NCT06025838

Positive Feedback vs. No-Feedback Games for Behavioral Change

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 171 (actual)
• Sponsor: Bard College · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 34 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

We aim to investigate here whether we can develop a reinforcement learning game which provides game-based feedback to encourage positive actions (behaviors) both inside and outside of the game. Does providing positive reward when participants make decisions which are associated with value-based actions (like those in BA) result in different game decisions? We propose that it will increase positive actions in the game. And, secondly, how does it affect short-term behavior (in one week)? We propose that it will increase pro-health activities and may reduce depressive symptoms.

Detailed description

We know that behavior influences mood -- our best interventions to improve mood rely upon the relationship between these. Treatments like this are thought to work in part by helping individuals to increase value-derived behaviors; participants are given guidance which results in an increase of positive behaviors and a decrease of coping behaviors that don't help -- that is, their health-seeking behavior is reinforced while behaviors that diminish health are reduced. In past work, we showed that a text-based game could be used to explore what sort of decisions people would make in certain environments. That game showed associations between in-game behaviors and real-life depressive symptoms and actions. Such work focuses on low-level symptoms of depression -- increasingly common, especially after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. We aim to investigate here whether we can develop a reinforcement learning game which provides game-based feedback to encourage positive actions (behaviors) both inside and outside of the game. Thus, the experiment described below and proposed in this application would test the role of positive rewards (positive-feedback) in a dichotomous-choice game, compared to neutral (no-feedback).

Conditions

• Major Depressive Disorder
• Low Mood

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	positive feedback	The positive feedback game uses techniques relating to established therapies like Behavioral Activation and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy's valued living to encourage positive action in game and outside of the game.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-02-13
• Primary completion: 2024-03-02
• Completion: 2024-03-02
• First posted: 2023-09-06
• Last updated: 2025-08-14

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States