Social Support and Reduced Fear Acquisition

Part of paid clinical trials in Los Angeles, California.

Sponsor
University of California, Los Angeles
Study ID
NCT04564976
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Anxiety
  • Fear

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 55 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Social support image — BEHAVIORAL
    An image of a social support figure specific to each participant (provided by the participant) will be present while participants undergo a fear acquisition procedure. Specifically--the image will be presented alongside a neutral image that is either consistently paired with shock (CS+) or never paired with shock (CS-), so that assessment of whether there are differences in fear responding (evaluated via SCR) due the shock pairing can be assessed. This is a typical fear acquisition procedure, and a typical outcome would be for SCR to be higher for the CS+ compared to the CS- toward the end and following the procedure, indicating that the CS+ is now associated with the aversive shock and is bringing about a fear response (in this case indexed by increased sympathetic nervous system activity preparing the body to fight or flee).

Study Details

University of California, Los Angeles researchers will recruit healthy participants and anxious participants (those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder) age 18-55 years old to participate in a study examining whether the ability of social support figure reminders to prevent the acquisition of fear in healthy participants extends to those with anxiety disorders. After being recruited from the UCLA community (healthy participants, n = 50) or referred by treatment providers at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA (anxious participants, n =50) and undergoing a telephone screening and in-person screening, 100 participants will be enrolled in the study. During the experiment, all participants will undergo the same procedures: undergoing fear acquisition procedures--the repeated pairing of a neutral image with a mild electric shock that ultimately leads to the association of threat of shock with the image--in the presence of an image of a social support figure (provided by participants) and an image of a smiling stranger.

Key Dates

Start date
Feb 9, 2022
Status verified
Mar 2026
Primary completion
Jul 1, 2026
Completion
Jul 1, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Social Support

Primary Outcome Measure

Fear response during acquisition indicated by elevated Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) [ Time Frame: during acquisition procedure ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
UCLA Department of PsychologyLos AngelesCalifornia90095-1563-

Find similar trials in Los Angeles, CA

By research site
UCLA Department of Psychology· Los Angeles, CA

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