RightFit
RecruitingNot applicable

Decision-Making in Schizophrenia: A Combined Neuroimaging and Experience Sampling Study

Promoting Adaptive Decision-Making in Schizophrenia Through Improved Evidence Integration: A Combined Neuroimaging and Experience Sampling Study

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 50 Years
Sex
All sexes
Healthy volunteers
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

  • Time periods mentioned: 1 week
  • Procedures mentioned: Questionnaires, MRI scans

Only what the study's summary and detailed description on ClinicalTrials.gov say. Time periods may describe the whole study or a part of it — ask the study team what applies to you.

Show the study's own words
  • "Participants will also answer brief surveys about activities and feelings for a week in their daily lives."
  • "Participants will: * Complete several hours of clinical interviewing, cognitive tests, and surveys of about symptoms, experiences, and personality * Complete computer tasks about gambling decisions during MRI brain scanning and while having their visual attention measured using eye-tracking * Complete brief surveys about their activities and feelings 5 times a day for 1 week using a cell phone."
  • "Each survey only take several minutes."
  • "This ongoing study utilizes functional MRI brain imaging, eye-tracking, and daily event-sampling self-reports to identify whether there are differences in decision-making tendencies between groups of participants."
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 attention and positive thinking affect choices and brain activity in adults with and without schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. These conditions can affect thoughts and a person's sense of what is real. Participants will do gambling tasks during MRI brain scans and answer phone surveys about daily activities and feelings.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if attention and ways of thinking impact decision-making and brain processes related to decision-making in people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder relative to people without either condition. It will also learn how brain functioning during decision-making relates to real-world decisions made during daily life. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does paying attention to specific information impact decision-making and brain processes? * Does thinking in a certain way according to specific 'thinking strategies' improve brain processes related to decision-making? * Does brain functioning during decision-making relate to real-world choices to engage in activities? Researchers will compare brain functioning and decision-making on computer tasks of gambling after participants have been trained to use a positive thinking strategy. They will compare what is different in the brain and behavior when participants use this strategy and when they do not. Participants will also answer brief surveys about activities and feelings for a week in their daily lives. Participants will: * Complete several hours of clinical interviewing, cognitive tests, and surveys of about symptoms, experiences, and personality * Complete computer tasks about gambling decisions during MRI brain scanning and while having their visual attention measured using eye-tracking * Complete brief surveys about their activities and feelings 5 times a day for 1 week using a cell phone. Each survey only take several minutes.

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

Eligibility

Who can join

  • Be 18 to 50 years old.
  • Be able to understand the study and agree to take part.
  • Speak English fluently.
  • Be willing and able to read and complete study tasks.
  • Be able to understand the tasks and have an estimated IQ above 70.
  • For the group with schizophrenia: have schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder as your main diagnosis.
  • For the group without either condition: match people in the other group by age, sex, race or ethnic background, and education.

Who can't join

  • Be drunk or high when taking part, or regularly use drugs other than nicotine, alcohol, or cannabis.
  • Have a many-year history of severe problems with substance use, other than nicotine or tobacco.
  • Have a major physical illness, a brain or nerve disease, or any history of seizures or epilepsy.
  • Have a past brain injury, or a head injury that caused a long blackout or lasting changes in thinking or behavior.
  • Have had electroconvulsive therapy, a treatment using electrical pulses to the brain, within the past month.
  • Have an untreated or unstable mental or physical health condition, or an intellectual disability.
  • Have a condition that makes an MRI brain scan unsafe.
  • For the group without schizophrenia: have a history of a substance use disorder, except nicotine, alcohol, or mild to moderate cannabis use; or have a major mental health disorder yourself or in a parent, sibling, or child.

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

Official eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria The following criteria apply to all subjects: 1. Between ages of 18-50. 2. Have capacity to provide informed consent 3. Fluent communication in English 4. Willingness and ability to follow study requirements, as evidenced by an ability to provide written or virtual informed consent and read, and complete, study procedures. 5. Cognitive ability to understand tasks and estimated IQ greater than 70. The following criteria apply to subjects with schizophrenia: 1\. Primary diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder The following additional criteria apply to subjects without schizophrenia: 1\. Inclusion based on subject matched to psychiatric group based on age, sex, race/ethnicity, and education level. Exclusion Criteria The following criteria apply to all subjects: 1. Self-disclosed or noticeable intoxication from alcohol or illicit drugs (e.g., arriving to participate in the study drunk/high) 2. Self-disclosure of consistent current substance use other than nicotine, alcohol, or cannabis (e.g. cocaine, heroin). 3. Many-year history of severely disordered substance use other than nicotine/tobacco (determined via interview) 4. Significant physical health disorder, robust physical health conditions, neurological disease/disorder (e.g., Parkinson's, history of strokes). 5. History of traumatic brain injury, head injury resulting in loss of consciousness for an extended duration or with noted neurobehavioral consequences. 6. Electroconvulsive therapy within one month of participation. 7. History of seizures or epilepsy. 8. Currently untreated or unstable psychiatric and medical conditions. 9. Intellectual disability 10. Contra indications for MR imaging (detailed below) The following additional criteria apply to subjects without schizophrenia: 1. Pervasive history of problematic substance use (other than nicotine, alcohol, and mild-moderate cannabis use) as defined by meeting DSM-5 criteria for a substance use disorder. 2. Diagnosis of, or first-degree relative with, significant psychiatric disorder (e.g., bipolar disorder, psychotic disorder, or Cluster A personality disorder).

Study sites (1)

NJ