The Impact of Familiarity and Emotional Attachment on the Visual Processing of Faces
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00001913. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at brain activity while patients view pictures of people's faces that they are familiar with or have emotional attachment to. The functional MRI (fMRI) procedure allows researchers to "see the brain at work." It uses the same powerful magnetic fields and weak electromagnetic radiation (radiowaves) as standard structural MRI. However, functional MRI can also show areas of increased blood flow, which relates to increased activity by brain cells. This research study builds on previous studies that identified specific areas of the brain that are activated by visual stimuli showing faces. However, previous research used anonymous faces as stimuli. This study will use faces of individuals known to the patient. There are three experiments that will be conducted in the study; 1. Experiment 1 will attempt to determine the effects of familiarity of the photographed face on brain activity patterns. Patients will view familiar faces, the faces of close friends and relatives, and the faces of famous people. 2. Experiment 2 will look at how maternal attachment affects the response to visual stimuli. Mothers will view pictures of their first born child, as well as those of familiar children to whom they are not related, unfamiliar children, and unfamiliar adults. 3. Experiment 3 will explore the effects of interpersonal attachment and loss on response to visual stimuli. In this experiment, bereaved spouses will view pictures of their deceased spouse, those of living family members, and those of unfamiliar people.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00001913
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Observational
- Phase
- Not listed
- Enrollment
- 80 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
Not listed
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- Not listed
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Sep 30, 1998
- Primary completion
- Not listed
- Completion
- Sep 30, 2003
- Last update posted
- Mar 3, 2008
1998 – 2003
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) | Bethesda | Maryland | 20892 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00001913, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Mar 3, 2008 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00001913 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.