Neurotherapy to Promote Emotion Recognition in Autism
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 已完成
- 入组人数
- 28
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- facial emotion recognition (RMET)
研究概览
简要总结
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, more prevalent than previously thought and heterogeneous in expression, though uniformly characterized by severe social disability. The social disability that defines ASD pervades other areas of adaptive behavior, is predictive of secondary mental health problems, and adversely affects long-term outcome. Although ASD is a chronic condition, there has been little research on interventions for adults with ASD. This study proposes to first establish the neural plasticity of specific brain mechanisms underlying difficulties with facial emotion recognition, a core deficit believed to be pivotal in the behavioral expression of ASD-social disability. The investigators will then develop a novel, computer-based intervention using real-time feedback, to the user, to ameliorate emotion recognition deficits.
详细描述
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are known to have difficulty in the recognition of facial emotion. Such deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) are thought to cause or exacerbate social disability in ASD by preventing 1) accurate detection of social/emotional information conveyed through the face and, subsequently 2) the deployment of emotionally appropriate responses. Consistent with this model, FER deficits are correlated with social disability in ASD and confer morbidity above and beyond core symptoms.
The long-term goal is to understand how FER networks can be manipulated for therapeutic and preventative purposes. In this trial, investigators are testing the feasibility of an intervention that capitalizes on our previously developed brain-computer interface (BCI) to promote FER in a mixed virtual reality world. The new "FER Assistant" tool (deployed on a tablet - iPad) is intended to aid users in detecting emotions and intents of 'avatars' inhabiting a virtual world, and will provide users with a highly realistic testbed for practicing FER skills in concert with BCI.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Treatment
- 盲法
- Single (Outcomes Assessor)
盲法说明
independent evaluators are masked to condition assignment
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 16 Years 至 29 Years(Child, Adult)
- 性别
- Male
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •diagnosis of ASD
排除标准
- •No severe psychopathology which warrants other immediate treatment
结局指标
主要结局
facial emotion recognition (RMET)
时间窗: 5 weeks
Change in facial emotion recognition 5 weeks after baseline appointment
次要结局
未报告次要终点
研究者
John Richey
Associate Professor
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
