A Novel Conditioning Approach to Counter Loneliness in Adults

NCT06521099 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: E2022-2023-0082
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 136
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to test the efficacy of a 6-session conditioning paradigm by investigating the conditioning-induced change in the socio-affective processing, loneliness, depressive symptoms, and neural correlates of lonely adults.

Conditions

Loneliness

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Self-reported loneliness

  Loneliness is assessed based on the UCLA loneliness scale (Version 3), a 20-item 4-point Likert scale (score range 20 - 80) in which higher scores indicate greater degrees of loneliness.

  Baseline, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention

• Implicit loneliness

  Implicit loneliness will be measured by Implicit Association Test about the relative strength of association between our participants' target concept 'Self' and attribute 'Lonely'.

  Baseline, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Valence of social stimuli

  Baseline, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention

• Social motivation towards social stimuli

  Baseline, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention

• Loneliness-related activation patterns and connectivity in neural networks

  Baseline, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention

• Depressive symptoms

  Baseline, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention

• Daily loneliness

  Through study completion, on average of 4 months

Study Arms (2)

Evaluative conditioning group with positive stimuli

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be exposed to social stimuli paired with positive stimuli across multiple sessions.

Behavioral: Evaluative Conditioning with positive stimuli

Control group with neutral stimuli

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will be exposed to social stimuli paired with neutral stimuli across multiple sessions.

Behavioral: Conditioning with neutral stimuli

Interventions

Evaluative Conditioning with positive stimuli BEHAVIORAL

In the pre-conditioning phase, participants will be exposed to pictures that vary in their emotional (negative, positive) and social (non-social, social) content. For each picture, they are required to indicate their immediate perceived valence (between negative to positive), degree of social motivation (between none to high) on Likert-scales. In the conditioning phase, emotional social pictures will be selected and paired with non-social positive stimuli for trials in random order, for 6 sessions across 3 weeks. In the post-conditioning phase, participants will be asked to evaluate the valence of the stimuli again similar to that in pre-conditioning phase.

Evaluative conditioning group with positive stimuli

Conditioning with neutral stimuli BEHAVIORAL

In the pre-conditioning phase, participants will be exposed to pictures that vary in their emotional (negative, positive) and social (non-social, social) content. For each picture, they are required to indicate their immediate perceived valence (between negative to positive), degree of social motivation (between none to high) on Likert-scales. In the conditioning phase, emotional social pictures will be selected and paired with with neutral non-social stimuli for trials in random order, for 6 sessions across 3 weeks. In the post-conditioning phase, participants will be asked to evaluate the valence of the stimuli again similar to that in pre-conditioning phase.

Control group with neutral stimuli

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• No histories of learning impairment, major psychiatric disorders or neurological disorders other than depression
• Normal intelligence
• At least primary school education

You may not qualify if:

• On medication or treatments within 2 weeks prior to the beginning of the study that would affect the individual's brain, cognitive and affective functions

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Education University of Hong Kong: lead
• The University of Hong Kong: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Related Publications (1)

• Wong NML, Lee TMC. Evaluating the effects of a conditioning training paradigm on loneliness, socio-affective processing, and brain connectivity: a study protocol of a two-arm randomised controlled trial. BMC Psychol. 2025 Aug 27;13(1):975. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03342-3.

  PMID: 40866945 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Nichol ML Wong, PhD

  Education University of Hong Kong

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Nichol ML Wong, PhD

CONTACT

852-29487431; nmlwong@eduhk.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 11, 2024
• First Posted: July 25, 2024
• Study Start: August 19, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Last Updated: March 2, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

HK (1)