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Completed

NCT Number: NCT05159037

Using the Musical Track From GC-MRT as a Treatment Booster in Stressful Situations

The study examines whether musical tracks played during gaze contingent music reward therapy (GC-MRT) for social anxiety could later be used as a booster to reduce anxiety before a stressful situation. To this end, highly socially anxious participants will undergo 4 GC-MRT sessions designed to train participants' attention away from threat and towards neutral social stimuli. Subsequently, participants will be asked to perform a socially stressful speech task. Prior to the speech, half of the participants will listen to a musical track the participants were trained with, and half of the participants will listen to a musical track the participants like but were not trained with during the GC-MRT sessions. The investigators expect that listening to musical track taken from the GC-MRT sessions will moderate the increase in anxiety levels prior to the speech and will improve performance during the speech compared to a non-trained musical track.

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Key information

Conditions

Social Anxiety

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv, Israel

About this study

Gaze contingent music reward therapy (GC-MRT) is designed to modify threat-related attention biases through operational conditioning between beloved music and gaze patterns favoring neutral stimuli over threat-related stimuli. GC-MRT has shown efficacy in reducing social anxiety symptoms. The current study is designed to explore whether the musical tracks played during the GC-MRT conditioning could be later used as a treatment booster to reduce anxiety in a socially stressful situation. To this end, 60 high socially anxious participants will undergo four GC-MRT sessions and then will be asked to perform a stressful speech task. Prior to the speech, half of the participants (randomly determined) will listen to a musical track the participants were trained with, and half of the participants will listen to a musical track the participants like but were not trained with during GC-MRT sessions. The investigators expect that the listening to musical track taken from the GC-MRT sessions will moderate the increase in anxiety levels prior to the speech and will improve performance during the speech compared to a non-trained musical track.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • a signed consent form
  • an age of 18 years or above
  • a score greater than 60 on LSAS

Exclusion criteria

  • a self-reported history of neurological or psychiatric illness

Treatment and study plan

Gaze Contingent Music Reward Therapy

Behavioral

Feedback according to participants' viewing patterns, in order to modify their attention.

Music Booster

Behavioral

Participants listen to a musical track they ranked as highly liked before a stressful situation

Primary outcomes

  1. Change from baseline - the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale - Self Reported Version

    Time frame: 2 days before intervention, 4-10 days after intervention completion

    The LSAS is a 24-item scale, each item corresponding to a situation selected on the basis of clinical experience. Each item is rated on a severity scale ranging from 0 to 3 with regard to the passing week, measuring separately two components of social anxiety, specifically, fear/anxiety and avoidance of social interaction and performance situations.

  2. Change from baseline - the Visual Analogue Scale - Anxiety

    Time frame: 4-10 days after intervention completion (baseline of the speech session, after introducing the speech task, after listening to a musical track, after preparation to the speech,after the speech is over).

    The Visual Analogue Scale Anxiety (VAS-A) measures state anxiety. Participants are instructed to use the computer mouse and place the locator at the scale position representing their current level of anxiety in response to the question, "How anxious do you feel right now?". The VAS is divided into thirty units from 0 ("calm") to 30 ("anxious") while the participants do not see the division into calves and are asked to answer according to their feeling.

Secondary outcomes

  1. PSPS (Public Speaking Performance Scale)

    Time frame: 4-10 days after intervention completion (During speech task)

    The Public Speaking Performance Scale comprises 17 items concerning speech quality. Items are rated by independent judges on a 5-point scale from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much). Higher scores denote worse performance.

Other outcomes

  1. Change from baseline - viewing patterns on threat-neutral face matrices

    Time frame: At the first day of intervention, 4-10 days after intervention completion

    Gaze patterns, and specifically attention allocation to threat will be used as moderators for clinical outcome, as well as indicators of target engagement.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Tel Aviv University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Using the Musical Track From Gaze-Contingent Music Reward Therapy as a Treatment Booster in Stressful Situations Among Highly Socially Anxious Participants

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
Dec 15, 2021
Registry last updated
Jun 22, 2022

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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