Study on Ambiguity Aversion and Single Session Interventions
This study is testing if a 30-minute online program can change how people react to uncertain situations (ambiguity aversion). We are looking for adults aged 25-60 who are right-handed, can read English, and tend to be uncomfortable with uncertainty. You would receive one of two online interventions: either the "Uncertainty-focused single session intervention" or the "Maintaining a healthy lifestyle single session intervention." Researchers will measure changes in your decision-making, brain responses to uncertain choices, and feelings of hopelessness to see if the interventions are effective. The study is currently unclear about its recruitment status.
- Study design
- This study is interventional and plans to enroll 140 participants. You would be randomly assigned to one of two online interventions.
- What's involved
- You would complete questionnaires, a decision-making task, and one 30-minute online intervention, all on the same day.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Your responses will be measured at 1 hour after the intervention.
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Test of Target Engagement of Ambiguity Aversion
At a glance
Conditions
NCT06962527
Where you'd take part
This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.
Northwestern University
Chicago, Illinoisstudy coordinator listed
Recruiting
Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.
Who to contact
Opens a ready-to-send draft in your own email app — review before sending.
What this trial measures
- Beck Hopelessness Scale-4 (BHS-4)1 hour
The BHS-482 is a four-item self-report scale that will be used to assess hopelessness before and after the experimental intervention (scale assesses hopelessness "right now, in this moment") to determine whether the intervention was effective in eliciting change in a clinically meaningful construct. It has good psychometric properties. Participants will complete the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS-4) before and after the intervention as a manipulation check that the single session intervention (SSI) "worked" in the event that the other primary outcomes exhibit resistance to change.
- Behavioral ambiguity aversion1 hour
Computational modeling will be used to extract two parameters indicative of behavioral ambiguity aversion (AA) from a risk and ambiguity task completed once before and once after the intervention. This results in two variables per participant: one which indicates categorical AA (i.e., their tendency to choose the unambiguous choice regardless of the amount of ambiguity present) and one which indicates continuous AA (i.e., how the amount of ambiguity influences people's choice).
- Event-related potential responses to ambiguous choices1 hour
From EEG data collected during the risk and ambiguity task, event-related potentials (ERPs)-time-locked electroencephalogram signals with millisecond resolution-will be extracted to yield one variable per participant indicating mean brain activity to ambiguous choices. Pilot data and small prior studies have consistently found an attenuated P300-like component (albeit later than usual, around 350-500ms) to ambiguous relative to unambiguous choices similar to those on this task.