Clinical trial NCT06034158: Molecular Basis of Loss Aversion
Official title: Molecular Basis of Loss Aversion
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Lead sponsor: Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-09-13
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 25
Maximum age (years): 40
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The goal of this clinical trial is to test the roles of dopamine and norepinephrine in decision making related to loss aversion in the healthy population. The main question it aims to answer is whether temporarily boosting dopamine activity or temporarily suppressing norepinephrine activity has an impact on processing of potential gains and losses in financial decision making, social decision making, transaction decision making and moral decision making. Accordingly, participants will complete four decision-making tasks, namely investment task, driving task, trading task, and die task, after taking madopar, propranolol or placebo. Participants' psychological traits and psychiatric symptoms will be assessed once they are enrolled before the first-session day.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 25-40 years old (including boundary value).
2. Elementary school education or above, able to understand the research content.
3. Body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and electrocardiogram are all normal. Among them, the blood pressure range is 100-139/70-89 mmHg, and the heart rate range is 60-85 beats/min.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Vulnerable groups, including people with mental illness, cognitive impairment, critically ill subjects, minors, pregnant women, illiterates, etc.
2. Family history of genetic diseases.
3. Major physical diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, renal, endocrine, blood and other systemic diseases.
4. History of alcohol/drug dependence.
5. Lactating women.
6. The cardiopulmonary function test results are poor.
7. Have ever taken madopar or propranolol for medical use.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Choices to invest or not in the investment task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
measure: Response times to invest or not in the investment task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
measure: Choices to turn or not in the driving task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
measure: Response times to turn or not in the driving task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
measure: Choices to buy or sell in the trading task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
measure: Response times to buy or sell in the trading task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
measure: Reported outcomes in die task
timeFrame: between 1-2 hours after taking the drugs or the placebo
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Affects
timeFrame: before and 1 hour after taking the drugs or the placebo
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hangzhou
country: China
facility: Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital
state: Zhejiang
Study officials:
References:
citation: Sheng F, Ramakrishnan A, Seok D, Zhao WJ, Thelaus S, Cen P, Platt ML. Decomposing loss aversion from gaze allocation and pupil dilation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 May 26;117(21):11356-11363. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1919670117. Epub 2020 May 8.