Geolocation Positional System (GPS) Experience

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI · Aug 7, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The Geolocation Positional System (GPS) Experience trial is a research study looking at how our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are connected to the places we go in our daily lives. By using smartphone technology, the study aims to gather information about participants' emotions and cognitive responses in real-world settings. This could help us better understand conditions like depression and anhedonia, which is the inability to feel pleasure.

To participate, individuals aged 18 to 62 who are in good health and can give informed consent are welcome to join. Participants will need to agree to receive daily text messages about their emotions, have an MRI scan (a type of brain imaging), and use a GPS tracking app on their smartphones for four months. Importantly, people with certain medical or psychological conditions, such as a history of severe mental illness or neurological disorders, will not be eligible. If you join, you can expect to provide valuable information that might help improve our understanding of emotional health and contribute to future treatments.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Must agree to give informed consent
• • Must be willing to have an functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) scan
• • Must be able to receive and respond to daily text messages assessing current emotion
• • Must be willing to download and run a GPS tracking application (FollowMee) onto their smartphone for a four-month period
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • history of head trauma, seizures, or neurological disorders
• • severe/unstable medical conditions
• • conditions that interfere with MRI
• • pregnancy
• • lifetime psychotic/bipolar disorder
• • chronic/severe substance or alcohol abuse/dependence
• • antipsychotic medication