contraindicated in the opinion of implanting neurosurgeon.
  • Women who are pregnant

Study Design

Enrollment

50 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Value-manipulation

Participants with epilepsy will complete a behavioral task in which they use a laptop computer to do a decision-making and memory task.

Interventions

Value-manipulation

During the decision-making task, different choices are assigned different values probabilistically.

Primary outcome measure

  • Local-field potentials changes [ Time Frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay ]
  • Firing rate changes [ Time Frame: During task participation, approx. 30-45 min in the first 2 weeks of hospital stay ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Salman E Qasim, PhD

212-824-9531salman.qasim@mssm.edu

Locations

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Recruiting

New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, 08901

Principal Investigator:

Salman E Qasim

More Information

Sponsor

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Last update posted

Dec 17, 2025

Last verified

Dec, 2025

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey on 2025-12-17.