Investigating Surprise Signals in the Anterior Insula

Launched by UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, GENEVA · Aug 11, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how a specific part of the brain called the anterior insula responds to surprising events and how this affects learning and behavior. Researchers want to understand whether people adapt to their environment by trying to optimize their performance (doing better) or if they settle for "good enough" solutions. They will do this by observing patients with drug-resistant epilepsy who have electrodes implanted in their brains. As these patients perform tasks that involve predicting movements, the researchers will record brain activity to see how surprise signals are processed and whether they influence behavior.

To participate in this study, individuals must be at least 18 years old, fluent in French or English, and have epilepsy that might be treated with surgery. They also need to have electrodes implanted in the anterior insula for their clinical evaluation. Participants can expect to undergo a series of tasks while their brain activity is monitored, and they may also receive stimulation to see how it affects their sense of control and learning. This research could provide valuable insights into how the brain processes surprises and adapts behavior, which could have implications for understanding and treating epilepsy.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 18 years or older
• • Fluent in French or English
• • Patient who suffers from potentially surgically remediable drug-resistant focal epilepsy
• • Patient who requires evaluation with intracranial stereo-EEG electrodes and has them implanted in the anterior insula
• • Patient who is able and willing to provide informed consent
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Severe concomitant psychiatric disease or major psychological distress
• • Patients who have an implanted stimulation device (e.g. pacemaker, defibrillator, neurostimulator)
• • Intellectual/neurological/psychiatric deficiencies\* or inability to understand or follow the procedure
• • Visual/motor deficiencies which could affect task performance
• • The presence of seizures during routine clinical stimulation of insular electrodes
• • Failure to complete the pre-experiment task training
• • As determined by their clinical evaluation.