Conditions: Healthy
Keywords: MDMA adult
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 84
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of MDMA on encoding and retrieval of emotional and social memories in healthy young adults. The study will explore the effects on memory retrieval when the drug is administered 1) before encoding, and 2) before retrieval.

Detailed description:
Here, we aim to investigate the effects of MDMA (1 mg/kg) on the encoding and retrieval of positive, negative, social, and neutral memories. The study will use a between subjects design with three groups (N = 20 per group). Two of the groups will be randomly assigned to receive MDMA before one of the two stages of memory: Encoding (ENC) or Retrieval (RET). The third group will receive placebo only (PLC). All three groups will receive capsules before viewing the study materials, and at retrieval two days later, but they will receive MDMA only in the capsule appropriate to their condition, and other capsules will contain placebo.

Participants will participate in two sessions: a viewing session during which they will view emotional and neutral stimuli, followed 48 hours later by a retrieval session, during which there will be a surprise memory test with two components (verbally cued recollection and picture recognition). On all sessions subjects will also complete mood questionnaires.

Arms:
arm 1: 20 healthy adult volunteers will be randomly assigned to the encoding group (MDMA at Encoding). This group will receive capsules before viewing the study materials, and at retrieval two days later, but they will receive MDMA only in the capsule appropriate to their condition, and the next session capsule will contain placebo. arm 2: 20 healthy adult volunteers will be randomly assigned to the retrevial group (MDMA at Retrevial). This group will receive placebo before viewing the study materials, and MDMA at retrieval two days later.. arm 3: 20 healthy adult volunteers will be randomly assigned to the placebo group (no drug at either session). This group will receive only placebo during study, session before viewing the study materials, and at retrieval two days later.

Interventions: intervention 1: MDMA intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: This is a between subjects, double-blind, placebo controlled design. We are administering oral MDMA to healthy volunteers to measure its effects on the encoding, consolidation, and retrieval stages of memory. intervention 2: None

Protocol document: