Interested in joining our study?
Give us a call at (205)-934-8203!
Alternatively, you can email us at NLSB.uab@gmail.com
What is SAMI?
The primary purpose of this study is to explore a better way of measuring social anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure related to social interaction, with tasks designed to measure how individuals respond to social rewards and to examine whether brief sessions of psychosocial training can change performance on those tasks.
Why is this research important?
Social anhedonia—a diminished enjoyment and interest in social interactions—poses a significant public health issue, especially in psychosis, where it's a major factor in poor social functioning and disability. Despite its impact, treatments for this condition are lacking, largely due to insufficient understanding of its underlying mechanisms. This proposal aims to address this gap by investigating disrupted social reward learning as a key process in social anhedonia. Drawing on theoretical and empirical evidence from affective and behavioral neuroscience, we will explore this mechanism's role by studying a clinical sample with pronounced social anhedonia using a neuroimaging approach.
What are the eligibility requirements?
1. Age 16-35 years
2. A first episode of a psychotic illness that began within the past two years.
3. A DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform, or schizoaffective disorder.
4. No evidence that substance use triggered the psychotic episode or makes the diagnosis ambiguous.
5. No evidence of moderate or severe alcohol or substance use disorder in the past 6 months.
6. No medication changes 3 weeks prior to enrollment.
7. Taking 2nd generation antipsychotic medications.
8. Sufficient fluency in English to comprehend testing procedures.
9. No clinically significant disease based on medical history (e.g., epilepsy) or significant head injury.
10. Premorbid IQ not less than 70 assessed with the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading.
11. Corrected vision of at least 20/30.
12. For females: no current pregnancy (assessed via patient self-report).
13. Appropriate for scanning (i.e., no pacemaker or metal implants) and expressed willingness to participate in scanning.
14. No sedatives or anxiolytics on the day of assessment.
What are the procedures?
Screening Visit: Confirm eligibility via SCID-5 interviews, either in-office or via Zoom, with diagnoses established using medical records, hospital staff consultations, and, if necessary, discussions with family members. Assessments include the Expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms, Global Functioning Scales, Social Network Index, DSM-V Crosscutting Measure, GAD-7, PHQ-9, and WHODAS. Expected duration is 2 hours.
Testing Visit: Cognitive and social cognition assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. Also includes a Continuous Performance Test and an incentive delay task for assessing hedonic processes, along with the Social Anhedonia Scale-Brief, Measure of Affiliative Tendency, and UCLA Loneliness Scale. Expected duration is 2 hours.
First Scanning Visit: Conducted in a 3T Siemens Prisma scanner, includes pre- and post-probe Social Reward Learning tasks with a focus on social and nonsocial rewards. Participants receive task instructions and complete practice trials before scanning. Duration is 90 minutes.
Psychosocial Interventions Visits (4-6): Participants are randomized to either Motivational Interviewing focusing on social interest/relationships or control training on nutrition, each comprising three 45-minute sessions. MI sessions aim to enhance sensitivity to social rewards through discussions on social interactions and goal setting, while nutrition training covers healthy eating habits.
Second Scanning Visit (Visit 7): Repetition of the procedures from the first scanning visit to compare pre- and post-intervention effects.
Interested in joining our study?
Give us a call at (205)-934-8203!
Alternatively, you can email us at NLSB.uab@gmail.com
