Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

NCT number NCT03880227
Other study ID # 19-58
Secondary ID
Status Completed
Phase N/A
First received
Last updated
Start date March 25, 2019
Est. completion date March 4, 2020

Study information

Verified date June 2021
Source The University of Texas at Dallas
Contact n/a
Is FDA regulated No
Health authority
Study type Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study investigates whether visual attention can be improved in individuals with schizophrenia by stimulating the brain via transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS).


Description:

Individuals with schizophrenia tend to display abnormal visual attention when performing visual tasks, typically spending less time on salient features of the stimuli (e.g. core facial features or body movement in social tasks), and instead focusing on idiosyncratic features of an image or video. Poor visual attention in schizophrenia has been directly linked to poorer social cognitive performance (e.g. recognizing emotional expressions or social cues) which can impact an individual's day to day functioning. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a form of noninvasive neurostimulation which has been proposed as a therapeutic procedure in numerous psychiatric disorders. TDCS in schizophrenia has been demonstrated to improve a wide range of cognitive processes, and in healthy adults, tDCS has been demonstrated to improve aspects of social cognition. TDCS thus appears to be a promising therapeutic technique that may be useful for improving visual attention in patients with schizophrenia, and potentially impact social cognitive performance via an underlying mechanism tying the two. This study will compare visual performance in individuals with schizophrenia across two conditions: active anodal tDCS and sham tDCS, while also comparing between brain stimulation sites: rTPJ and dmPFC.


Recruitment information / eligibility

Status Completed
Enrollment 81
Est. completion date March 4, 2020
Est. primary completion date March 4, 2020
Accepts healthy volunteers No
Gender All
Age group 18 Years to 60 Years
Eligibility Inclusion Criteria: - DSM-IV-TR or DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and clinically stable (i.e. no hospitalizations) for at least 8 weeks prior to informed consent and be on a stable medication regimen for at least 6 weeks with no dose changes for a minimum of 2 weeks prior to informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: - The presence or history of a pervasive developmental disorder or mental retardation as defined by a premorbid IQ < 70 - Presence or history of medical or neurological disorders in which neural stimulation would be contraindicated (e.g. presence of epilepsy or history of seizures) - Presence of sensory limitations, including visual or hearing impairments that interfere with assessment - History of electroconvulsive therapy - Not proficient in English - Presence of substance abuse in the past one month or dependence not in remission in the past six months

Study Design


Intervention

Device:
Active anodal tDCS
active anodal tDCS with behavioral tasks to assess visual attention
Sham tDCS
sham tDCS with behavioral tasks to assess visual attention

Locations

Country Name City State
United States The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson Texas

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor Collaborator
The University of Texas at Dallas

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type Measure Description Time frame Safety issue
Primary Visual Attention to Static Faces Visual attention measured via eye-tracking (percentage of time attending to investigator designated AOIs) when viewing static, emotional faces (stimuli: Emotion Recognition - 40). AOIs for static faces will be defined as core facial features (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth). Assessment will be completed 30 minutes after completion of the active/sham stimulation
Primary Visual Attention to Dynamic Actor Visual attention measured via eye-tracking(percentage of time attending to investigator designated AOIs) when viewing videos of a single actor (stimuli: Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task). AOIs for this task will be defined as core facial features (i.e. eyes, nose, and mouth). Assessment will be completed 30 minutes after completion of the active/sham stimulation
Primary Visual Attention to Dynamic Social Scenes Visual attention measured via eye-tracking (percentage of time attending to investigator designated AOIs) when viewing videos of two or more actors in a scene (stimuli: The Awareness of Social Inference Task Part 3, Version A). AOIs for this task will be defined as salient social and contextual stimuli (e.g. social stimuli are faces of actors, while contextually salient stimuli include items actors are talking about, such as a plate full of food or an empty wallet). Assessment will be completed 30 minutes after completion of the active/sham stimulation
Secondary Fixation Stabilization Stabilization of visual fixation on fixation circle positioned in middle of screen. Participants will be placed in front of an eyetracking device and asked to keep their eyes focused on a circle in the middle of the screen. Stabilization will be measured via eye-tracking as the deviation from a single point on screen, calculated by assessing the sum of squares of both the x and y axis (output from eyetracking device). Higher number indicates more movement, and thus less stabilization. Assessment will be completed 30 minutes after completion of the active/sham stimulation
See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Recruiting NCT05039489 - A Study on the Brain Mechanism of cTBS in Improving Medication-resistant Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia N/A
Completed NCT05111548 - Brain Stimulation and Cognitive Training - Efficacy N/A
Completed NCT05321602 - Study to Evaluate the PK Profiles of LY03010 in Patients With Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder Phase 1
Completed NCT04503954 - Efficacy of Chronic Disease Self-management Program in People With Schizophrenia N/A
Completed NCT02831231 - Pilot Study Comparing Effects of Xanomeline Alone to Xanomeline Plus Trospium Phase 1
Completed NCT05517460 - The Efficacy of Auricular Acupressure on Improving Constipation Among Residents in Community Rehabilitation Center N/A
Completed NCT03652974 - Disturbance of Plasma Cytokine Parameters in Clozapine-Resistant Treatment-Refractory Schizophrenia (CTRS) and Their Association With Combination Therapy Phase 4
Recruiting NCT04012684 - rTMS on Mismatch Negativity of Schizophrenia N/A
Recruiting NCT04481217 - Cognitive Factors Mediating the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia N/A
Completed NCT00212784 - Efficacy and Safety of Asenapine Using an Active Control in Subjects With Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder (25517)(P05935) Phase 3
Completed NCT04092686 - A Clinical Trial That Will Study the Efficacy and Safety of an Investigational Drug in Acutely Psychotic People With Schizophrenia Phase 3
Completed NCT01914393 - Pediatric Open-Label Extension Study Phase 3
Recruiting NCT03790345 - Vitamin B6 and B12 in the Treatment of Movement Disorders Induced by Antipsychotics Phase 2/Phase 3
Recruiting NCT05956327 - Insight Into Hippocampal Neuroplasticity in Schizophrenia by Investigating Molecular Pathways During Physical Training N/A
Terminated NCT03209778 - Involuntary Memories Investigation in Schizophrenia N/A
Terminated NCT03261817 - A Controlled Study With Remote Web-based Adapted Physical Activity (e-APA) in Psychotic Disorders N/A
Completed NCT02905604 - Magnetic Stimulation of the Brain in Schizophrenia or Depression N/A
Recruiting NCT05542212 - Intra-cortical Inhibition and Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia N/A
Completed NCT04411979 - Effects of 12 Weeks Walking on Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia N/A
Terminated NCT03220438 - TMS Enhancement of Visual Plasticity in Schizophrenia N/A