Actively Recruiting
Facial Affect Sensitivity Training for Young Children With Callous-unemotional Traits
Led by University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa · Updated on 2025-06-15
168
Participants Needed
1
Research Sites
284 weeks
Total Duration
On this page
AI-Summary
What this Trial Is About
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.
CONDITIONS
Official Title
Facial Affect Sensitivity Training for Young Children With Callous-unemotional Traits
Who Can Participate
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if you...
- A standard score less than or equal to 8 on the NEPSY Affect Recognition test, or 70% accuracy or less for distress-related emotions on a Dynamic Facial Emotion Recognition measure
- Composite IQ score of at least 80 on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition
- Psychotropic medications must be on a stable dosing schedule for at least 2 weeks before entering the study
- Elevated callous-unemotional traits defined as a score of "2" on at least 2 of 4 CU items on the Antisocial Process Screening Device
You will not qualify if you...
- Diagnosis of bipolar disorder
- Current risk for suicide or harm to others
- Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- Currently in therapy for callous-unemotional traits or facial emotion recognition deficits
AI-Screening
AI-Powered Screening
Complete this quick 3-step screening to check your eligibility
Trial Site Locations
Total: 1 location
1
Center for Youth Development and Intervention (CYDI)
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, 35487
Actively Recruiting
Research Team
B
Bradley A White, PhD
CONTACT
S
Susan W White, PhD
CONTACT
How is the study designed?
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Masking
SINGLE
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Model
PARALLEL
Primary Purpose
TREATMENT
Number of Arms
4
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