NCT04681807

Social Cognition in Youth Who Have a First Degree Relative With Schizophrenia

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 82 (actual)
• Sponsor: The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 15 Years – 35 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Social cognition is an individual's ability to perceive, process, understand, and react to other individuals in a social situation. Social cognition is impaired in individuals with schizophrenia, including difficulty recognizing others' emotions. A promising treatment avenue for emotion recognition problems in individuals with schizophrenia is continued practice with various facial expression recognition training programs. First degree relatives of someone with schizophrenia are considered at familial high risk (FHR) for the illness, because of its high level of heritability. It is therefore critical to explore if these emotion recognition training programs could also benefit people at FHR. In this current study, the investigators aim to explore the social-cognitive profiles and their neural correlates in FHR individuals. The investigators also aim to explore the potential efficacy of an emotion recognition intervention to improve this ability in FHR individuals.

Detailed description

All participants will complete a battery of social cognitive tests as well as an fMRI scan to explore the neuronal correlates underlying lower social cognitive functioning observed in FHR individuals. FHR youth will be randomized into either a 4-session emotion recognition training exercise program on iPad or a control training program on iPad that includes commercial games and control emotional attention bias training.

Conditions

• Schizophrenia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Emotion Recognition Training	Participants will undergo 2 fMRI scans, one before and one after the training sessions. There will be 4 visits consisting of an emotion recognition training exercise on iPad, lasting for a period of \~1 hour each. (More details about each condition will be added after study completion to protect the blinding of participants) .
BEHAVIORAL	Control Training	Participants will undergo 2 fMRI scans, one before and one after the training sessions. There will be 4 visits consisting of a control training exercise on iPad, lasting for a period of \~1 hour each. (More details about each condition will be added after study completion to protect the blinding of participants) .

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-07-21
• Primary completion: 2025-08-22
• Completion: 2025-08-22
• First posted: 2020-12-23
• Last updated: 2026-01-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada