HYEEG Discourse in Psychosis: A Neurobehavioural Study

NCT06978803 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2023-595
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 110
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This multimodal study explores the mechanisms underlying social dysfunction in individuals with schizophrenia. It focuses on the relationship between disorganized communication and social interaction, aiming to identify measurable markers of disorganized communication and link them to clinical symptoms and social functioning. Key Research Questions: How do neural and behavioural synchrony contribute to social impairments in schizophrenia? What roles do interbrain synchrony, motor imitation, reaction time, and verbal coherence play in disorganized communication? Participants will:

1. 1.Engage in structured and semi-structured real-time social interactions while undergoing dual-brain electroencephalogram (EEG) hyperscanning to measure neural and behavioural activity.
2. 2.Perform nonverbal tasks such as motor imitation and reaction time assessments to investigate coordination and behavioural synchrony patterns.
3. 3.Participate in a clinical interview that evaluates verbal production, thought coherence, and speech organization.

Conditions

Psychosis; Schizophrenia Disorders

Keywords

hyperscanning eeg; psychosis; imitation tasks; interbrain synchrony; motor imitation; motor behaviour; speech disorganization; natural language processing

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Inter-brain phase synchronization using Phase Locking Index via hyperscanning during communication

  Using oscillatory and time-frequency analyses of electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning data, inter-brain synchronization will be calculated via phase locking value for both patients and control subjects. This value will be related to: (1) verbal data from clinical interviews analyzed using Natural Language Processing techniques, including sentiment analysis to assess emotional tone, coherence classification to evaluate logical flow, and semantic similarity analysis (2) nonverbal measures such as motor synchrony, imitation accuracy, and reaction time.

  baseline

Other Outcomes (1)

• Composite Index of Severity as Measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), THought and Language Index and Social and Occupational Functioning (SOFAS)

  baseline

Study Arms (2)

Healthy controls

1. English or French-speaking participants (as dyads matched for language preference). 2. Ages 18-60 years. 3. No diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5 criteria.

Patients

1. English or French-speaking participants (as dyads matched for language preference). 2. Ages 18-60 years. 3. Patients meeting the operational criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness as previously diagnosed by their treating psychiatrist, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5 criteria. 4. Patients with less than 5 years of illness onset, based on the time of starting treatment with antipsychotic medication.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 60 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with psychosis will be recruited from the following Douglas Mental Health University Institute areas: l'Étape Outpatient Clinic, Assertive Community Treatment Clinics, Intensive Psychosocial Rehab Clinic, and the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis (PEPP) clinics in CIUSSS de l'ouest-de-L'île-de-Montréal, in association with the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the Douglas. Healthy Control participants will be recruited from the Greater Montreal Area using online study advertisements (Facebook, Kijiji, Twitter) and research study posters placed on bulletin boards.

You may qualify if:

• English or French-speaking participants (as dyads matched for language preference).
• Ages 18-60 years.
• Patients meeting the operational criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness as previously diagnosed by their treating psychiatrist, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5 criteria (Zipursky et al., 2020).
• Patients with less than 5 years of illness onset, based on the time of starting treatment with antipsychotic medication.

You may not qualify if:

• Participants should not have a severe medical disorder that would explain psychotic symptoms.
• Participants should not have a past or current history of a primary neurological disorder that can affect speech output
• Participants with IQ below 70 or a concurrent pervasive developmental disorder (e.g., autism) will also be excluded.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Douglas Mental Health University Institute: lead

Study Sites (1)

Douglas Mental Health University Institute

Montreal, Quebec, H4H 1R3, Canada

RECRUITING

Related Publications (28)

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Related Links

• Related Info
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MeSH Terms

Conditions

Psychotic Disorders; Schizophrenia; Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders; Behavior

Study Officials

• Lena Palaniyappan, MD, PhD

  Douglas Mental Health University Institute

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Emmanuel Olarewaju, PhD Candidate

CONTACT

5147616131; emmanuel.olarewaju@mail.mcgill.ca

Lena Palaniyappan, MD, PhD

CONTACT

5147616131; lena.palaniyappan@mcgill.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE CONTROL
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Psychiatry

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 13, 2025
• First Posted: May 18, 2025
• Study Start: January 16, 2024
• Primary Completion: October 22, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Last Updated: May 18, 2025

Record last verified: 2024-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: December 2028 for an unlimitied amount of time. There are no plans for data destruction of the study information stored (de-identified audio and transcriptions) within TalkBank.
• Access Criteria: The anonymized speech data will be retained on an access-controlled secure database hosted by TalkBank. We anticipate this being available within 2 years of the enrolment of the last participant. For more information see https://psychosis.talkbank.org/ and https://discourseinpsychosis.org/

Locations

CA (1)