NCT05478759

Brief Summary

Poor emotion recognition has been associated with poor quality of interpersonal relationships, loss of employment, behavioral problems, reduced social reintegration, social isolation and even suicide. Deficits in emotion recognition are common in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but these deficits have not been well studied in Veterans with both mild TBI (mTBI) and PTSD. Currently there are no interventions for emotion recognition in Veterans with mTBI and PTSD, and interventions for severe TBI have lacked training of both facial and vocal emotion recognition. In a preliminary study of an innovative combination of facial and vocal modalities, a multimodal affect recognition training (MMART) showed promise but lacked attention training that is an essential component in recognizing emotions in our daily lives. Given the need to improve relationships and productivity in Veterans with mTBI and PTSD, a study is needed to determine the effectiveness of a MMART combined with attention training.

Trial Health

77
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
20

participants targeted

Target at below P25 for not_applicable

Timeline
2mo left

Started Dec 2022

Longer than P75 for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
recruiting

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Progress96%
Dec 2022Jun 2026

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

July 25, 2022

Completed
3 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

July 28, 2022

Completed
4 months until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

December 1, 2022

Completed
3.5 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

May 30, 2026

Expected
1 month until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

June 30, 2026

Last Updated

December 24, 2025

Status Verified

December 1, 2025

Enrollment Period

3.5 years

First QC Date

July 25, 2022

Last Update Submit

December 17, 2025

Conditions

Keywords

cognitioninterventionbrain injuryemotion recognitionpost traumatic stress disorder

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

  • Florida Affect Battery (FAB), assessing change

    a standardized assessment of emotional affect and prosody recognition. normative scores range from 0-100 for each of the 12 subscales. Higher scores indicate better emotion recognition.

    week 1, week 11, week 22

  • Community Reintegration of Service Members, assessing change

    Satisfaction questionnaire of community participation. Scores range from .43 to 2.15. 43 items with five rating options of 1-5. Higher scores indicate better community participation.

    week 1, week 11, week 22

Secondary Outcomes (4)

  • Emotion Recognition Task, assessing change

    week 1, week 11, week 22

  • Continuous Performance Task, assessing change

    week 1, week 11, week 22

  • Attention Index of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, assessing change

    week 1, week 11, week 22

  • Traumatic Brain injury quality of life

    week 1, week 11, week 22

Study Arms (2)

MMART and attention training

EXPERIMENTAL

Training to recognize affect and prosodic expressions of emotions combined with attention training.

Behavioral: Multimodal affect recognition trainingBehavioral: Attention Training

Brain Health Workshop and National Geographic Movies

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

an inactive arm that matches sessions of intervention. BHW is education about the brain and cognition. National Geographic movies are viewed with the clinician and the participant answers questions about the movies.

Behavioral: Brain Health WorkshopBehavioral: National Geographic Movies

Interventions

computerized attention drill training

Also known as: Brain HQ
MMART and attention training

8 session, trains participants to recognize expression of emotion from a variety of stimuli, including dynamic stimuli (e.g., video instead of still pictures) and it employs both facial and vocal examples of emotion expression.

Also known as: MMART
MMART and attention training

an education presentation on brain function and cognitive principles of learning with homework and quizzes on information covered.

Also known as: BHW
Brain Health Workshop and National Geographic Movies

participant will watch movies and answer questions after

Also known as: movies
Brain Health Workshop and National Geographic Movies

Eligibility Criteria

Age25 Years - 50 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

  • Veterans with a diagnosis of mTBI and PTSD based on VA/Department of Defense guidelines.
  • Emotion recognition deficit
  • Attention deficit
  • Corrected vision within normal limits
  • Hearing within normal limits
  • Fluent in English

You may not qualify if:

  • premorbid history of schizophrenia
  • bipolar disorder
  • chronic medical or neurological diseases

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL

Gainesville, Florida, 32608-1135, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Brain InjuriesStress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Interventions

Motion Pictures

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Brain DiseasesCentral Nervous System DiseasesNervous System DiseasesCraniocerebral TraumaTrauma, Nervous SystemWounds and InjuriesStress Disorders, TraumaticTrauma and Stressor Related DisordersMental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Audiovisual AidsEducational TechnologyTechnologyTechnology, Industry, and Agriculture

Study Officials

  • Julia K. Waid-Ebbs, PhD

    North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Julia K Waid-Ebbs, PhD

CONTACT

Margaret H McCallum

CONTACT

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Model Details: 20 Veterans with mTBI and PTSD will be randomized to multimodal and attention training or inactive control arm.
Sponsor Type
FED
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

July 25, 2022

First Posted

July 28, 2022

Study Start

December 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Last Updated

December 24, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

Final data sets will be maintained locally and a de-identified, anonymized dataset will be made available in response to specific requests that meet the criteria described within this document and to data repositories i.e. FITBIR.

Shared Documents
ANALYTIC CODE
Time Frame
at closure of study and as long as FITBIR retains the data
Access Criteria
dependent on FITBIR criteria
More information

Locations