Affect-based Impulsivity in Borderline Personality Disorder
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-45
SponsorUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
About this trial
The purpose of this research study is to investigate how personality traits and neuroendocrine systems relate to decision-making patterns in individuals 18-45 years old. The main question it aims to answer is how neuroendocrine activity impacts decision-making.
Participants will complete online behavioral tasks, a stress induction procedure, self-report surveys, and a cognitive assessment. During the session, psychophysiological measures will be collected, including electrocardiogram (ECG) and cardiac impedance (ICG) to monitor heart rate and blood flow, as well as electrodermal activity (EDA), blood drop samples, and saliva collection to assess nervous system activity.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
Score of 38 or higher on Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Scale (PAI-BOR)
Participants in the BPD group will be primarily recruited from the two
3+ BPD symptoms, one of which must be affective instability, per clinical interview
Participants must score at least 80 on the Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test (RIST).
Disqualifiers
Use of as needed antihypertensive agents within 12 hours prior to lab visit
Inability to refrain from using as needed psychotropic medications for 12 hours prior to lab visit
History of psychotic disorder, Bipolar I disorder, autism spectrum disorder, reactive attachment disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, motor disorder, head injury, mental retardation, neurological disorder, or current substance dependence
Family history of Bipolar I disorder in a first degree relative.
Trial design
Design model
Single group
Treatments tested in this trial
Stress Induction
BehavioralParticipants will complete the Trier Social Stress Test to induce stress, which includes a public speaking simulation and mental arithmetic.
Treatment groups
106 Participants
are divided into 1 treatment groupGroup A: StressExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Goal-directed decision-making in the Social Decision Tree Task (SDTT)
Measured by choice behavior in SDTT, which is based on the decision tree framework. After each action, participants receive feedback about the effect of that action and the extent to which it added to or took away from their points. If participants make a given choice, the subsequent actions that they can choose are different than if they were to initially make a different choice. An action in SDTT is goal-directed if the possible net gain an individual can earn before the end of the current epoch (a "day" in the SDTT) is equal to or higher than the amount they could gain by choosing the alternative action. The investigators will subset trials so that 1 is coded as choosing the immediately valuable action at the expense of the optimal and 0 is coded as choosing the optimal at the expense of the immediately valuable action. This outcome variable is binary.
Time frame
Collected for 40 minutes ~2 hours into one-time study visitSecondary outcomes
1
Bias toward social actions in the Social Decision Tree Task (SDTT)
Measured by choice behavior in SDTT, which is based on the decision tree framework. An action in SDTT is defined as social if it is paired with a visual cue with a face on it and non-social if not. This outcome variable is binary.
Time frame
Collected for 40 minutes ~2 hours into one-time study visitOther outcomes
1
Change in salivary cortisol
The investigators will collect a saliva sample to measure baseline salivary cortisol at the beginning of the session. They will collect a second saliva sample 10 minutes after the stress induction concludes. They will measure cortisol levels in both samples through an assay. The investigators will calculate the change in salivary cortisol by subtracting the measured cortisol in the first saliva sample (collected at baseline) from the measured cortisol in the second saliva sample (collected 10 minutes after the stress induction). Salivary cortisol is measured as nmol/L. Salivary cortisol expected to generally be below 200 nmol/L.
Time frame
Collected shortly after the participant consents into the study (~20 minutes into the one-time study visit) and 20 minutes after stress induction concludes (~2 hours into one-time study visit)Sponsors and contacts
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University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lead sponsor
North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov