Facial Affect Sensitivity Training for Young Children With Callous-unemotional Traits
Completed · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Affective Symptoms, Empathy
In brief
The goal of this study is to test a novel intervention for children ages 6-11 with elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Conduct problems are among the most prevalent and costly mental health conditions of childhood, and a common antecedent to adult psychiatric disorders. An established risk factor for early, persistent, and severe youth misconduct is the presence of CU traits. CU traits (e.g., lack of empathy or guilt, shallow affect) are analogous to the core affective features of adult psychopathy, interfere with child socialization, and predict poorer outcomes, even with well-established treatments for disruptive behavior disorders. Thus, novel intervention approaches are needed to target CU traits. Youth with elevated CU traits show deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) for distress-related expressions, particularly fear or sadness. The central hypothesis is that impaired sensitivity for emotional distress cues (fear and/or sadness) is mechanistically linked to CU traits in children, and that, by targeting affect sensitivity directly, intervention can exert downstream effects on CU traits. A gap in the field regards how to remediate these neurocognitive deficits. This project will directly target affect sensitivity in high-CU youth. The investigators propose an experimental therapeutics approach to develop a novel neurocognitive intervention for CU traits, in which a clearly identified target, facial affect sensitivity (FAS), will be engaged and assessed via primary (distress FER accuracy and/or heightened eye gaze) and secondary (electroencephalograph event-related potential) neurocognitive and behavioral processes. If investigators can demonstrate engagement of the target (FAS) in the initial R61 phase, then in the R33 phase, this finding will be replicated with a new, larger sample, and feasibility and preliminary efficacy of FAST on CU traits will be examined. The long-term goal is to examine FAST impact on behavioral outcomes and to potentially apply this targeted intervention to the wider range of problems associated with CU traits.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT04159168
- Run by
- University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
- People needed
- 161
- Starts
- 2021-02-15
- Expected to finish
- 2026-05-31
- Last updated by the study team
- 2026-06-17
Who can join
Age: 6 and older, up to 11. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may qualify if…
- A standard score less than or equal to 9 on the NEPSY (A Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment) Affect Recognition (AR) test, or less than or equal to 70% accuracy for distress-related emotions on a Dynamic FER measure.
- Composite intelligence quotient (IQ) score of at least 72 on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition.
- Any psychotropic medications must be on stable dosing schedule for 2 weeks prior to entry.
- Presence of elevated CU traits, defined as a total score of at least 2 on the 4 CU items of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), Parent Version, with caregiver-endorsed distress or impairment required for scores of exactly 2.
You may not qualify if…
- Bipolar disorder. Current risk for suicide or harm to others. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Currently participating in therapy for CU traits or facial emotion recognition deficits.
Where it is running
- Center for Youth Development and Intervention (CYDI) — Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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