Investigating the Neural Systems That Support the Beneficial Effects of Positive Emotion on Stress Regulation

NCT ID: NCT04496258

Last Updated: 2024-08-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 99 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-10-05
• Study Completion Date: 2022-04-14

Brief Summary

For this study, community participants visited the PI's psychophysiology lab for a single experimental session. In this study, participants completed a brief mood measure, followed by a task training in which a research assistant described and gave examples of cognitive reappraisal in response to negative images. Participants were then randomly assigned to positive or neutral emotion induction conditions, delivered by virtual reality. Then, participants completed an event-related, picture-based cognitive reappraisal task for 23 minutes. Following the task, participants once again responded to a mood measure, completed post-task questionnaires (individual difference measures) and answered a series of questions regarding the task they completed, including difficulty of regulation, or any images that were personally relevant.

The investigators predicted that the positive emotion induction would result in powerful effects on self-reported emotion, which may or may not interact with the cognitive reappraisal condition.

Detailed Description

For the studies, participants were recruited via paper and electronic flyers on campus and in the surrounding communities. Interested participants were screened via phone, email and/or web form to assess eligibility according to criteria listed elsewhere. If participants qualified, they were be invited to complete a single laboratory session in the PI's lab.

Once arriving at the laboratory, participants completed the consent process, in which a research assistant trained in ethical principles regarding human subjects research answered any questions about the consent form and verbally reinforced the key rights of the participants outlined there. Once both parties were satisfied, the consent form was signed.

Participants sat with a trained research assistant/experimenter who gave an overview of the entire session, and then began training for the cognitive reappraisal task. The training took 10-15 minutes. During the training, the experimenter offered several possible reappraisals of negative images and allowed the participants to offer their own as well, providing encouragement and feedback. During this training, the experimenter also went over the method of responding (using the VR equipment). Participants were reminded during training that they may stop the experiment at any point if the pictures are too upsetting.

Immediately following task training, participants will made a general mood rating using the mDES. Then, they were randomly assigned to a positive or neutral mood induction, to be delivered via the VR headset for three minutes. Participants were encouraged to explore the VR environment, which was either a positive (beach scene) or neutral (office scene). The VR environment was implemented using a headset with integrated audio. After the VR exploration, participants made a rating of their current positive and negative affect in the VR environment. Then, participants completed the reappraisal task in the VR environment. The task took approximately 23 minutes.

Finally, participants completed post-task individual difference measures.

Conditions

Behavior

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Positive VR Scene

Participants will explore a virtual reality (VR) environment of a beach scene. Participants will be randomly assigned (between subjects) to beach or office scene. VR will be presented on an Occulus Rift device.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Positive Emotion Induction

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants are expected to have a positive emotional response to the more positive beach scene.

Neutral VR Scene

Participants will explore a virtual reality (VR) environment of a neutral office scene. Participants will be randomly assigned (between subjects) to beach or office scene. VR will be presented on an Occulus Rift device.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Neutral Emotion Induction

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants are expected to have a neutral emotional response to the neutral office scene.

Interventions

Positive Emotion Induction

Participants are expected to have a positive emotional response to the more positive beach scene.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Neutral Emotion Induction

Participants are expected to have a neutral emotional response to the neutral office scene.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Community members ages 18-55
• Fluent in English
• Without present psychotic symptoms

Exclusion Criteria

• None

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 55 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Denver

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Kateri McRae

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Kateri McRae, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Denver

Locations

The University of Denver, Frontier Hall

Denver, Colorado, United States

Countries

United States

References

Kako N, Waugh CE, McRae K. The Future of Immersive Mood Induction in Affective Science: Using Virtual Reality to Test Effects of Mood Context on Task Performance. Affect Sci. 2023 Sep 12;4(3):570-579. doi: 10.1007/s42761-023-00213-1. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 37744975 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

2R15MH106928-02A1

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

1606445

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id