Effectiveness of a Short Computer-based Emotion Recognition Training in Different Patient Groups

April 13, 2021 updated by: Prof. Christina Stadler

Compared Effectiveness of a Short Computer-based Emotion Recognition Training in Conduct Disorder and Autistic Spectrum Disorder Patients

Emotion recognition and regulation are necessary skills for social interaction. Disrupted development of these processes severely interferes with socio-emotional development. These difficulties are commonly reported in patients with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Conduct Disorder (CD), with the subsequent social/interpersonal difficulties. The available evidence suggest that impaired emotion regulation processes might underlie the aggressive behaviours frequently observed in both disorders. However, no study has yet investigated the presence of disorder-specific characteristics on emotion processing between these two disorders. Different impaired emotion recognition difficulties may underlie the reported emotion dysregulation. A practical implication of this is that given that both disorders have shown difficulties during emotion recognition processes, a short, computer-based intervention to improve emotion recognition might benefit both cases, even though their aetiologies might differ.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

For ASD patients, studies training facial emotion recognition have focused on increasing the active attention to the eye region, re-directing attention to facial features to facilitate facial emotion recognition. Evidence shows positive results using computer-based emotion recognition training programs with young children and adolescents with ASD. It has also been recently suggested that emotion recognition training may be a suitable intervention for patients with CD. This would be supported by some preliminary evidence in patients with severe behavioural problems, young offenders and patients with CD + CU Traits. The overall goal of this project is to investigate the compared impact of an emotion recognition training in patients with ASD or CD. This goal can be subdivided into three separate subgoals: a) identify whether the training program is effective; b) identify whether the training program has differentiated or comparable effects between both patients groups and c) investigate individual characteristics that may help identify those individuals who would benefit most from the intervention. This information is crucial to inform the design of more efficient treatments to differentially address the specific deficits associated to the disorders.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

80

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

10 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis: ASD or CD
  • German speaking
  • IQ > 70
  • Age: 10-18

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Comorbid Anxiety or Depressive disorder diagnosis
  • IQ < 70
  • Insufficient German language skills
  • Severe developmental disorders

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Emotion recognition training
All participants have to complete the online emotion recognition training E.V.A. as well as the pre- and post training tasks: GERT and social decision making task.
Behavioral: Emotionen Verstehen und Ausdrücken (E.V.A.)
The online training is focused on the strengthening of socioemotional competences and consists of different training tasks (up to 3 million) presented to the participant as mini games. These training tasks are specifically designed according to empirical findings to match the socio-emotional recognition needs of people with ASD. During these games, an adapted Elo-Algorithm allows to automatically evaluate the participants' performance and adapts the difficulty levels throughout the users' progress in the training.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in performance accuracy in Geneva Emotion Recognition Test (GERT)
Time Frame: Change in performance before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
Percentage of accuracy to stimuli showing facial emotions
Change in performance before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
Change in performance response times in Geneva Emotion Recognition Test (GERT)
Time Frame: Change in performance before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
Response times to stimuli showing facial emotions
Change in performance before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
Change in performance reaction times in Social decision-making task
Time Frame: Change in Performance before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
Reaction times for each of the facial emotions shown
Change in Performance before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
Change in choices in Social decision-making task
Time Frame: Change in choices before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)
The proportion of choices that maximise their self-gain for each of the facial emotions shown
Change in choices before and after the emotion recognition training, after 1 month (pre/post measure)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Prof. Christina Stadler

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Anticipated)

April 15, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

November 30, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

November 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 8, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 13, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

April 14, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 14, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 13, 2021

Last Verified

April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • EmoRecTraining_EVA

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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