Health TrialsbyHealthPanel

Test of Target Engagement of Ambiguity Aversion

ConditionsIntolerance of UncertaintyAnxietyIntolerance of Uncertainty; AnxietyDepression, Anxiety
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age25-60
SponsorNorthwestern University

About this trial

The present work aims to test whether a single session intervention alters ambiguity aversion, both in terms of people's decision making and their brain responses to ambiguous choices.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Ages 25 to 60

Right-handed

Ability to read and write English

Capacity to provide informed consent

Disqualifiers

Personal history of psychosis, mania, or hypomania

Personal history of autism spectrum disorder

IQ < 80 as determined by the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading

Head injury with greater than 120 seconds loss of consciousness

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Uncertainty-focused single session intervention

    Behavioral

    Digitally/computer administered 30-minute self-guided intervention for adults ages 25-60

  • Maintaining a healthy lifestyle single session intervention

    Behavioral

    Digitally/computer administered 30-minute self-guided intervention for adults ages 25-60

Treatment groups

140 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups
Group A: Uncertainty-focused single session interventionExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle single session interventionPlacebo comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Beck Hopelessness Scale-4 (BHS-4)

The BHS-482 is a four-item self-report scale that will be used to assess hopelessness before and after the experimental intervention (scale assesses hopelessness "right now, in this moment") to determine whether the intervention was effective in eliciting change in a clinically meaningful construct. It has good psychometric properties. Participants will complete the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS-4) before and after the intervention as a manipulation check that the single session intervention (SSI) "worked" in the event that the other primary outcomes exhibit resistance to change.

Time frame
1 hour
2

Behavioral ambiguity aversion

Computational modeling will be used to extract two parameters indicative of behavioral ambiguity aversion (AA) from a risk and ambiguity task completed once before and once after the intervention. This results in two variables per participant: one which indicates categorical AA (i.e., their tendency to choose the unambiguous choice regardless of the amount of ambiguity present) and one which indicates continuous AA (i.e., how the amount of ambiguity influences people's choice).

Time frame
1 hour
3

Event-related potential responses to ambiguous choices

From EEG data collected during the risk and ambiguity task, event-related potentials (ERPs)-time-locked electroencephalogram signals with millisecond resolution-will be extracted to yield one variable per participant indicating mean brain activity to ambiguous choices. Pilot data and small prior studies have consistently found an attenuated P300-like component (albeit later than usual, around 350-500ms) to ambiguous relative to unambiguous choices similar to those on this task.

Time frame
1 hour

Secondary outcomes

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

Northwestern University

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Collaborator

Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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