Neurocomputational Dynamics of Cooperation
COBRA
2 other identifiers
interventional
1,612
1 country
1
Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to understand brain function, how people make decisions when they interact with others, and how brain function and behavior relate to personality traits.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Sep 2026
Longer than P75 for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
August 6, 2026
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
August 12, 2026
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
September 1, 2026
ExpectedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
June 30, 2031
Study Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
June 30, 2031
August 12, 2026
August 1, 2026
4.8 years
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Participant-level Coaxing Score
Participant coaxing behavior will be measured during the primary social learning task. Coaxing will be operationalized as the difference in the participant's return rate between exchange and secrecy modes on trials in which the coplayer decides not to share. In exchange mode, the participant knows whether the coplayer chose to share or keep the monetary incentive before indicating whether they would return it. In secrecy mode, the participant must make the return decision before learning the coplayer's choice. The coaxing score is calculated as the exchange-mode return rate minus the secrecy-mode return rate. Scores range from -1 to 1, with positive values indicating greater strategic coaxing and 0 indicating no difference between modes.
During behavioral task visit at study baseline (clinical cohort) or during single online study session (online cohort)
Secondary Outcomes (3)
Mean Informant-rated Momentary Manipulativeness
Post-baseline 21-day EMA period within year 1 of the study
Latent Mentalizing Factor
Baseline
Interpersonal Stress
At 12, 24, and 36 months after baseline
Study Arms (3)
Online Cohort
EXPERIMENTALThe online cohort will include 718 adults ages 18-100 who will complete 1) a battery of behavioral tasks designed to assess social learning and mentalizing abilities, and 2) self-report measures assessing personality, externalizing symptoms, interpersonal functioning, and psychopathology.
Clinical Cohort
EXPERIMENTALThe study will enroll up to 416 clinical-cohort participants, with an anticipated final eligible sample of 239 adults ages 20-60 who will complete 1) a structured clinical interview and neuropsychological assessments, 2) self-report measures assessing personality, externalizing symptoms, interpersonal functioning, and psychopathology, 3) lab-based tasks designed to assess social learning and mentalizing abilities while monitoring physiological responding with Biopac, 4) task-based fMRI, 5) 21-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol, and 6) additional self-report questionnaires at three yearly follow-ups. The investigators expect to enroll 416 participants for the start of the protocol to yield 239 final eligible participants to complete fMRI and EMA.
Informants
NO INTERVENTIONAdditionally, 2 informants (ages 18+) for each participant will be recruited to complete self-report measures, one of whom will also enroll in EMA.
Interventions
In the primary study task, participants engage in a modified iterative trust game. The task is completed in the fMRI scanner and takes about 35 minutes. Participant choices earn feedback in the form of monetary gains or losses. All participants are debriefed on the motivation behind the task at the end of their visit.
In the primary study task, participants engage in a modified iterative trust game. Participant choices earn feedback in the form of monetary gains or losses. All participants are debriefed on the motivation behind study task at the end of their visit.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- English fluency
- US residency
- Owner of a desktop or laptop computer
- Adult aged 18-100
You may not qualify if:
- Participants who have participated in an earlier version of the study
- Inability to consent
- Self-reported history of neurological disorder or brain damage
- Self-endorsed history of psychosis or mania
- Adult aged 20-60 years old
- English fluency
- Owner of a smartphone with celluar data
- Inability to consent
- Self-reported history of neurological disorder or brain damage
- Clinician-rated psychosis or mania in the last 6 months
- Current intoxication or withdrawal
- Estimated IQ \< 70
- fMRI safety concerns
- Pregnancy
- Lack of stable psychiatric treatment (e.g., medication dosage, therapy modality) for the previous two months
- +5 more criteria
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- University of Pittsburghlead
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Centercollaborator
- Emory Universitycollaborator
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)collaborator
Study Sites (1)
University of Pittsburgh, Bellefield Towers
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, United States
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Timothy A Allen, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- NON RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- BASIC SCIENCE
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Assistant Professor
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
August 6, 2026
First Posted
August 12, 2026
Study Start (Estimated)
September 1, 2026
Primary Completion (Estimated)
June 30, 2031
Study Completion (Estimated)
June 30, 2031
Last Updated
August 12, 2026
Record last verified: 2026-08
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will share
- Shared Documents
- ANALYTIC CODE
- Time Frame
- All data will be deposited to NDA starting 12 months after the award begins and will be deposited every six months thereafter following the usual NDA data submission dates. IPD and supporting information will be available when the award ends (anticipated 06/30/2031). NDA will make decisions about how long to preserve the data, but that data archive has not deleted any deposited data up to now.
- Access Criteria
- Deidentified data will be findable for the research community through the NDA Collection that will be established when this application is funded. For all publications, an NDA study will be created. Each of those studies is assigned a digital object identifier (DOI). This data DOI will be referenced in the publication to allow the research community easy access to the exact data used in the publication. To request access to the data, qualified researchers will use the standard processes at NDA, and the NDA Data Access Committee will decide which requests to grant. The standard NDA data access process allows access for one year and is renewable.
Individual participant data (IPD) will be shared via the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive (NDA) in accordance with National Institutes of Health (NIH) Data Management and Sharing Policy. Data will be de-identified and made available to qualified researchers upon request after publication of primary results or completion of the study, as outlined in the NIH-approved Data Sharing Plan. Task code will be posted on GitHub and/or OSF.