Improving ToM in Children With ASD Through VPT Training: Behavioral and fNIRS Study

NCT06196060 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: NNU202202002
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 3

Brief Summary

This study aims to employ a longitudinal tracking research to investigate the effects of a visual perspective taking intervention on the development of theory of mind in children with autism. Additionally, the investigators seek to examine modifications in the neural mechanisms linked to facial emotion recognition in children both before and after intervention by using the functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record the relative changes in blood oxygen levels in the cerebral cortex with the oddball Face-Periodic Visual Stimulation (FPVS) paradigm.

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Keywords

Autism Spectrum Disorder; Theory of Mind; Visual Perspective Taking; Facial Emotion Recognition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Theory of Mind scale

  This scale comprises seven subtests reflecting the sequential development of these concepts throughout the preschool years, including diverse desires, diverse beliefs, knowledge-ignorance or access, contents false belief, explicit false belief, belief emotion and real-apparent emotion.

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

• The Chinese version of Theory of Mind Inventory-2 (ToMI-2-C)

  The ToMI-2 is a questionnaire filled by parents or guardians. It encompasses 60 items, which are categorized into three empirically derived subscales-Early, Basic, and Advanced-to comprehensively measure ToM abilities.

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

• The Chinese version of Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToMTB)

  The ToMTB encompasses nine tasks, including an emotion recognition task, a desire-based emotion task, a seeing-leads-to-knowing task and so forth.

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

• Visual perspective taking

  A small toy will be placed on a square turntable, which has distinct colored sides. The child will be presented with a laminated card representing four images of the toy, each captured from the front, back, left, and right perspectives. The experimenter will randomly place a small doll in different positions (left, right, or the distant side). The child will be asked, 'This is a little seahorse. When the seahorse is here, which view will the seahorse have?' The child's response will be recorded and scored.

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Facial emotion recognition

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

• Spatial ability

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

• Mental rotation

  The test will be measured before, after immediately and three months after the intervention.

Study Arms (4)

Visual perspective taking training

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will receive visual perspective taking training in this arm.

Behavioral: Visual perspective taking training

Block building training

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will receive block building training in this arm.

Behavioral: Block building training

Thought-bubble training

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will receive thought-bubble training in this arm.

Behavioral: Thought-bubble training

Treatment as usual

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Participants will continue to receive routine therapy in this arm.

Behavioral: Treatment as usual

Interventions

Visual perspective taking training BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be instructed to utilize small building blocks for the construction of diverse three-dimensional models, with a particular emphasis on employing various perspectives. The visual perspective taking training sessions will be conducted three times weekly over a period of 4 weeks.

Visual perspective taking training

Block building training BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be instructed to utilize unit building blocks to construct diverse three-dimensional models. The block building training sessions will be conducted three times weekly over a period of 4 weeks.

Block building training

Thought-bubble training BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be instructed in the comprehension of mental states through the utilization of cartoon thought-bubbles as a representational tool. The thought-bubble training sessions will be conducted three times weekly over a period of 4 weeks.

Thought-bubble training

Treatment as usual BEHAVIORAL

Participants will continue to receive treatment as usual during the trial.

Treatment as usual

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 3 Years - 8 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• ASD group:
• With a diagnosis of ASD.
• Age between 3 and 8 years old.
• Monolinguals, Chinese native speakers.
• Providing written informed consent sighed by parents.
• Control group:
• No diagnosis of ASD (including individuals who are typically developing, have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.)
• Age between 3 and 8 years old.
• Monolinguals, Chinese native speakers.
• Providing written informed consent sighed by parents.

You may not qualify if:

• Language or motor impairments hindering participation in the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Nanjing Normal University: lead
• Zhuhai Fudan Innovation Institute: collaborator
• Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University: collaborator

Study Sites (3)

Zhuhai Fudan Innovation Institute

Zhuhai, Guangdong, 519031, China

NOT YET RECRUITING

The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University

Nanning, Guangxi, China

RECRUITING

Nanjing Normal University

Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China

NOT YET RECRUITING

Related Publications (20)

• Caldwell MP, Cheung H, Cheung SK, Li JB, Carrey Siu TS. Visuospatial perspective-taking in social-emotional development: enhancing young children's mind and emotion understanding via block building training. BMC Psychol. 2022 Nov 12;10(1):264. doi: 10.1186/s40359-022-00976-5.

  PMID: 36371295 BACKGROUND

• Coll MP, Murphy J, Catmur C, Bird G, Brewer R. The importance of stimulus variability when studying face processing using fast periodic visual stimulation: A novel 'mixed-emotions' paradigm. Cortex. 2019 Aug;117:182-195. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.03.006. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

  PMID: 30986633 BACKGROUND

• Dwyer P, Xu B, Tanaka JW. Investigating the perception of face identity in adults on the autism spectrum using behavioural and electrophysiological measures. Vision Res. 2019 Apr;157:132-141. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.02.013. Epub 2018 Jul 26.

  PMID: 30012353 BACKGROUND

• Erle TM, Topolinski S. The grounded nature of psychological perspective-taking. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2017 May;112(5):683-695. doi: 10.1037/pspa0000081. Epub 2017 Mar 2.

  PMID: 28253002 BACKGROUND

• Hamilton AF, Brindley R, Frith U. Visual perspective taking impairment in children with autistic spectrum disorder. Cognition. 2009 Oct;113(1):37-44. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.07.007. Epub 2009 Aug 13.

  PMID: 19682673 BACKGROUND

• Hofmann SG, Doan SN, Sprung M, Wilson A, Ebesutani C, Andrews LA, Curtiss J, Harris PL. Training children's theory-of-mind: A meta-analysis of controlled studies. Cognition. 2016 May;150:200-12. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.01.006. Epub 2016 Feb 20.

  PMID: 26901235 BACKGROUND

• Hutchins TL, Prelock PA, Bonazinga L. Psychometric evaluation of the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI): a study of typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2012 Mar;42(3):327-41. doi: 10.1007/s10803-011-1244-7.

  PMID: 21484516 BACKGROUND

• Retter TL, Rossion B. Uncovering the neural magnitude and spatio-temporal dynamics of natural image categorization in a fast visual stream. Neuropsychologia. 2016 Oct;91:9-28. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.07.028. Epub 2016 Jul 25.

  PMID: 27461075 BACKGROUND

• Rossion B. Understanding face perception by means of human electrophysiology. Trends Cogn Sci. 2014 Jun;18(6):310-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.02.013. Epub 2014 Apr 1.

  PMID: 24703600 BACKGROUND

• Surtees A, Apperly I, Samson D. Similarities and differences in visual and spatial perspective-taking processes. Cognition. 2013 Nov;129(2):426-38. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.06.008. Epub 2013 Sep 14.

  PMID: 23999408 BACKGROUND

• Tian M, Luo T, Ding J, Wang X, Cheung H. Spatial Ability and Theory of Mind: A Mediating Role of Visual Perspective Taking. Child Dev. 2021 Jul;92(4):1590-1604. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13546. Epub 2021 Jan 28.

  PMID: 33507549 BACKGROUND

• Tracy JL, Robins RW, Schriber RA, Solomon M. Is emotion recognition impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders? J Autism Dev Disord. 2011 Jan;41(1):102-9. doi: 10.1007/s10803-010-1030-y.

  PMID: 20464465 BACKGROUND

• Van der Donck S, Dzhelyova M, Vettori S, Mahdi SS, Claes P, Steyaert J, Boets B. Rapid neural categorization of angry and fearful faces is specifically impaired in boys with autism spectrum disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2020 Sep;61(9):1019-1029. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13201. Epub 2020 Jan 31.

  PMID: 32003011 BACKGROUND

• Vettori S, Dzhelyova M, Van der Donck S, Jacques C, Steyaert J, Rossion B, Boets B. Reduced neural sensitivity to rapid individual face discrimination in autism spectrum disorder. Neuroimage Clin. 2019;21:101613. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.101613. Epub 2018 Nov 28.

  PMID: 30522972 BACKGROUND

• Wellman HM, Baron-Cohen S, Caswell R, Gomez JC, Swettenham J, Toye E, Lagattuta K. Thought-bubbles help children with autism acquire an alternative to a theory of mind. Autism. 2002 Dec;6(4):343-63. doi: 10.1177/1362361302006004003.

  PMID: 12540127 BACKGROUND

• Wellman HM, Liu D. Scaling of theory-of-mind tasks. Child Dev. 2004 Mar-Apr;75(2):523-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00691.x.

  PMID: 15056204 BACKGROUND

• Chen KL, Jiang DR, Yu YT, Lee YC. Development and psychometric evidence of the Chinese Version of the Theory of Mind Inventory-2 (ToMI-2) in children with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. 2023; 103: 102132.

  BACKGROUND

• Kessler K, Wang H. Spatial perspective taking is an embodied process, but not for everyone in the same way: Differences predicted by sex and social skills score. Spatial Cognition & Computation. 2012; 12(2-3): 133-158.

  BACKGROUND

• Knoll M, Charman T. Teaching false belief and visual perspective taking skills in young children: Can a theory of mind be trained? Child Study Journal. 2000; 30(4): 273-273.

  BACKGROUND

• Liao Y, Dillenburger K, He W, Xu Y, Cai H. A Systematic Review of Applied Behavior Analytic Interventions for Children with Autism in Mainland China. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2020; 7(4): 333-351.

  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

Therapeutics

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: QUADRUPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 5, 2023
• First Posted: January 9, 2024
• Study Start: November 15, 2023
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2024
• Study Completion: September 1, 2024
• Last Updated: March 29, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR, ANALYTIC CODE

Locations

CN (3)