Time and Virtual Reality in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder (VirtualTimes)

EEG and Behavioural Correlates of Virtual Reality Treatment of Environmental Zeitgebers in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Patients with bipolar disorders report an acceleration or slowing of time flow, and patients with schizophrenic spectrum disorders a time fragmentation. These disorders would be linked to disorders of the sense of self. Assessing these time-related disorders could help to better predict psychotic conversion in vulnerable subjects. In this protocol, the investigators wish to develop playful methods for the evaluation of alterations in the passage of time, based on the use of virtual reality. The protocol will be tested in stabilized but chronic bipolar or schizophrenic patients, vs. healthy subjects matched on age, sex, and study level. The protocol will include two experimental sessions. It will begin with a waiting room-like session, at the end of which the subject will be asked to retrospectively estimate the time that will have passed. The games that will follow will all be based on the principle of temporal waiting. A first signal will indicate the start of the trial, and a target will be presented at varying times after this first signal. The later the target is presented, the more the subject expects and prepare for the target, and the faster he or she is. This time delay is measured by the subject's response (response time, error rate, eye fixation), but also by electrical signals measured by electroencephalography (EEG). The two experimental sessions will include several temporal manipulations during these tasks, intended to highlight alterations in the time flow in patients compared to controls. In one of the sessions, a starfield will be presented and the speed of the stars in the starfield will be manipulated, as a proxy for the speed of the environment. In one condition, the speed of the object will be average, and in the other the speed will be self-adjusted by the subject. In a control condition, the speed of the object will be zero. In the other experimental session, distractors will be presented during the waiting phase of the target. They will be presented either simultaneously or asynchronously. In one control condition the distractors will be absent. In both sessions it will be examined how the behavioral and EEG cues are affected by the manipulations. A double dissociation is expected, with greater disturbance in patients with bipolar disorder when standard movement is used, whereas patients with schizophrenia should be disturbed mainly when asynchronous distractors are presented.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Schizophrenia; Bipolar Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: virtual reality 1; Behavioral: virtual reality 2

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: GIERSCH GIERSCH, Dr; Phone Number: 33388116471; Email: anne.giersch@inserm.fr

Study Locations

• France
  • Strasbourg, France, 67091
    • Recruiting
    • Services de Psychiatrie I et II - Pôle de Psychiatrie CHRU Strasbourg
    • Contact: Dr Anne GIERSCH; Phone Number: +33388116471; Email: anne.giersch@inserm.fr

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 60 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• - Participant, male or female, between 18 and 60 years old
• Subject affiliated to a social health insurance scheme (beneficiary or entitled person)
• Subject who has dated and signed an informed consent form
• For a woman of childbearing age, negative pregnancy test and effective contraception throughout the study
• A patient under guardianship, whose guardian has dated and signed a consent, as well as the patient if able.
• A patient under guardianship, whose consent has been obtained, if necessary, by the guardian or with the assistance of the guardian, prior to the commencement of any trial-related procedures.

Patients only:

• Patients with psychotic disorders (schizophrenia-like): Patients with diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia as defined by the DSM V (American Psychiatric Association, 2015).
• Patients with Bipolar Disorder: A patient with diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder as defined by the DSM V (American Psychiatric Association, 2015).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Substance Use Disorders (as defined by DSM-V)
• Intake of benzodiazepines (in the period before inclusion, for a duration equivalent to 5 half-lives of the product), cannabis (in the 2 months before inclusion) or hallucinogenic substances (in the period before inclusion, for a duration equivalent to 5 half-lives of the product).
• A neurological pathology or sequelae
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Borderline personality disorder
• Disabling sensory impairment, including visual acuity (corrected, if applicable) < 0.8 (due to the use of visual aids) (Freiburg Vision Test, Bach 1996)
• Person deprived of liberty or under the safeguard of justice
• Pregnant, parturient or breastfeeding women
• Subject in a period of exclusion defined by another clinical study.

Healthy volunteers only:

History of major neurological or psychiatric illness with ongoing psychotropic medication (i.e., antidepressant, thyroid regulator, antipsychotic, benzodiazepine or hypnotic).

Patients only:

Only patients treated with neuroleptics, whether or not combined with an anti-parkinsonian corrector or anti-depressant, will be included. Patients taking benzodiazepines will be excluded

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: virtual reality 1; the subject is in a virtual room and is asked to emit a retrospective time duration judgement at the end of the session	Behavioral: virtual reality 1; the subject is in a virtual waiting room, there is no other intervention. The principle of this intervention is to make the subject wait with as little interfering events as possible
Experimental: virtual reality 2; the subject is in a virtual environment mimicking a space ship. The subject is asked to detect targets as fast as possible while the background of the virtual environment is a starfield with standard speed vs. self-determined speed vs. static stars	Behavioral: virtual reality 2; Subjects are in a virtual environment mimicking a space ship. On the screen there is a red light and subjects wait for this red light to become green. They press on a pad each time the red light becomes green; Other Names: virtual reality 3
Experimental: virtual reality 3; the subject is in a virtual environment mimicking a space ship. The subject is asked to detect targets as fast as possible.Asynchronous distracters vs. synchronous distracters, vs no distracters are displayed while the subjects wait for the target	Behavioral: virtual reality 2; Subjects are in a virtual environment mimicking a space ship. On the screen there is a red light and subjects wait for this red light to become green. They press on a pad each time the red light becomes green; Other Names: virtual reality 3

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
EEG index of time expectation	beta oscillations recorded with EEG during the waiting period	through study completion, an average of 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
retrospective duration	Retrospective duration judgement	through study completion, an average of 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 12, 2021
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 12, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 12, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 3, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 11, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): June 16, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 11, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 10, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Bipolar and Related Disorders; Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders; Mood Disorders; Schizophrenia; Bipolar Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: C19-48

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No