HYEEG Discourse in Psychosis: A Neurobehavioural Study
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot listed
Trial typeObservational
Biological sexAll
Age18-60
SponsorDouglas Mental Health University Institute
About this trial
This multimodal study explores the mechanisms underlying social dysfunction in individuals with schizophrenia. It focuses on the relationship between disorganized communication and social interaction, aiming to identify measurable markers of disorganized communication and link them to clinical symptoms and social functioning.
Key Research Questions:
How do neural and behavioural synchrony contribute to social impairments in schizophrenia?
What roles do interbrain synchrony, motor imitation, reaction time, and verbal coherence play in disorganized communication?
Participants will:
1. Engage in structured and semi-structured real-time social interactions while undergoing dual-brain electroencephalogram (EEG) hyperscanning to measure neural and behavioural activity. 2. Perform nonverbal tasks such as motor imitation and reaction time assessments to investigate coordination and behavioural synchrony patterns. 3. Participate in a clinical interview that evaluates verbal production, thought coherence, and speech organization.
By combining these assessments, the study aims to advance our understanding of how social and communication impairments manifest in schizophrenia. The findings will contribute to developing improved diagnostic tools and targeted interventions, ultimately supporting patients in achieving better social functioning and quality of life.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
English or French-speaking participants (as dyads matched for language preference).
Ages 18-60 years.
Patients meeting the operational criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness as previously diagnosed by their treating psychiatrist, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5 criteria (Zipursky et al., 2020).
Patients with less than 5 years of illness onset, based on the time of starting treatment with antipsychotic medication.
Disqualifiers
Participants should not have a primary diagnosis of Alcohol or Drug abuse or addiction (however, co-morbid substance abuse with a primary diagnosis of psychotic disorder is not an exclusion criterion).
Participants should not have a severe medical disorder that would explain psychotic symptoms.
Participants should not have a past or current history of a primary neurological disorder that can affect speech output
Participants with IQ below 70 or a concurrent pervasive developmental disorder (e.g., autism) will also be excluded.
Trial population
Patients with psychosis will be recruited from the following Douglas Mental Health University Institute areas: l'Étape Outpatient Clinic, Assertive Community Treatment Clinics, Intensive Psychosocial Rehab Clinic, and the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis (PEPP) clinics in CIUSSS de l'ouest-de-L'île-de-Montréal, in association with the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the Douglas. Healthy Control participants will be recruited from the Greater Montreal Area using online study advertisements (Facebook, Kijiji, Twitter) and research study posters placed on bulletin boards.
Trial design
Design model
Case-control
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Treatments tested in this trial
Not listed
Trial groups
110 Participants
are grouped into 2 trial groupsGroup A: Healthy controls
Group B: Patients
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Inter-brain phase synchronization using Phase Locking Index via hyperscanning during communication
Using oscillatory and time-frequency analyses of electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning data, inter-brain synchronization will be calculated via phase locking value for both patients and control subjects. This value will be related to: (1) verbal data from clinical interviews analyzed using Natural Language Processing techniques, including sentiment analysis to assess emotional tone, coherence classification to evaluate logical flow, and semantic similarity analysis (2) nonverbal measures such as motor synchrony, imitation accuracy, and reaction time.
Time frame
baselineOther outcomes
1
Composite Index of Severity as Measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), THought and Language Index and Social and Occupational Functioning (SOFAS)
This composite outcome will be a single factor score; higher values will reflect more severe symptoms and poor social functioning. Lower values will reflect better functioning and less severe symptoms. This will be derived from factor analysis of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS), and the scores from the Thought and Language Index (TLI) clinical interview. This will be related to the primary outcome measure.
Time frame
baselineSponsors and contacts
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov