Innovative Multimodal and Attention Training to Improve Emotion Communication in Veterans With TBI and PTSD

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.

Conditions

• Brain Injury
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Multimodal affect recognition 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.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention Training

computerized attention drill training

BEHAVIORAL

Brain Health Workshop

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

BEHAVIORAL

National Geographic Movies

participant will watch movies and answer questions after

Sponsors & Collaborators

• VA Office of Research and Development

  lead FED

Principal Investigators

• Julia K. Waid-Ebbs, PhD · North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

25 Years

Max Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-12-01

Primary Completion

2026-05-30

Completion

2026-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations