Recruiting

RNS with VR

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT07216222

Conditions

Anxiety and Fear

PTSD

Veteran

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Deep Brain Stimulation

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how people respond to fear-related experiences in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The study will also look at how brain activity and body responses are connected to learning and memory of fear. To do so, we recruit individuals who are already implanted with a Responsive Neurostimulator (RNS) device for the treatment of epilepsy. This research may help improve our understanding of anxiety disorders and how to better treat them in the future.

The main questions it aims to answer are: 1) How do people learn to associate certain cues in VR with feelings of fear or safety? 2) What brain and body responses happen during fear learning?

Participants will: 1) Wear a virtual reality headset and experience different environments and sounds, 2) Have their brain activity, heart rate, and sweating measured, and 3) Receive safe, mild electrical pulses through the RNS device during the study to help study fear learning. Participants will attend one or more study sessions, each lasting about 3-4 hours.

Conditions

Anxiety and Fear

PTSD

Veteran

Study ID

NCT07216222

Start date

Mar 1, 2025

Status verified date

Oct, 2026

Completion date

Feb 28, 2030

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Mar 1, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male
  • Female
  • Between 18 and 70 years of age
  • Adequate visual and auditory acuity to allow neuropsychological testing
  • Have undergone surgical placement of NeuroPace RNS System for the treatment of epilepsy or post-traumatic stress disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

\- History of traumatic brain injury

Study Design

Enrollment

70 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: All RNS Participants

In this single-arm study, all participants will complete identical experimental conditions with simultaneous iEEG recordings (Recording Study) or iEEG stimulation (Stimulation Study).

Interventions

Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation via the Responsive Neurostimulator (RNS) device.

Primary outcome measure

  • Intracranial EEG activity [ Time Frame: Baseline ]
  • Skin conductance activity [ Time Frame: Baseline ]
  • Heart rate [ Time Frame: Baseline ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Jonny Baham

424-242-2423jangresearchlab.ucla@gmail.com

Locations

UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

Recruiting

Los Angeles, California, United States, 90024

Contacts

Anthony I Jang, MD

424-242-2423aijangresearch@gmail.com

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Last update posted

Oct 13, 2026

Last verified

Oct, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-14. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, Los Angeles on 2026-10-13. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.