Childhood Trauma and Escape Decision Dynamics (TEDDY)

The Influence of Childhood Maltreatment on Cognitive and Reactive Fear

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of childhood maltreatment on cognitive and reactive fear.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Child Abuse; Fear
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: fMRI assessment of cognitive and reactive fear

Detailed Description

Childhood maltreatment dramatically increases the risk for psychiatric disorders accompanied by profound difficulties in social interactions. However, it is still unclear how childhood maltreatment affects social interactions in adulthood. In this study, we examine how childhood maltreatment may modulate threat sensitivity assessed by the distance at which an individual flees from an approaching threat. While rapid escape decisions rely on "reactive fear" circuits, slower escape decisions are associated with "cognitive fear" circuits. Based on previous observations of altered early sensory processing, we expect that childhood maltreatment affects both cognitive and reactive fear circuits.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 80

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Dirk Scheele, PhD; Phone Number: 11151 +49-(0)228-287; Email: Dirk.Scheele@ukbonn.de

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Bonn, Germany, 53105
    • Recruiting
    • Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn
    • Contact: Rene Hurlemann, MSc MD PhD; Email: Rene.Hurlemann@ukbonn.de
    • Contact: Dirk Scheele, PhD; Email: Dirk.Scheele@ukb.uni-bonn.de
    • Principal Investigator: Rene Hurlemann, MSc, MD, PhD
    • Sub-Investigator: Dirk Scheele, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants will be recruited from a community sample and childhood maltreatment will be assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects with varying levels of childhood maltreatment

Exclusion Criteria:

• current psychiatric illness
• current psychiatric medication or psychotherapy
• MRI contraindication (e.g. metal in body, claustrophobia)
• pregnancy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Non-medicated healthy adults with childhood maltreatment; The 25-item retrospective Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) will be administered to assess history of abuse and neglect. The CTQ measures five types of maltreatment: emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect.	Other: fMRI assessment of cognitive and reactive fear; An fMRI paradigm will be used to probe how childhood maltreatment may modulate the defensive survival circuitry that facilitates escape decisions when subjects encounter fast- or slow-attacking threats.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Neural responses in the flight initiation distance (FID) task	Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be performed to measure blood-oxygen-level dependent signal in a flight initiation distance (FID) task, involving fast-, medium- and slow-attacking virtual predators that elicit distinct activations in the reactive and cognitive fear circuits. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals to different predator velocities will be analyzed. Analyses will focus on regions-of-interest associated with the processing of cognitive fear (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and basolateral amygdala) and reactive fear (midbrain periaqueductal gray, central amygdala, hypothalamus, and the midcingulate cortex). To examine effects of childhood maltreatment, regression analyses with Childhood Trauma Questionnaire scores will be conducted on the second level.	fMRI paradigm with an average duration of 45 minutes
Flight distance in the flight initiation distance (FID) task	Associations between the flight distance in the FID task and childhood maltreatment will be analyzed using regression analyses with Childhood Trauma Questionnaire scores. Behavioral data will be correlated with fMRI data of the FID task.	fMRI paradigm with an average duration of 45 minutes
Difficulty ratings in the flight initiation distance (FID) task	Associations between the difficulty ratings in the FID task and childhood maltreatment will be analyzed using regression analyses with Childhood Trauma Questionnaire scores. Behavioral data will be correlated with fMRI data of the FID task.	fMRI paradigm with an average duration of 45 minutes
Confidence ratings in the flight initiation distance (FID) task	Associations between the confidence ratings in the FID task and childhood maltreatment will be analyzed using regression analyses with Childhood Trauma Questionnaire scores. Behavioral data will be correlated with fMRI data of the FID task.	fMRI paradigm with an average duration of 45 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Bonn
• Collaborators: Prof. Dean Mobbs
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Dirk Scheele, PhD, University of Bonn

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): November 17, 2019
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): June 1, 2020
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): June 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 26, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 26, 2020
• First Posted (ACTUAL): February 28, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): February 28, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 26, 2020
• Last Verified: February 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: fMRI; cognitive fear; reactive fear
• Other Study ID Numbers: TEDDY

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No