Visual Perception in Schizophrenia

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · Mar 28, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial, titled "Visual Perception in Schizophrenia," is designed to explore how people with conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder perceive visual information. Researchers want to use a technique called electroencephalography (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain, to identify new signs that can help understand psychosis, a condition that affects how one thinks and experiences reality.

If you or someone you know is between the ages of 18 and 65 and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, you might be eligible to participate in this study. To join, participants need to have good vision (20/32 acuity or better) and be able to communicate in English. The study is not currently recruiting, but once it begins, participants can expect to go through assessments that help researchers gather important information about visual perception and brain activity. It's important to note that certain conditions, such as recent substance use or severe mental health crises, may disqualify someone from participating. This trial could provide valuable insights into understanding psychosis better.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • All Subjects
• • Aged 18-65
• • 20/32 visual acuity or better (using in-house optical correction, if necessary)
• • An ability to speak English well enough to complete study assessments and to consent to the study
• • Subjects with Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorder
• • Meets DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorder as confirmed by the Structured Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5).
• • Subjects with Bipolar Disorder
• • Meets DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder (type I, II, or unspecified) as confirmed by the Structured Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5).
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • All subjects
• * Presence of characteristics that could impair one's ability to comprehend the nature of the study, provide informed consent, or understand the assessment questions, including the following:
• • Subject cannot read and understand the instructions well enough to complete the tasks or cannot provide informed consent.
• • Intellectual impairment (WRAT-5 score \< 70) (at the discretion of experimenter);
• • Actively intoxicated, as shown via patient self-report or staff report;
• • Substance use disorder in the past 3 months;
• • Subject considered high risk for suicidal acts (i.e., active suicidal ideation as determined by clinical interview OR any suicide attempt in 30 days prior to screening);
• • Subject violence (involving severe/lethal means or violence occurring in prior 6 months) or extreme agitation.
• • Being in a current manic state
• • Head injury with loss of consciousness greater than 10 minutes (at the discretion of the experimenter).
• • Subject has had electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the past 8 weeks;
• • Diagnosed with a neurological condition (tumor, stroke, brain injury) or neurological disorder, including seizure disorders. Diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder (phone screen or medical records)
• • Lazy eye or squint or other known ocular pathology
• • Healthy Control Subjects
• • Any lifetime psychotic disorder or history of psychiatric hospitalization (self disclosure);
• • Daily antidepressant, mood stabilizer or antipsychotic medication use in the last 6 months, or benzodiazepine use during the prior 2 days (self-disclosure); iii. First-degree relative(s) with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (based on subject self-report) or bipolar disorder.
• • Case-match Control Non-ill Subjects
• • Any lifetime psychotic disorder (as assessed by SCID/or SSD);
• • Recurrent depressive episodes or being in a current depressive episode (as assessed by SCID/or SSD)
• • Persistent threshold psychotic symptoms
• • History of psychiatric hospitalization;
• • Daily antidepressant, mood stabilizer or antipsychotic medication use in the last 6 months, or benzodiazepine use during the prior 2 days
• • First-degree relative(s) with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (based on subject self-report) or bipolar disorder.
• • Bipolar Subjects
• • Persistent threshold psychotic symptoms