Development of Attentional Biases for Affective Cues in Infants of Mothers With Depression

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

225 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-11-14

Study Completion Date

2029-07-31

Brief Summary

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The goal of this study is to examine attentional biases for facial displays of emotion as a mechanism of risk in infants of mothers with postpartum major depression, and the potential role of infant arousal in the development of these attentional biases.

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Detailed Description

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As part of the study protocol, infants will complete a computer-based task in which they view facial displays of emotion (angry, happy, sad, neutral) while an eye tracker records their gaze. Mother and infants will also complete a standardized interaction task during which the investigators assess infant gaze and psychophysiology. The task consists of three stages, each of which lasts three minutes. For the first stage (Free Play 1), infants sit in a highchair and mothers are asked to play with their baby as they normally would, without any toys or other objects. In the second stage (Sad), mothers are asked to think about times when they are sad or depressed and do not feel able to effectively play with their child. Mothers are instructed to look at their child but speak in a monotone and minimize body movement or any physical contact with the infant. In the third stage (Free Play 2), mothers again interact with their infants normally for three minutes. These two tasks are consistent with the definition of a Basic Experimental Study in Humans (BESH).

Conditions

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Depression - Major Depressive Disorder

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NA

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Experimental protocol for all infants

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Passive Viewing Task

Intervention Type OTHER

Infants will complete a computer-based task in which they view facial displays of emotion (angry, happy, sad, neutral) while an eye tracker records their gaze.

Interaction Task

Intervention Type OTHER

Mother and infants will also complete a standardized interaction task during which we assess infant gaze and psychophysiology. The task consists of three stages, each of which lasts three minutes. For the first stage (Free Play 1), infants sit in a highchair and mothers are asked to play with their baby as they normally would, without any toys or other objects. In the second stage (Sad), mothers are asked to think about times when they are sad or depressed and do not feel able to effectively play with their child. They are instructed to look at their child but speak in a monotone and minimize body movement or any physical contact with the infant. In the third stage (Free Play 2), mothers again interact with their infants normally for three minutes.

Interventions

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Passive Viewing Task

Infants will complete a computer-based task in which they view facial displays of emotion (angry, happy, sad, neutral) while an eye tracker records their gaze.

Intervention Type OTHER

Interaction Task

Mother and infants will also complete a standardized interaction task during which we assess infant gaze and psychophysiology. The task consists of three stages, each of which lasts three minutes. For the first stage (Free Play 1), infants sit in a highchair and mothers are asked to play with their baby as they normally would, without any toys or other objects. In the second stage (Sad), mothers are asked to think about times when they are sad or depressed and do not feel able to effectively play with their child. They are instructed to look at their child but speak in a monotone and minimize body movement or any physical contact with the infant. In the third stage (Free Play 2), mothers again interact with their infants normally for three minutes.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* The high-risk group (n = 150) will consist of women with at least one episode of MDD since their baby's birth.
* To qualify for the low-risk group (n = 75), women cannot have a history of any depressive disorder or any current psychiatric diagnoses.
* Infants will be required to be singleton children born full-term (\> 37 weeks) and normal weight (\> 2,500 grams) with no birth complications or health problems to avoid medical complications contributing to infants' attention, reactivity, and regulation measures.
* The two groups will be matched on demographic factors (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, income).

Minimum Eligible Age

6 Months

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes