Trial results for a study investigating Depression were posted on ClinicalTrials.gov on 2025-11-13, involving 15 participants.
Background
Depression is a significant mental health challenge, particularly among adolescents where its prevalence rises rapidly, especially in girls. The need for novel interventions to prevent adolescent depression is critical. Research into understanding and modifying affect-biased attention, potentially through neurofeedback, offers a promising avenue for developing new strategies to identify and buffer mood reactivity, aiming to improve outcomes for individuals at risk.
Trial design
This completed study, designated as Phase NA, enrolled 15 participants with Depression. The trial investigated the use of real-time neurofeedback to modify affect-biased attention and potentially buffer subsequent mood reactivity.
Key results
The trial reported several key measurements and analyses:
- Affect-biased Attention Following Neurofeedback (Immediately Post-Intervention): A mean of .41 (Standard Deviation .18) was observed for the neurofeedback group, measured as a Proportion (0-1). A two-sided t-test indicated a statistically significant within-subject change from baseline to post-training (p-value 0.004).
- Sadness Ratings Following Laboratory Stressor (Immediately Post-Stressor): For the neurofeedback group, a mean score of 2.80 (Standard Deviation 5.85) was recorded on a 0-100 scale. A two-sided t-test showed no statistically significant within-subject change from baseline to post-stressor (p-value 0.25).
- Anxiety Rating Following Laboratory Stressor (Immediately Post-Stressor): The neurofeedback group showed a mean score of 3.29 (Standard Deviation 4.58) on a 0-100 scale. A two-sided t-test indicated no statistically significant within-subject change from baseline to post-stressor (p-value 0.471).
What this means
The results indicate that the neurofeedback intervention successfully modified affect-biased attention, as evidenced by a statistically significant change. However, this change did not lead to a statistically significant reduction in self-reported sadness or anxiety scores immediately following a laboratory stressor. This suggests that while neurofeedback can influence specific cognitive mechanisms, its direct impact on mood symptoms in the short term, as measured in this study, was not observed. Further research may be needed to explore if these changes in attention can translate into broader clinical benefits for individuals with depression, potentially over a longer duration or with different intervention parameters.
Source
The information regarding these trial results was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public database of clinical studies. The results for the study NCT04105868, titled "Adolescent Attention to Emotion Study", were posted on 2025-11-13 on clinicaltrials.gov.