How Emotional Responses Affect Decision-Making in Teens With Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

What this Trial Is About

Nonsuicidal self-injury NSSI involves intentionally causing physical harm without suicidal intent, mainly among adolescents. This research focuses on how emotional reactions and reward-related decision-making affect social choices during unfair experiences in adolescents with NSSI compared to healthy peers. The study investigates specific brain response patterns called prediction errors PEs that influence punishment decisions in social interactions. The study observes two groups of adolescents aged 15 to 18, those with NSSI and healthy controls, without administering treatments. Researchers will measure reward, valence, and arousal prediction errors, each taking about 20 minutes, to understand how these brain signals predict punishment decisions. There are no interventions this is an observational study assessing decision-making differences linked to emotional reactivity. Participants will undergo assessments lasting around 20 minutes per outcome to record brain responses related to prediction errors. The study monitors how these signals differ between groups in social decision-making contexts. The total participation time corresponds to these evaluations, focusing on emotional and reward-related brain activity during unfair social scenarios. The study is led by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and runs until July 2027.

Impact of Emotional Reactivity on Dysfunctional Decision-Making in NSSI Adolescents