Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

The Mind Research Network

Code:

NCT06981351

Conditions

Antisocial Behavior

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: Male

Age: 18 - 55

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Attention to Context (ATC) training

Affective Cognitive Control (ACC) training

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the effect of two types of cognitive remediation training on real-world behavioral outcomes including substance use, institutional adjustment, and recidivism following release from prison. Each training type is designed to target one of two subtypes of antisocial criminal offenders, who are characterized by either: 1) Attention to context-based deficits, or 2) Affective cognitive control-based deficits.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does matching deficit type with targeted cognitive training improve outcomes (relative to mismatched training)? What are the functional brain mechanisms that underlie treatment change?

Participants will:

Be assigned to cognitive training that either does or does not match their deficit type.

Complete six one-hour sessions of cognitive skills training. Complete pre and post-training behavioral tasks assessing self-regulation deficits.

Complete structural MRI scans and functional MRI scans assessing cognitive control.

Complete post-treatment follow-up assessments evaluating self-regulation, adjustment, and stressful life events, substance use and recidivism.

Conditions

Antisocial Behavior

Study ID

NCT06981351

Start date

Mar 18, 2025

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

May 31, 2029

Anticipated

Primary completion date

May 31, 2029

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: Male

Age: 18 - 55

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Currently incarcerated
  • No uncorrectable auditory or visual deficits
  • Able to speak and/or understand English
  • 5th grade reading level or higher
  • IQ score = 80 or above
  • Lifetime history of substance use disorder based on DSM criteria
  • No history of dementia or other cognitive disability
  • No indication of current psychotic disorder
  • No major medical illness or CNS disease
  • Scores from the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) meet criteria for one of the designated treatment groups

Exclusion Criteria:

\-

Study Design

Enrollment

288 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Attention to context deficit

Participants with attention to context deficits will receive treatment either targeted towards their specific deficit (matched) or towards affective cognitive control deficits (mismatched).

experimental: Affective Cognitive Control deficit

Participants with affective cognitive control deficits will receive treatment either targeted towards their specific deficit (matched) or towards attention to context deficits (mismatched).

experimental: No psychopathology

Participants in the no psychopathology group will receive one of the two treatment types (ATC or ACC).

Interventions

Attention to Context (ATC) training

ATC training focuses on learning to attend to and integrate contextual cues present in the environment. Three tasks, Reversal Learning, Divided Visual Field, and Affective Gaze, require ATC functioning and provide individuals with practice noticing changes in contextual information, such as rule changes and using emotion information to modulate behavior.

Affective Cognitive Control (ACC) training

ACC training focuses on providing individuals with practice inhibiting behavior, particularly within motivational or affective contexts. Three tasks, Shapes, Numbers, and Lottery, tap ACC functioning and place demands on the basic employment of cognitive control, such as task switching, as well as on the concurrent engagement of cognitive control and affective processing.

Primary outcome measure

  • Cognitive task performance - Stroop [ Time Frame: From enrollment to end of treatment at six weeks ]
  • Cognitive task performance - Lexical Decision Making [ Time Frame: From enrollment to end of treatment at six weeks ]
  • Cognitive task performance - Delay Discounting [ Time Frame: From enrollment to end of treatment at six weeks ]
  • Functional MRI - Go/NoGo task performance [ Time Frame: Change assessed from enrollment to end of treatment at six weeks ]
  • Functional MRI - Go/Nogo brain response [ Time Frame: Activity assessed during MRI scan. Change assessed from enrollment to end of treatment at six weeks ]
  • Real-World Outcomes - Substance use (TLFB) [ Time Frame: From enrollment to six months post-release from incarceration ]
  • Real-World Outcomes - Substance use (ASE) [ Time Frame: From enrollment to six months post-release from incarceration ]
  • Real-World Outcomes - Substance use (DUDIT) [ Time Frame: From enrollment to six months post-release from incarceration ]
  • Real-World Outcomes - Criminal behavior [ Time Frame: From enrollment to six months post-release from incarceration ]
  • Risky Impulsive Self-Destructive Behavior [ Time Frame: From enrollment to six months post-release from incarceration ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Carla Harenski

505-272-5028charenski@mrn.org

Locations

Mind Research Network/Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute

Recruiting

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, 87106

Contacts

Carla Harenski

505-272-5028charenski@mrn.org

More Information

Sponsor

The Mind Research Network

Last update posted

Aug 17, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • Cognitive skills training
  • Attention to Context
  • Affective Cognitive Control

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by The Mind Research Network on 2026-08-17.