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Decision-Making in Schizophrenia: A Combined Neuroimaging and Experience Sampling Study

NCT06745479 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 74

Last updated 2026-03-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if attention and ways of thinking impact decision-making and brain processes related to decision-making in people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder relative to people without either condition. It will also learn how brain functioning during decision-making relates to real-world decisions made during daily life. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does paying attention to specific information impact decision-making and brain processes?
* Does thinking in a certain way according to specific 'thinking strategies' improve brain processes related to decision-making?
* Does brain functioning during decision-making relate to real-world choices to engage in activities?

Researchers will compare brain functioning and decision-making on computer tasks of gambling after participants have been trained to use a positive thinking strategy. They will compare what is different in the brain and behavior when participants use this strategy and when they do not. Participants will also answer brief surveys about activities and feelings for a week in their daily lives.

Participants will:

* Complete several hours of clinical interviewing, cognitive tests, and surveys of about symptoms, experiences, and personality
* Complete computer tasks about gambling decisions during MRI brain scanning and while having their visual attention measured using eye-tracking
* Complete brief surveys about their activities and feelings 5 times a day for 1 week using a cell phone. Each survey only take several minutes.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Positive Emotion Upregulation

Participants will identify personal goals or activities that they would like to engage in more and describe these goals/activities in a written format with research staff. Participants will then complete a gambling task during functional MRI scanning. Prior to making some gambling decisions, participants are instructed to mentally imagine achieving a goal or engaging in an enjoyable activity. Prior to the other decisions participants are instructed to respond naturally (i.e., not use the cognitive strategy).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

    collaborator NIH

  • Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • David Zald, PhD · Rutgers University

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
50 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-01-07
Primary Completion
2027-04-30
Completion
2027-06-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06745479 on ClinicalTrials.gov