NCT04650425

Causal Evidence for Task Regulation by Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Status unknown NA Last updated 5 December 2023

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Cognitive tasks in Stroke in 200 participants. Status unknown.

Timeline

29 April 2021

Primary endpoint
30 September 2024

30 September 2024

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University Hospital, Ghent
Phase	NA
Status	Status unknown
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	na
Design	single group
Masking	none
Primary purpose	basic science
Enrollment	200
Start date	29 April 2021
Primary completion	30 September 2024
Estimated completion	30 September 2024
Sites	1 location across Belgium

Drugs / interventions tested

• Cognitive tasks

Conditions studied

• Stroke — all drugs for Stroke →

Sponsor

University Hospital, Ghent

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Stroke. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

The exact function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is one of the largest riddles in cognitive neuroscience and a major challenge in mental health research. ACC dysfunction contributes to a broad spectrum of neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as depression, ADHD, Parkinson's disease, OCD and many others, but nobody knows what it actually does. Recently a new theory has been developed about ACC function; the HRL-ACC (Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning Theory of ACC). This theory proposes that the ACC selects and motivates high-level tasks based on the principles of hierarchical reinforcement learning. The ACC associates values with tasks (these values are based on the reward positivity produced by the midbrain dopamine system), selects the correct tasks and applies control over other neural networks (such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia), which execute the tasks. The goal of this study is to investigate the consequences of ACC damage (and other areas of the frontal lobe) on task regulation within a group of patients who have suffered a stroke in the frontal lobe. Furthermore, the correlation between ACC damage and mood disorders such as depression and apathy is going to be investigated.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.