Virtual rooms testing how control and environment change pain, anxiety, and memory.
Official title: Controllability of Virtual Contexts for the Modulation of the Affective Experience
Run by Trustees of Dartmouth College · NCT06986122 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This study tries to see if having control over pain in different virtual rooms changes how much pain and anxiety people feel and how well they do on memory and navigation tasks in healthy adults without major psychiatric or chronic pain conditions.
Quick facts
| Study type | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Ages | 18 Years to 55 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Enrollment | 20 (estimated) |
| Sponsor | Trustees of Dartmouth College Academic / other |
| Locations | 1 site (Hanover, New Hampshire) |
| Status | Recruiting |
| Started | October 28, 2025 |
| Main results expected | June 15, 2027 |
| Study ends | June 15, 2029 |
| Registry record updated | October 31, 2025 |
| Trial ID | NCT06986122 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
Is this trial a fit for you?
✓Likely a good fit
Healthy adults who have no current or past major psychiatric or neurological disorders, no chronic pain or frequent migraines, are not taking CNS-active medications, and are eligible for MRI are the intended participants.
✕Probably not a fit
People with current psychiatric diagnoses, recent seizures or major neurological or cardiovascular disease, chronic pain or frequent migraines, recent substance abuse, or any contraindication to MRI or to induced thermal pain are unlikely to qualify or receive benefit from participation.
A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.
What this trial studies
Participants navigate three distinct virtual rooms that are learned to be safe, controllable (a button can temporarily suppress thermal pain), or uncontrollable (pain cannot be avoided). Repeated exposures let participants learn context–pain contingencies while they perform a distracting maze-navigation task and receive calibrated thermal pain stimuli. Researchers record subjective pain and anxiety ratings alongside autonomic measures (skin conductance, heart and breathing rates) and brain activity to link perceived controllability and spatial context with physiological and neural responses. The protocol includes changing contingencies to examine how learned associations persist or adapt when environments are explicitly altered.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could inform behavioral or contextual approaches that reduce pain and anxiety by increasing perceived control or using safe environmental cues.
How similar studies have gone: Prior behavioral and neuroimaging research has shown that perceived control and contextual cues can reduce pain and anxiety, so this protocol builds on a supportive but still-developing evidence base.
Who can join: the full rules
Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
* No self-reported current or history of depression, bipolar disorder, or other psychiatric diagnosis * No self-reported current seizure disorder (i.e., seizure within past 10 years), or history of stroke or other major neurological diagnosis * No self-reported current chronic pain, or acute pain within three months of the study period * No current migraine disorder (i.e., 15 headache days or more in 1 month) * No use of central nervous system-effective medication or other medication for neurological/psychiatric treatment * No self-reported substance abuse within the last six months * No contraindication to MRI (e.g., pregnancy, claustrophobia, pacemakers, ear/cochlear implants, shrapnel injuries, clips, or other ferromagnetic/electrical objects/devices, diagnosed brain abnormality such as tumor, or skin lesions on the scalp.) * No contraindications for induced pain (e.g., no heart disease, high blood pressure, heart surgery, heart problems of any kind, severe asthma, respiratory problems of any kind, fibromyalgia, Raynaud's Syndrome or Disease, chronic pain, diabetes) * Participants must be capable of performing experimental tasks (e.g., are able to read), are fluent or native speakers of English * Participants must be able to tolerate the maximum level of thermal pain stimuli (for thermal stimuli)
Where it's running
-
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire, United States Recruiting
Study contacts
- Study coordinator: Tor D Wager, PhD
- Email: tor.d.wager@dartmouth.edu
- Phone: 3038958739
Similar studies
Other studies for the same condition or treatment. Recruiting studies are listed first.
-
Single-session intervention to change ambiguity aversion
This trial tests whether one brief intervention can change how adults with intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety make ambiguous decisions and how their brains respond.
-
See if preoperative anxiety affects recovery after major digestive cancer surgery
This study tests whether anxiety before surgery is linked to more complications after major digestive cancer operations in French-speaking adults.
-
Mindful Smartphone Use: A Mindfulness-Based Program for Teens with Sleep and Mood Challenges
This study tests Mindwire, a mindfulness-based program, to see if it helps teens with problematic phone use who also have depression or anxiety.
-
Tele-based wellbeing centres for women's mental health in Bangladesh
A randomized trial tests whether tele-counselling for depression and anxiety in Bangladeshi women is as effective as in-person counselling.
-
Buzzy Bee for Pain and Anxiety Control During Pediatric Dental Local Anesthesia
This study tests whether the Buzzy Bee device, with cold and vibration, reduces pain and anxiety during a dental injection in kids aged 5-7 compared with standard distraction.
-
Reflexology and hand massage after cesarean section
This study tests whether reflexology hand massage or stroking hand massage can reduce anxiety and increase satisfaction, and how they affect heart/blood pressure after cesarean delivery.
How to take part
- Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
- Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
- Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.