Self-Referencing Bias in Psychiatric Inpatients

NCT04015921 | Withdrawn

• 1 other identifier: 1819/IRASCL/1
• Study Type: observational
• Target: N/A
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

People tend to detect and recognise self-related information more quickly and efficiently than other kinds of information. For example, in a cocktail party, people are usually able to attend to just one conversation at a time. Messages from unattended conversations are rarely registered. However, most people would still hear their own name mentioned in unattended conversations. Research has shown that this self-referencing advantage manifests an individual's normal cognitive function and emotional wellbeing. It may be influenced by self worth and strength of self-esteem. Changes in self-related processing are hypothesised in various psychiatric conditions such as dissociative identity disorder and affective disorders, but the connection is poorly understood. Existing research mainly relies on self-report measures, which can be subjective and time consuming. This project will initiate a new approach that the investigators have developed to objectively measure self-related processing. The aim is to investigate how patients suffering from common psychiatric disorders respond to self-related information relative to age-matched control participants. The investigators also hope to establish whether the objective measurement of the self can form a new pathway to improve early diagnosis of mental health issues.

Conditions

Psychiatric Disorder

Keywords

self-concept; self referencing bias

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Self-referencing bias measured by response accuracy

  Matching accuracy (percent correct responses) for self-related shape-label pairs relative to other-related pairs. The self-referencing bias is typically reflected by higher response accuracy rate for a self-related pair (e.g., triangle-self) relative to other-related pairs (e.g., circle-friend, square-stranger).

  One year

• Self-referencing bias measured by response time

  Response time (in millisecond) for self-related shape-label pairs relative to other-related pairs. The self-referencing bias is typically reflected by a quicker response time for a self-related pair (e.g., triangle-self) relative to other-related pairs (e.g., circle-friend, square-stranger).

  One year

• Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-X)

  Measure of current mood before taking the computer task. The questionnaires obtain ratings of 20 adjective words (10 related to positive mood and 10 related to negative mood) on a five-point scale, where 1 = very slightly/not at all and 5 = extremely.

  One year

Study Arms (2)

Inpatients

Patients admitted with various psychiatric disorders

Other: No intervention

Age-matched control group

Other: No intervention

Interventions

No intervention OTHER

There is no intervention. Participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire and computer-based tasks.

Age-matched control group; Inpatients

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 85 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

1. Psychiatric patients 2. Normal controls

You may qualify if:

• Patient group
• Being admitted to an acute psychiatric ward and have at least one psychiatric diagnosis such as mood disorder, anxiety disorder, psychotic disorder or personality disorder.
• Control group
• Age, gender, education matched
• No mental health issues
• Both groups
• Have normal or corrected to normal visual function

You may not qualify if:

• Patient group
• Unable to give informed consent due to impaired mental capacity
• Currently involved in clinical trials.
• Both groups
• Outside of stated age range.
• Have impaired visual function.
• Non-English speakers.
• Dementia.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bournemouth University: lead
• University of Bath: collaborator
• Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Dorset HealthCare NHS Foundation Trust

Bournemouth, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (7)

• Lebois LAM, Wolff JD, Hill SB, Bigony CE, Winternitz S, Ressler KJ, Kaufman ML. Preliminary Evidence of a Missing Self Bias in Face Perception for Individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder. J Trauma Dissociation. 2019 Mar-Apr;20(2):140-164. doi: 10.1080/15299732.2018.1547807. Epub 2018 Nov 16.

  PMID: 30445887 BACKGROUND

• Sui J, Gu X. Self as Object: Emerging Trends in Self Research. Trends Neurosci. 2017 Nov;40(11):643-653. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2017.09.002. Epub 2017 Oct 5.

  PMID: 28988827 BACKGROUND

• Sui J, Hong YY, Hong Liu C, Humphreys GW, Han S. Dynamic cultural modulation of neural responses to one's own and friend's faces. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Mar;8(3):326-32. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss001. Epub 2012 Jan 17.

  PMID: 22258798 BACKGROUND

• Sui J, Liu CH, Wang L, Han S. Attentional orientation induced by temporarily established self-referential cues. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2009 May;62(5):844-9. doi: 10.1080/17470210802559393. Epub 2009 Jan 8.

  PMID: 19132633 BACKGROUND

• Sui J, Humphreys GW. The self survives extinction: Self-association biases attention in patients with visual extinction. Cortex. 2017 Oct;95:248-256. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.006. Epub 2017 Aug 16.

  PMID: 28922647 BACKGROUND

• Sui J, Humphreys GW. Aging enhances cognitive biases to friends but not the self. Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Dec;24(6):2021-2030. doi: 10.3758/s13423-017-1264-1.

  PMID: 28315168 BACKGROUND

• Sui J, Ohrling E, Humphreys GW. Negative mood disrupts self- and reward-biases in perceptual matching. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2016;69(7):1438-48. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2015.1122069.

  PMID: 26848876 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 1, 2019
• First Posted: July 11, 2019
• Study Start: January 1, 2024
• Primary Completion: January 1, 2025
• Study Completion: January 1, 2025
• Last Updated: February 14, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)