SchizotypyNCT07823621
Neural Mechanisms of Social Feedback Evaluation in Young Adults Across the Schizotypy Spectrum: An EEG Social Judgment Study
A study testing Social Judgment Paradigm in people with Schizotypy, run by Central Connecticut State University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
This study will examine how young adults with different levels of schizotypal traits process social acceptance and rejection. Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single laboratory session that includes questionnaires and electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive method that measures electrical… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 35 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Schizotypy
- What is being tested?
- Social Judgment Paradigm
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 100 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Jan 2027to Dec 2029
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 35 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- Ages 18-35 years.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- Able to complete an EEG recording session.
Who cannot join
- Younger than 18 years or older than 35 years.
- Unable to provide informed consent.
- Unable to complete the EEG recording session.
- No additional exclusion criteria are applied.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States1 site
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, Connecticut, 06050
Silvia Corbera Lopez, Principal Investigator, Ph.D., 860-832-3111, silviac@ccsu.edu
Brenda Lopez Grants and Funded Research Administrator, 860.832.2366, b.lopez@ccsu.edu
About this study
Official title: Neural Mechanisms of Social Feedback Evaluation in Schizotypy: An EEG Study of Oscillatory and Event-Related Potentials
This study will examine how young adults with different levels of schizotypal traits process social acceptance and rejection. Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single laboratory session that includes questionnaires and electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive method that measures electrical brain activity through sensors placed on the scalp. During EEG recording, participants will complete a computer-based Social Judgment Paradigm (SJP) in which they form expectations about whether another person will like or dislike them and then receive experimentally controlled acceptance or rejection feedback. The study will examine how brain responses differ when social feedback is expected versus unexpected and whether these responses vary with schizotypal traits. The goal is to better understand the brain mechanisms involved in evaluating social feedback. This study does not provide treatment and does not test a drug or medical device.
Read the detailed description
Schizotypal traits occur along a continuum in the general population and are associated with differences in social functioning and social information processing. This study will investigate neural responses to social feedback in young adults across the schizotypy spectrum using electroencephalography (EEG).
Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single experimental session. During EEG recording, they will perform a Social Judgment Paradigm (SJP) in which they first form an expectation about whether another person will respond positively or negatively toward them and subsequently receive acceptance or rejection feedback. This produces four within-participant feedback conditions: expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection.
The study will examine brain activity associated with evaluating social feedback, including frontal-midline (FM) theta activity and event-related potentials (ERPs). The primary analyses will test whether neural responses to acceptance and rejection, particularly when feedback violates expectations, vary as a function of continuous schizotypal traits. Participants will also complete self-report measures assessing schizotypal traits, social functioning, and related psychological characteristics.
The study is designed to clarify neural mechanisms involved in social feedback evaluation and to determine how individual differences in schizotypal traits are associated with these processes.
- Conditions
- Schizotypy
- Being tested
- Social Judgment Paradigm
- Keywords
- schizotypy, social cognition, social feedback, social acceptance, social rejection, electroencephalography, EEG, event-related potentials, frontal-midline theta, reward processing, undergraduates
- Medical subject headings
- Social Isolation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Social Judgment ParadigmBehavioural
Also called SJP
A computerized Social Judgment Paradigm in which participants receive experimentally controlled social feedback (acceptance/rejection) from purported peers or evaluators while continuous EEG is recorded to assess oscillatory activity and event-related potentials associated with social feedback processing. Feedback valence and expectancy are manipulated at the trial level, with trial order randomized within the task.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Social Judgment Paradigm | Experimental | Participants complete a single-session Social Judgment Paradigm during EEG recording. All participants experience four within-subject experimental conditions defined by feedback expectancy (expected versus unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance versus rejection): expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection. The order of feedback trials is randomized within the task. Receives: Behavioral: Social Judgment Paradigm |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Frontal Midline Theta Power (4-7 Hz)
Mean frontal-midline theta-band power (4-7 Hz) derived from EEG data time-locked to feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified during the prespecified 200-600 ms post-feedback window at frontocentral electrodes. Theta power will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy (expected/unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance/rejection).
Measured: Day 1
Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) Amplitude
Mean event-related potential (ERP) amplitude within the 250-350 ms time window following feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified at frontocentral electrodes. FRN amplitude will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy and feedback valence.
Measured: Day 1
Late Positive Potential (LPP) Amplitude
Mean event-related potential (ERP) amplitude within the 350-600 ms time window following feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified at midline electrodes. LPP amplitude will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy and feedback valence.
Measured: Day 1
Secondary outcomes (6)
Behavioral Expectancy Responses
Participant predictions of social acceptance or rejection during each trial of the Social Judgment Paradigm, including expectancy response and reaction time.
Measured: Day 1
Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) Total Score
The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) is a 74-item self-report measure assessing schizotypal personality traits across cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized dimensions. Items are answered in a yes/no format and scored dichotomously. Item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 74. Higher scores indicate greater levels of schizotypal personality traits.
Measured: Day 1
Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) Scores
The Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) is a 77-item self-report measure assessing positive, negative, and disorganized dimensions of schizotypy. Items are answered using a true/false response format. The Positive Schizotypy subscale contains 26 items and ranges from 0 to 26; the Negative Schizotypy subscale contains 26 items and ranges from 0 to 26; and the Disorganized Schizotypy subscale contains 25 items and ranges from 0 to 25. Higher scores on each subscale indicate greater levels of the corresponding dimension of schizotypy.
Measured: Day 1
Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale-Revised (BFNES-R) Total Score
The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale-Revised (BFNES-R) is a 12-item self-report measure assessing fear of negative evaluation by others. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all characteristic of me) to 4 (extremely characteristic of me). Item ratings are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 48. Higher scores indicate greater fear of negative evaluation and greater concern about others' social evaluation.
Measured: Day 1
Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS) Total Score
The Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS) is a 23-item self-report measure assessing an individual's typical response intensity to potentially stressful situations in everyday life. The scale includes five domains: prolonged reactivity, reactivity to failure, reactivity to social conflict, reactivity to work overload, and reactivity to social evaluation. Items are scored from 0 to 2, with negatively keyed items reverse-scored, and summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 46. Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress reactivity
Measured: Day 1
Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ) Total Score
The Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ) is an 8-item self-report measure assessing perceived social functioning across domains including work and home activities, finances, close relationships, family relationships, social isolation, sexual functioning, and leisure activities. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, and item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 24. Higher scores indicate poorer social functioning.
Measured: Day 1
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted16 Sep 2026
- Study start1 Jan 2027 (estimated)
- Primary completionDec 2029 (estimated)
- Study completionDec 2029 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (3)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for SchizotypyStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Model description
- All participants complete the same single-session Social Judgment Paradigm using a within-subject repeated-measures design. Each participant experiences all experimental conditions defined by feedback expectancy (expected versus unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance versus rejection), resulting in four conditions: expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection. The order of acceptance and rejection feedback trials is randomized within the task. Participants are not randomized to separate intervention groups, study arms, or intervention sequences.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 100 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Central Connecticut State University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07823621
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- CORBERA-R15-SJP-2026
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 9 Sep 2026
- Last updated
- 21 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: De-identified individual participant data will be shared through the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). Shared data will include demographic, behavioral, clinical/phenotypic, and questionnaire data; expectancy ratings and trial-level responses from the Social Judgment Paradigm; raw 64-channel EEG data; and processed EEG derivatives underlying project findings, including ERP and time-frequency measures. Direct identifiers will not be shared.
Publications
Somerville LH, Heatherton TF, Kelley WM. Anterior cingulate cortex responds differentially to expectancy violation and social rejection. Nat Neurosci. 2006 Aug;9(8):1007-8. doi: 10.1038/nn1728. Epub 2006 Jul 2.
PubMed 16819523van der Molen MJW, Dekkers LMS, Westenberg PM, van der Veen FM, van der Molen MW. Why don't you like me? Midfrontal theta power in response to unexpected peer rejection feedback. Neuroimage. 2017 Feb 1;146:474-483. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.08.045. Epub 2016 Aug 23.
PubMed 27566260Kortink ED, Weeda WD, Crowley MJ, Gunther Moor B, van der Molen MJW. Community structure analysis of rejection sensitive personality profiles: A common neural response to social evaluative threat? Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2018 Jun;18(3):581-595. doi: 10.3758/s13415-018-0589-1.
PubMed 29651690
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 21 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Neural Mechanisms of Social Feedback Evaluation in Schizotypy: An EEG Study of Oscillatory and Event-Related Potentials
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07823621
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- CORBERA-R15-SJP-2026
- Conditions
- Schizotypy
- Keywords
- schizotypy, social cognition, social feedback, social acceptance, social rejection, electroencephalography, EEG, event-related potentials
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 100 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Central Connecticut State UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Jan 2027 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- Dec 2029 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Dec 2029 (estimated)
- First posted
- 16 Sep 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study will examine how young adults with different levels of schizotypal traits process social acceptance and rejection. Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single laboratory session that includes questionnaires and electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive method that measures electrical brain activity through sensors placed on the scalp. During EEG recording, participants will complete a computer-based Social Judgment Paradigm (SJP) in which they form expectations about whether another person will like or dislike them and then receive experimentally controlled acceptance or rejection feedback. The study will examine how brain responses differ when social feedback is expected versus unexpected and whether these responses vary with schizotypal traits. The goal is to better understand the brain mechanisms involved in evaluating social feedback. This study does not provide treatment and does not test a drug or medical device.
Detailed description
Schizotypal traits occur along a continuum in the general population and are associated with differences in social functioning and social information processing. This study will investigate neural responses to social feedback in young adults across the schizotypy spectrum using electroencephalography (EEG).
Participants between 18 and 35 years old will complete a single experimental session. During EEG recording, they will perform a Social Judgment Paradigm (SJP) in which they first form an expectation about whether another person will respond positively or negatively toward them and subsequently receive acceptance or rejection feedback. This produces four within-participant feedback conditions: expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection.
The study will examine brain activity associated with evaluating social feedback, including frontal-midline (FM) theta activity and event-related potentials (ERPs). The primary analyses will test whether neural responses to acceptance and rejection, particularly when feedback violates expectations, vary as a function of continuous schizotypal traits. Participants will also complete self-report measures assessing schizotypal traits, social functioning, and related psychological characteristics.
The study is designed to clarify neural mechanisms involved in social feedback evaluation and to determine how individual differences in schizotypal traits are associated with these processes.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
- Model description
- All participants complete the same single-session Social Judgment Paradigm using a within-subject repeated-measures design. Each participant experiences all experimental conditions defined by feedback expectancy (expected versus unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance versus rejection), resulting in four conditions: expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection. The order of acceptance and rejection feedback trials is randomized within the task. Participants are not randomized to separate intervention groups, study arms, or intervention sequences.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Social Judgment Paradigm | Experimental | Behavioral: Social Judgment ParadigmParticipants complete a single-session Social Judgment Paradigm during EEG recording. All participants experience four within-subject experimental conditions defined by feedback expectancy (expected versus unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance versus rejection): expected acceptance, expected rejection, unexpected acceptance, and unexpected rejection. The order of feedback trials is randomized within the task. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 35 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Ages 18-35 years.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- Able to complete an EEG recording session.
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Younger than 18 years or older than 35 years.
- Unable to provide informed consent.
- Unable to complete the EEG recording session.
- No additional exclusion criteria are applied.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Social Judgment ParadigmAlso: SJPA computerized Social Judgment Paradigm in which participants receive experimentally controlled social feedback (acceptance/rejection) from purported peers or evaluators while continuous EEG is recorded to assess oscillatory activity and event-related potentials associated with social feedback processing. Feedback valence and expectancy are manipulated at the trial level, with trial order randomized within the task. | Behavioural | Social Judgment Paradigm |
Primary outcome
Frontal Midline Theta Power (4-7 Hz)
Time frame: Day 1
Mean frontal-midline theta-band power (4-7 Hz) derived from EEG data time-locked to feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified during the prespecified 200-600 ms post-feedback window at frontocentral electrodes. Theta power will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy (expected/unexpected) and feedback valence (acceptance/rejection).
Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) Amplitude
Time frame: Day 1
Mean event-related potential (ERP) amplitude within the 250-350 ms time window following feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified at frontocentral electrodes. FRN amplitude will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy and feedback valence.
Late Positive Potential (LPP) Amplitude
Time frame: Day 1
Mean event-related potential (ERP) amplitude within the 350-600 ms time window following feedback onset during the Social Judgment Paradigm, quantified at midline electrodes. LPP amplitude will be measured directly across the four feedback conditions defined by expectancy and feedback valence.
6 secondary outcomes
Behavioral Expectancy Responses
Time frame: Day 1
Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) Total Score
Time frame: Day 1
Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) Scores
Time frame: Day 1
Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale-Revised (BFNES-R) Total Score
Time frame: Day 1
Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS) Total Score
Time frame: Day 1
Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ) Total Score
Time frame: Day 1
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 21 Sep 2026.
- Background: PubMed 16819523Somerville LH, Heatherton TF, Kelley WM. Anterior cingulate cortex responds differentially to expectancy violation and social rejection. Nat Neurosci. 2006 Aug;9(8):1007-8. doi: 10.1038/nn1728. Epub 2006 Jul 2.
- Background: PubMed 27566260van der Molen MJW, Dekkers LMS, Westenberg PM, van der Veen FM, van der Molen MW. Why don't you like me? Midfrontal theta power in response to unexpected peer rejection feedback. Neuroimage. 2017 Feb 1;146:474-483. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.08.045. Epub 2016 Aug 23.
- Background: PubMed 29651690Kortink ED, Weeda WD, Crowley MJ, Gunther Moor B, van der Molen MJW. Community structure analysis of rejection sensitive personality profiles: A common neural response to social evaluative threat? Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2018 Jun;18(3):581-595. doi: 10.3758/s13415-018-0589-1.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. De-identified individual participant data will be shared through the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). Shared data will include demographic, behavioral, clinical/phenotypic, and questionnaire data; expectancy ratings and trial-level responses from the Social Judgment Paradigm; raw 64-channel EEG data; and processed EEG derivatives underlying project findings, including ERP and time-frequency measures. Direct identifiers will not be shared.
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Social Judgment Paradigm in people with Schizotypy, run by Central Connecticut State University at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 21 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Silvia Corbera LOpez Principal Investigator, PhD. (860-832-3111, silviac@ccsu.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Frontal Midline Theta Power (4-7 Hz) (time frame: Day 1). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT07823621, which also lists 3 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 21 Sep 2026.