Social Cognition and Executive Functions in Alcohol Use Disorders - Transverse Study
- Conditions
- Alcohol Use Disorder
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Analysis of executive functioning and of social cognition processes
- Registration Number
- NCT04647422
- Lead Sponsor
- CHU de Reims
- Brief Summary
Over the past few years, researchers and clinicians have stressed the major role of executive and social cognition impairments in the development and the maintenance of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD).
Executive functions are defined as functions for behavioral control that help us to adjust the investigator's behavior in a flexible way in non-familiar, non-routine situations. Executive functions encompass different cognitive processes, such as inhibition, mental flexibility, updating, planification, abstraction, rule deduction or organization. Studies comparing AUD patients to healthy controls have shown that AUD usually is associated with a large range of deficits. More recently studies have also emphasized a weakness of executive functioning among healthy participants with a positive family history of AUD.
Social cognition refers to all cognitive processes that enable us to communicate and to interact with social environment in an appropriate manner. Among the most common social cognition sub-components are theory of mind (defined as the capacity to understand other people's mental states as for instance beliefs and desires), empathy, and emotion recognition. Emotional and interpersonal difficulties have a high prevalence in AUD and chronic alcohol consumption is often linked to social conflicts, misunderstandings, a lack of social support and isolation. Indeed, AUD patients have difficulties in understanding their own mental states and emotions as well as those of their social environment.
Few studies have investigated the interdependency between these cognitive impairments in AUD while a better understanding of the link between executive functions and social cognition seems crucial in order to better characterize the nature of AUD patients' deficits and thus their caring.
- Detailed Description
The aim of the study is to describe cognitive processes (theory of mind, empathy, and emotion recognition) and executive functions (inhibition, mental flexibility) in patients with AUD and first degree relatives of patients with an AUD.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 220
Not provided
Not provided
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description AUD patients Analysis of executive functioning and of social cognition processes Alcohol Use Disorder patients First-degree controls Analysis of executive functioning and of social cognition processes Healthy control participants matched to group 3 First-degree relatives Analysis of executive functioning and of social cognition processes Healthy first-degree relatives of AUD patients AUD controls Analysis of executive functioning and of social cognition processes Healthy control participants matched to group 1
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Social cognition: facial emotion recognition Day 0 Evaluated through a test of facial emotion recognition (TREF). The participant is shown 54 photographs depicting 6 different emotions of variable intensity (joy, anger, sadness, disgust, contempt, fear) for which he must choose the corresponding emotion label. Are measured participant's response times, the number of correct responses (score out of 54) and type of errors.
(Gaudelus, B., Virgile, J., Peyroux, E., b, Leleu, A., c, Baudouin J.Y., Franck N. (2015). Mesure du déficit de reconnaissance des émotions faciales dans la schizophrénie. Étude préliminaire du test de reconnaissance des émotions faciales (TREF). L'encéphale 41(3), 251-259.)Executive functions: inhibition of an ongoing motor response Day 0 Evaluated through the Stop signal task. The participant is presented with a series of photographs showing human faces and is instructed to categorize the photographs according to gender (Go trials). From time to time a red circle appears around the face after a variable time interval and the participant must then withhold his response (Stop trials). Are measured the response time on Go trials, the number and type of errors and the Stop Signal Reaction Time (SSRT).
(Verbruggen F., \& Logan G.D. (2008) Response inhibition in the stop-signal paradigm. Trends in cognitive sciences 12, 418-424.)Executive functions: mental flexibility performances and processing speed Day 0 Evaluated through the Trail Making Test (TMT parts A and B). In part A the participant must connect as quick as possible all the numbers on a sheet of paper in ascending order (1-25). In part B the participant is asked to connect all the numbers in ascending order (1-13) and all the letters according to their alphabetical order (A-L) whilst alternating between numbers and letters and without lifting the pencil. For both parts is reported the time necessary for task completion in seconds.
(Reitan RM, Wolfson D (1985) The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery. Neuropsychology Press, Tucson, AZ.)Executive functions: mental flexibility performances Day 0 Evaluated through the Plus-Minus test. In this test, the participant is presented with three lists of 30 two-digit numbers. At first, the participant is asked to add three to all the numbers of a first list (+3). He must then subtract three from all the numbers of a second list (-3) and finally he must alternate between addition and subtraction when presented with a third list (+3/-3). Are measured the completion times for the three lists and participant's error rate.
(Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A, Wager TD (2000) The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "Frontal Lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology 41, 49-100.)Executive functions: prepotent response inhibition Day 0 Evaluated through the Stroop test. The participant is shown three different slides with 100 items for 45s each. On the first slide are written color words (Color-word congruent condition) that the participant must read as quickly as possible. On the second slide are shown color patches (Color congruent condition) that the participants must name as quickly as possible. Finally, in the third condition, the participant is shown color words written in different colors and must try to name the color of the ink of the word without reading it (Interference condition). Are collected the completion times for the tree slides as well as self-corrected and uncorrected errors.
(Golden C.J (1976) Identification of brain disorders by the Stroop color and word test. Journal of Clinical Psychology 32, 654-658)Social cognition: cognitive and affective theory of mind Day 0 Evaluated through The Movie of Assessment for Social Cognition (MASC). The participant is shown a movie of approximately 15 minutes displaying people interacting with each other. From time to time, the movie is stopped, and the participant must answer different questions relating to the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Are measured the number of correct responses out of 45.
(Dziobek I, Fleck S, Kalbe E, Rogers K, Hassenstab J, Brand M, Kessler J, Woike JK, Wolf OT, Convit A.J (2006). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 36(5), 623-36.)
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method fMRI behavioral responses during a cognitive and affective theory of mind task Day 0 During the task will be recorded the participant's behavioral performance (number of correct responses).
Duration of ocular fixations Day 0 The mean duration of fixations will be evaluated using eye tracking. The participant is shown photographs of primary emotions and during the presentation are recorded his eye movements.
Number of ocular saccades Day 0 The number of saccades will be evaluated using eye tracking. The participant is shown photographs of primary emotions and during the presentation are recorded his eye movements.
Localization of the first ocular fixation Day 0 The localization of the first fixation will be evaluated using eye tracking. The participant is shown photographs of primary emotions and during the presentation are recorded his eye movements.
fMRI activations during a cognitive and affective theory of mind task Day 0 Brain regions significantly activated during the task will be recorded as shown by the variations in the BOLD signal (whole brain analysis).
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Damien JOLLY
🇫🇷Reims, France