Affect-based Impulsivity in Borderline Personality Disorder Study

This study aims to understand how personality traits and body responses (neuroendocrine systems) affect decision-making in people aged 18-45. Specifically, it's looking at how stress impacts decision-making in individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and healthy individuals. You could be eligible if you are 18-45 years old and have a score of 38 or higher on the Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Scale (PAI-BOR) for the BPD group. The study will measure your goal-directed decision-making using a task called the Social Decision Tree Task (SDTT) during a one-time visit. The study is currently recruiting 106 participants.

Study design: This interventional study plans to enroll 106 participants, including those with Borderline Personality Disorder and healthy individuals matched by age and sex. It is not specified if the study is randomized or blinded.
What's involved: You would complete online behavioral tasks, a stress induction procedure called the Trier Social Stress Test, self-report surveys, and a cognitive assessment during a single study visit. During this visit, measurements like heart rate (ECG, ICG), skin activity (EDA), blood, and saliva will be collected.
Compensation: Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up: Your goal-directed decision-making will be measured for 40 minutes, approximately 2 hours into your one-time study visit. No further follow-up is specified.

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Affect-based Impulsivity in Borderline Personality Disorder

Recruiting

NAAges 18–45InterventionalBasic science

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

~106 participants

Updated 2026-06-26 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What's tested:Stress Induction

At a glance

Recruiting sites

1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now

RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open

What they're measuring

Goal-directed decision-making in the Social Decision Tree Task (SDTT)

Measured over Collected for 40 minutes ~2 hours into one-time study visit

Conditions

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Healthy Controls Group - Age and Sex-matched

Where it's being run

1 sites across 1 states

North Carolina1

Study leadership

Keely Muscatell, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Who to contact

Keely A Muscatell, PhD

[email protected]

+1 (919) 843-9113

Email the study team

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Do you actually qualify for this trial?

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

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

Score of 12 or lower on PAI-BOR

Score below 50th percentile on World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS)

Absence of any current or lifetime psychiatric disorder, including personality disorders as determined by diagnostic interviews (SIDP and SCID), if the participant had participated in the lab's other studies (IRB Nos. 20-1735 and 21-0602).

Ages 18-45

Provision of signed and dated informed consent form

Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and lifestyle considerations and availability for the duration of the study

Willingness to participate in all components of the study

Participants must be able to speak, understand and read English.

Participants must have at least 20/40 visual acuity (correct or uncorrected).

Exclusion

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.

Participants are also excluded for any of the following: cardiac pacemaker, aneurysm clip, cochlear implants, pregnancy, shrapnel, history of metal fragments in eyes, neurostimulators, weight of 250 lbs. or more, or claustrophobia.

What this trial measures

Goal-directed decision-making in the Social Decision Tree Task (SDTT)Collected for 40 minutes ~2 hours into one-time study visit
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.

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