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Determining the Role of Social Reward Learning in Social Anhedonia

Determining the Role of Social Reward Learning in Social Anhedonia in First-Episode Psychosis Using Motivational Interviewing in a Perturbation-Based Neuroimaging Approach

Who can join

As published by the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. "Not stated" means the study hasn't said — ask the study team.

Age
18 Years to 35 Years
Sex
All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Not accepted
Compensation
Not stated

Other requirements are listed under Eligibility below. Only the study team can confirm whether you can join.

What to expect

No one can promise a trial will help you personally — that is what the research is trying to find out.

What participation involves

Not stated in the study description — ask the study team about visits and procedures.

Compensation
Not stated
  • Study-related exams and procedures are typically provided at no cost. This is how many trials work in general — confirm the details for this study with the study team.
  • Participants are monitored closely by the research team throughout the study.
  • Some participants may receive access to an investigational treatment, which is still being studied.
  • Your participation helps researchers learn whether this approach could help future patients.

About this study

In plain language

This study looks at how people learn from rewarding social experiences and how this relates to feeling less pleasure with others. It is for adults ages 18–35 whose first psychotic illness began within the past three years. Participants are assigned by chance to a motivational interview or a comparison session and do social learning tasks during brain scans before and after.

This is a clinical trial study that aims to evaluate the specificity of the relationship between reduced sensitivity to social reward and social anhedonia at both behavioral and neural levels. Individuals who recently experienced their first-episode psychosis will be recruited. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to motivational interviewing or a time- and format-matched control probe. At pre- and post-probe, participants will perform two social reward learning tasks in the scanner. With this design feature, we will examine the relationship between sensitivity to social reward and reduced subjective experience of social pleasure at both the behavioral and neural levels.

Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.

Eligibility

Who can join

  • Age 18–35.
  • First psychotic illness, which affects a person's sense of reality, began within the past three years.
  • Diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, or schizoaffective disorder—conditions that affect thoughts and a person's sense of reality.
  • Taking a second-generation antipsychotic medicine, a newer type of medicine used to treat psychosis.
  • Estimated IQ before the illness was at least 70, based on a reading test.
  • Able and willing to have brain scans, with no pacemaker or metal implants.
  • Know enough English to understand the tests.
  • Vision is at least 20/30 with glasses or contacts if needed.

Who can't join

  • Substance use makes the diagnosis unclear, including possible psychosis caused by drugs or alcohol.
  • Moderate or severe alcohol or drug use disorder in the past three months.
  • A major medical condition, such as epilepsy (a condition that causes seizures), or a serious head injury.
  • Currently pregnant.
  • Taking sedatives or anti-anxiety medicines on the day of testing.
  • A medication change in the three weeks before joining.

Simplified for readability. The official criteria below are what the study team uses.

Official eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18-35 years * A first episode of a psychotic illness that began within the past three years * Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform, or schizoaffective disorder * Taking 2nd generation antipsychotic medications * Estimated premorbid IQ not less than 70 as assessed with the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading * Appropriate for scanning (i.e., no pacemaker or metal implants) and expressed willingness to participate in scanning * Sufficient fluency in English to comprehend testing procedures * Corrected vision of at least 20/30 Exclusion Criteria: * No evidence that substance use makes the diagnosis ambiguous (rule out substance-induced psychosis) * No evidence of moderate or severe alcohol or substance use disorder in the past 3 months * No clinically significant disease based on medical history (e.g., epilepsy) or significant head injury * For females: no current pregnancy * No sedatives or anxiolytics on the day of assessment * No medication change 3 weeks prior to enrollment

Study sites (2)

AL

CA