Brain Imaging of Cognition Inn Schizophrenia and Depression

Recruiting now

Conditions studied: Schizophrenia / Schizoaffective Disorder, Depression / Major Depressive Disorder

In brief

Schizophrenia and depression are among the most disabling disorders in all of medicine. Cognitive deficits play a key role in patients' disability, affecting their capacity to contribute actively to society by sustaining employment or academic activity. Moreover, cognitive difficulties tend to persist even after the stabilization of other clinical symptoms. Verbal memory and emotion regulation are two important cognitive domains that are impaired in schizophrenia and depression and are associated with patients' functional outcomes. In this study, brain imaging is used to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying these cognitive deficits in these populations.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT04159662

Run by

The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre

People needed

90

Starts

2019-12-12

Expected to finish

2026-10-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-03-23

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 60. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• age 18-60 years
• current Intelligence Quotient (IQ) > 70 as measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI)
• the ability to read and speak fluent English
• a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective or major depression disorder
• stable medication for more than one month

You may not qualify if…

• significant neurological or other medical disorders that may produce cognitive impairment
• a recent history of substance abuse or dependence (within the past 3 months)
• any magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contraindications (e.g. metallic head implant, history of seizure, pacemaker)
• decisional incapacity requiring a guardian
• taking medications that are rated as Anticholinergic Burden (ACB) Score 3 (severe) or taking benzodiazepines on a daily basis
• Finally, participants could not be severely symptomatic at the time of study enrolment to ensure that they could understand and complete all study assessments. This criterion was defined as a score ≤34 on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS; Montgomery \& Åsberg, 1979) for the MDD group and a score ≤95 on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS; Kay et al., 1987) for the SZ group.

Where it is running

• Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.