Effects of MDMA on Emotional and Social Memories

The University of Chicago

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy

Treatments: Drug: Placebo; Drug: MDMA

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03050541

14-1485

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of MDMA on encoding and retrieval of emotional and social memories in healthy young adults. The study will explore the effects on memory retrieval when the drug is administered 1) before encoding, and 2) before retrieval.

Full description

Here, we aim to investigate the effects of MDMA (1 mg/kg) on the encoding and retrieval of positive, negative, social, and neutral memories. The study will use a between subjects design with three groups (N = 20 per group). Two of the groups will be randomly assigned to receive MDMA before one of the two stages of memory: Encoding (ENC) or Retrieval (RET). The third group will receive placebo only (PLC). All three groups will receive capsules before viewing the study materials, and at retrieval two days later, but they will receive MDMA only in the capsule appropriate to their condition, and other capsules will contain placebo.

Participants will participate in two sessions: a viewing session during which they will view emotional and neutral stimuli, followed 48 hours later by a retrieval session, during which there will be a surprise memory test with two components (verbally cued recollection and picture recognition). On all sessions subjects will also complete mood questionnaires.

Enrollment: 84 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 40 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Normal healthy males and females, aged 18-40 years.

Exclusion criteria

1. any current medical condition requiring medication or abnormal electrocardiogram
2. current or past medical condition considered to be a contraindication for the study conditions
3. any current Axis I psychiatric disorder (APA, 1994) including Substance Use Disorder, or Anxiety Disorder or Major Depression in the past year, any history of psychosis
4. less than high school education
5. lack of fluency in English
6. night shift work
7. pregnancy, lactation, or plans to become pregnant
8. use of hormonal contraception

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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84 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

MDMA at Memory Encoding

Experimental group

Description:

20 healthy adult volunteers will be randomly assigned to the encoding group (MDMA at Encoding). This group will receive capsules before viewing the study materials, and at retrieval two days later, but they will receive MDMA only in the capsule appropriate to their condition, and the next session capsule will contain placebo.

Treatment:

Drug: MDMA

Drug: Placebo

MDMA at Memory Retrieval

Experimental group

Description:

20 healthy adult volunteers will be randomly assigned to the retrevial group (MDMA at Retrevial). This group will receive placebo before viewing the study materials, and MDMA at retrieval two days later..

Treatment:

Drug: MDMA

Drug: Placebo

Placebo at both sessions

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

20 healthy adult volunteers will be randomly assigned to the placebo group (no drug at either session). This group will receive only placebo during study, session before viewing the study materials, and at retrieval two days later.

Treatment:

Drug: Placebo