Neural Mechanisms of Social Feedback Evaluation in Young Adults Across the Schizotypy Spectrum: An EEG Social Judgment Study

September 14, 2026 updated by: Central Connecticut State University

Neural Mechanisms of Social Feedback Evaluation in Schizotypy: An EEG Study of Oscillatory and Event-Related Potentials

This study will examine how young adults with different levels of schizotypal traits process social acceptance and rejection. Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single laboratory session that includes questionnaires and electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive method that measures electrical brain activity through sensors placed on the scalp. During EEG recording, participants will complete a computer-based Social Judgment Paradigm (SJP) in which they form expectations about whether another person will like or dislike them and then receive experimentally controlled acceptance or rejection feedback. The study will examine how brain responses differ when social feedback is expected versus unexpected and whether these responses vary with schizotypal traits. The goal is to better understand the brain mechanisms involved in evaluating social feedback. This study does not provide treatment and does not test a drug or medical device.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Schizotypal traits occur along a continuum in the general population and are associated with differences in social functioning and social information processing. This study will investigate neural responses to social feedback in young adults across the schizotypy spectrum using electroencephalography (EEG).

Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single experimental session. During EEG recording, they will perform a Social Judgment Paradigm (SJP) in which they first form an expectation about whether another person will respond positively or negatively toward them and subsequently receive acceptance or rejection feedback. This produces four within-participant feedback conditions: expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection.

The study will examine brain activity associated with evaluating social feedback, including frontal-midline (FM) theta activity and event-related potentials (ERPs). The primary analyses will test whether neural responses to acceptance and rejection, particularly when feedback violates expectations, vary as a function of continuous schizotypal traits. Participants will also complete self-report measures assessing schizotypal traits, social functioning, and related psychological characteristics.

The study is designed to clarify neural mechanisms involved in social feedback evaluation and to determine how individual differences in schizotypal traits are associated with these processes.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

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

  • Name: Silvia Corbera LOpez Principal Investigator, PhD.
  • Phone Number: 860-832-3111
  • Email: silviac@ccsu.edu

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Brenda Lopez Grants and Funded Research Administrator
  • Phone Number: (860) 832-2366
  • Email: b.lopez@ccsu.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Connecticut
      • New Britain, Connecticut, United States, 06050
        • Central Connecticut State University
        • Contact:
          • Silvia Corbera Lopez, Principal Investigator, Ph.D.
          • Phone Number: 860-832-3111
          • Email: silviac@ccsu.edu
        • Contact:
          • Brenda Lopez Grants and Funded Research Administrator
          • Phone Number: 860.832.2366
          • Email: b.lopez@ccsu.edu
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Silvia Corbera Lopez, Ph.D.

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

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Ages 18-35 years.
  • Able to provide informed consent.
  • Able to complete an EEG recording session.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Younger than 18 years or older than 35 years.
  • Unable to provide informed consent.
  • Unable to complete the EEG recording session.
  • No additional exclusion criteria are applied.

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social Judgment Paradigm
Participants complete a single-session Social Judgment Paradigm during EEG recording. All participants experience four within-subject experimental conditions defined by feedback expectancy (expected versus unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance versus rejection): expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection. The order of feedback trials is randomized within the task.
Behavioral: Social Judgment Paradigm
A computerized Social Judgment Paradigm in which participants receive experimentally controlled social feedback (acceptance/rejection) from purported peers or evaluators while continuous EEG is recorded to assess oscillatory activity and event-related potentials associated with social feedback processing. Feedback valence and expectancy are manipulated at the trial level, with trial order randomized within the task.
Other Names:
  • SJP

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Frontal Midline Theta Power (4-7 Hz)
Time Frame: Day 1
Mean frontal-midline theta-band power (4-7 Hz) derived from EEG data time-locked to feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified during the prespecified 200-600 ms post-feedback window at frontocentral electrodes. Theta power will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy (expected/unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance/rejection).
Day 1
Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) Amplitude
Time Frame: Day 1
Mean event-related potential (ERP) amplitude within the 250-350 ms time window following feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified at frontocentral electrodes. FRN amplitude will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy and feedback valence.
Day 1
Late Positive Potential (LPP) Amplitude
Time Frame: Day 1
Mean event-related potential (ERP) amplitude within the 350-600 ms time window following feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified at midline electrodes. LPP amplitude will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy and feedback valence.
Day 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Behavioral Expectancy Responses
Time Frame: Day 1
Participant predictions of social acceptance or rejection during each trial of the Social Judgment Paradigm, including expectancy response and reaction time.
Day 1
Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) Total Score
Time Frame: Day 1
The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) is a 74-item self-report measure assessing schizotypal personality traits across cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized dimensions. Items are answered in a yes/no format and scored dichotomously. Item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 74. Higher scores indicate greater levels of schizotypal personality traits.
Day 1
Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) Scores
Time Frame: Day 1
The Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) is a 77-item self-report measure assessing positive, negative, and disorganized dimensions of schizotypy. Items are answered using a true/false response format. The Positive Schizotypy subscale contains 26 items and ranges from 0 to 26; the Negative Schizotypy subscale contains 26 items and ranges from 0 to 26; and the Disorganized Schizotypy subscale contains 25 items and ranges from 0 to 25. Higher scores on each subscale indicate greater levels of the corresponding dimension of schizotypy.
Day 1
Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale-Revised (BFNES-R) Total Score
Time Frame: Day 1
The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale-Revised (BFNES-R) is a 12-item self-report measure assessing fear of negative evaluation by others. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all characteristic of me) to 4 (extremely characteristic of me). Item ratings are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 48. Higher scores indicate greater fear of negative evaluation and greater concern about others' social evaluation.
Day 1
Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS) Total Score
Time Frame: Day 1
The Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS) is a 23-item self-report measure assessing an individual's typical response intensity to potentially stressful situations in everyday life. The scale includes five domains: prolonged reactivity, reactivity to failure, reactivity to social conflict, reactivity to work overload, and reactivity to social evaluation. Items are scored from 0 to 2, with negatively keyed items reverse-scored, and summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 46. Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress reactivity
Day 1
Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ) Total Score
Time Frame: Day 1
The Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ) is an 8-item self-report measure assessing perceived social functioning across domains including work and home activities, finances, close relationships, family relationships, social isolation, sexual functioning, and leisure activities. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, and item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 24. Higher scores indicate poorer social functioning.
Day 1

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Central Connecticut State University

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 (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 9, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 14, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 16, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 14, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CORBERA-R15-SJP-2026

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data will be shared through the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). Shared data will include demographic, behavioral, clinical/phenotypic, and questionnaire data; expectancy ratings and trial-level responses from the Social Judgment Paradigm; raw 64-channel EEG data; and processed EEG derivatives underlying project findings, including ERP and time-frequency measures. Direct identifiers will not be shared.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data underlying peer-reviewed publications will be shared by the time of publication. Other study data, including unpublished data, will be shared no later than the end of the period of performance, including any no-cost extensions.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Individual participant data will be available through the NIMH Data Archive (NDA) in accordance with NDA data access policies and procedures. Access to participant-level data will be governed by NDA requirements designed to protect participants' privacy, rights, and confidentiality. Direct identifiers will not be shared.

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.

Subscribe