Expectation Effects on Emotional Processing

NCT07031804 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: Exface
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 51
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Understanding the mechanisms underlying expectation effects in the affective domain can provide valuable insights into possible therapeutic interventions for mood disorders. Studies have consistently found that expectations can influence emotional experiences. Recently, it has been shown that top-down cognitive control is critical in inducing instruction-based affective placebo effects. However, changes in the emotional system over time not only rely on higher-level cognitive processes but also on more automatic mechanisms shaped by learning and past experiences. How such mechanisms are involved in affective placebo effects is relatively unknown, but is particularly interesting in light of findings showing that previous experiences of successful treatments are an important determinant of placebo responses. This study aims to investigate the neurobehavioral mechanisms of how expectations and prior experiences modulate emotional processing. Healthy adults (N = 51, 50% women) will be recruited to participate in a cross-over fMRI study involving two conditions: positive expectation induction (placebo) and a control condition with no induced expectations. Participants will perform an emotion classification task under each condition. The investigators hypothesize that positive expectations enhance mood and improve the accuracy of recognizing happy facial expressions. Further, they hypothesize that affective expectations are represented in fMRI signal patterns in networks involved in face perception, emotional processing, and cognitive control.

Conditions

Expectation Effects on Emotional Processing

Keywords

Positive expectation; Treatment expectation; fMRI; Emotional processing; Placebo

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Effects of positive expectation on mood

  Mood ratings via visual analogue scale (VAS), consisting of a scale from 0 to 200 points (0 meaning unhappy; 200 meaning happy). VAS will be extracted as a raw score and then normalized to the baseline VAS. It will be analyzed to assess differences between interventions (placebo and control) and to evaluate changes over time throughout the experiment.

  On both day 1 and day 2, measurements will be taken before the intervention (VAS baseline), 5 minutes after nasal spray application, and after the scanning (~ 60 minutes after nasal spray application).

• Effects of positive expectation on task performance data

  Accuracies from the emotion classification task will be extracted and sampled for 3 emotional (happy, fearful and neutral) conditions for both interventions (Placebo and Control). Performance during the placebo condition will be regressed onto performance during the control condition for each emotion. The resulting emotion-specific psychometric response functions will allow us to disentangle expectation effects with respect to response tendencies (the intercept) and discrimination ability (the slope).

  Approximately 15 minutes after the nasal spray application, participants will perform an emotion classification task for 40 minutes while lying in the scanner on each day.

• Effects of positive expectation on blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals

  Functional magnetic resonance imaging will be used to extract and analyze BOLD signals (regions of interest and whole brain) in response to the emotional conditions and interventions. Univariate and multivariate analyses will be performed to compare activation profiles and the similarity of fMRI patterns during placebo and control.

  Approximately 15 minutes after the nasal spray application, participants will lie in the scanner for ~ 40 minutes while performing the emotion classification task on each day.

Study Arms (2)

Placebo - Control

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group receive sham oxytocin on the first study day.

Other: Saline Nasal Spray

Control - Placebo

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group receive sham oxytocin on the second study day

Other: Saline Nasal Spray

Interventions

Saline Nasal Spray OTHER

A saline nasal spray will be introduced as saline on the first day (no induced expectations) and as oxytocin on the second day (induced positive expectations)

Control - Placebo

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 35 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Aged 18-35 years
• MRI compatible
• Medical information and signed declaration of consent
• Normal or corrected to normal vision
• German speaking

You may not qualify if:

• No informed consent
• Current intake of central nervous system active drugs
• Under influence of alcohol
• BDI score above 12
• Significant acute somatic or neurological diseases
• History of psychiatric or neurological disorders
• Pregnancy/ breastfeeding
• Acute nasal diseases or injuries
• fMRI data with strong artefacts or excessive movement will be excluded from analysis
• If a participant does not believe in the treatment on the screening day, they will not be included for the main study days
• If a participant drops out after study day one, they will be excluded from the analysis

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf: lead

Study Sites (1)

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Institute of Systems Neuroscience

Hamburg, Hamburg, 20251, Germany

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Mostauli A, Rauh J, Gamer M, Buchel C, Rief W, Brassen S. Placebo treatment entails resource-dependent downregulation of negative inputs. Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 17;15(1):9088. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-93589-y.

  PMID: 40097556 BACKGROUND

• Baker J, Gamer M, Rauh J, Brassen S. Placebo induced expectations of mood enhancement generate a positivity effect in emotional processing. Sci Rep. 2022 Mar 29;12(1):5345. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09342-2.

  PMID: 35351936 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Stefanie Brassen, Prof. Dr.

  Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Stefanie Brassen, Prof. Dr.

CONTACT

+49 407410 54865; sbrassen@uke.de

Lena Szabo, M.Sc.

CONTACT

+49 407410 58203; l.szabo@uke.de

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: Participants will be blinded to the real substance (saline nasal spray).
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Prof. Dr.

Model Details: A cross-over design will be employed by giving a saline nasal spray introduced either as oxytocin or as saline.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 4, 2025
• First Posted: June 22, 2025
• Study Start: June 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: January 1, 2026
• Study Completion: January 1, 2026
• Last Updated: June 27, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: With Publication

Locations

DE (1)