Frontlight ResearchEarly access
CompletedNo phase
Level of Physical Activity and Fear Learning
Key facts
- Who runs it
- NYU Langone Health
- Where
- New York, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Status
- Completed
- People taking part
- 54 people enrolled
- Started
- 31 Jan 2023
- Ended
- 19 Mar 2025
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets a sham (pretend) treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Exercise
- Sitting
- Record updated
- 27 February 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 60 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 13 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Males and females ages 18-60
- A primary diagnosis of a DSM-5 anxiety disorder (generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder)
- Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 score of ≥23 (i.e., high anxiety sensitivity)
- Able and willing to provide informed consent
Who cannot take part
- Current PTSD (past PTSD > 6 months prior to screening is allowed)
- Stable psychiatric medications for at least 4 weeks prior to experimental procedures
- Lifetime Bipolar Disorder or psychosis
- Past 3 months substance use disorder or eating disorder
- High risk for exercise according to the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire and American College of Sports Medicine guidelines with excluded active medical conditions including heart conditions, lung disease, bone/joint problems, or seizures
- Current substance abuse or positive urine toxicology screen (recreational use of marijuana is permitted based on clinical assessment on the MINI structured diagnostic interview that it does not meet criteria for cannabis use disorder)
- Women who are currently pregnant
- Acute suicide risk (active suicidal ideation with plan and intent) as indicated by a score of ≥4 on the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)
- Benzodiazepine use
Where in United States
- NYU Langone HealthNew York, United States
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The proposed experimental study will be the first to investigate whether exercise vs. sitting enhances consolidation of extinction learning in adults with high AS and anxiety disorders, and the mechanistic pathways of expectancy, affect, and key stress response markers.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Exercise GroupTreatment being tested
Participants who will be randomized to moderate intensity exercise after extinction (Day 1)
Treatment: Exercise
- Seated groupSham treatment, for comparison
Participants who will be randomized to sitting after extinction (Day 1)
Treatment: Sitting
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- The Role of Exercise in the Consolidation of Fear Extinction Learning in Adults With High Anxiety Sensitivity
- Record updated
- 27 February 2026