Investigating the Specificity of Neural Correlates for Emotion Processing Deficits in Conduct Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Conditions: Autism-Spectrum Disorder; Conduct Disorder

• Registration Number: NCT04324099
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Brief Summary

This study is

1. to investigate the differential and shared neural underpinnings of facial emotion processing within Conduct disorder (CD) and Autism-Spectrum disorder (ASD) and

2. to investigate the interaction between deficits in emotion processing and dysfunctional cognitive control processes.

Differences in emotion processing and the underlying neural underpinnings of such differences will be assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) without any contrast agent, combined with adapted emotion processing paradigms and eye tracking techniques.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-03-24
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-03-24
• Study First Posted: 2020-03-27
• Study Start: 2020-07-16
• Status Verified: 2022-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-02-28
• Last Update Posted: 2022-03-02
• Primary Completion: 2023-04
• Study Completion: 2023-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 120

Inclusion Criteria

• For all participants: age between 10 and 18 years and an intelligence quotient score of 70 or higher.
• For patient groups: confirmed clinical diagnoses according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-5 of CD or ASD (depending on the group), without comorbid depression or anxiety psychological disorders.

Exclusion Criteria

• For all participants: low intelligence (IQ<70, as they might otherwise not fully understand what they are expected to do inside the scanner), insufficient German language skills or any contraindications for MRI (e.g. pregnancy, any non-removable metal within the subjects' body, claustrophobia).
• For patient groups: severe developmental disorders, comorbid depressive and/or anxiety disorders will also be excluded from the study since it was shown that these patients might have problems in attention allocation under emotional stimulation.
• For typically developing participants: suspicion of an undiagnosed clinical disorder

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
difference between groups (children and adolescents with CD, ASD and typically developing adolescents) in neural activity	fMRI imaging Day 1	difference between groups in neural activity as measured by Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal during emotion processing using a priori defined regions of interest (ROIs) including the insula, amygdala, and ventromedial prefrontal Cortex in fMRI

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Emotion processing task (fMRI)	fMRI imaging Day 1	Emotion processing task (fMRI): measures of eye gaze collected by eye-tracking

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, KJPK (UPK); 🇨🇭 Basel, Switzerland