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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03056781

Emotional Response in Psychiatric and Control Participants

The purpose of this research is to understand how the emotions of people with different mental health concerns (e.g., people with schizophrenia, people with major depressive disorder) differ from individuals without mental health concerns. A large body of literature suggests that people with mental illnesses have emotional abnormalities compared to healthy individuals, but a number of these abnormalities are not well understood. For example, often people with schizophrenia report on questionnaires that they experience fewer pleasant emotions when talking with other people, but some evidence suggests these individuals report a similar amount of pleasant emotion when they are actually engaged in a pleasant activity. Thus, it is unclear the extent to which reports of emotional abnormalities extend to a more real-world setting. In the tasks in the current proposal, participants will engage in a series of tasks designed to assess their emotional functioning. These tasks involve viewing emotional stimuli on the computer, engaging in social interactions, and consuming small amounts of food. In all tasks, participants will make ratings of their experiences of pleasure (and displeasure). We will then compare the experiences of patient groups to those of healthy individuals to test how emotional ratings might differ across these tasks.

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Key information

Conditions

Schizophrenia Emotions Mental Disorders Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Social Ecology 1

Irvine, California, 92697-0001, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • For control participants, you are eligible to participate in this study if you are between 18 and 65 years of age, you are fluent in English, and you have not been clinically diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.
  • For psychiatric patients, you are eligible to participate in this study if you are between 18 and 65 years of age, you are fluent in English, and you have been clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or depression with no recent hospitalization or changes in your psychiatric medications.

Exclusion criteria

  • For control participants, you are not eligible to participate in the study if you have a history of stroke or a current history of substance or alcohol dependence. You are also not eligible to participate in this study if you have had a diagnosis of substance abuse in the past three months. You are not eligible to participate if you have a current or past history of a major medical illness, significant tremors, a history of a head injury or prolonged unconsciousness.
  • For psychiatric patients, you are not eligible to participate in the study if you have had major changes to your psychotropic medications within the last two months, have a history of stroke or a current history of substance or alcohol dependence. You are also not eligible to participate in this study if you have had a diagnosis of substance abuse in the past three months, a current or past history of a major medical illness, significant tremors, or a history of a head injury or prolonged unconsciousness.

Treatment and study plan

social interaction

Behavioral

Participants will engage in a social interaction with another person

food consumption

Behavioral

Participants will be offered food stuffs to eat/drink

Primary outcomes

  1. Social Anhedonia Scale

    Time frame: 1 day

    measures social anhedonia

  2. Physical Anhedonia Scale

    Time frame: 1 day

    measures physical anhedonia

  3. EEG activity

    Time frame: 1 day

    physiological parameter

  4. Verbal behavioral rating

    Time frame: 1 day

    how many words are spoken throughout the task

  5. Non-verbal behavioral rating

    Time frame: 1 day

    how many gestures are made throughout the task

  6. International Personality Item Pool questionnaires

    Time frame: 1 day

    measure of personality

Secondary outcomes

  1. Following Affective States test

    Time frame: 1 day

    questionnaire re: how much participants follow or ignore their emotions

  2. AMNART

    Time frame: 1 day

    measure of verbal IQ

  3. MMSE

    Time frame: 1 day

    measure of mental status

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of California, Irvine

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2017
Primary completion
2018
Study completion
2018
First posted
Feb 17, 2017
Registry last updated
Dec 14, 2018

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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