Clinical trial NCT00914030: Visual Exploration and Attention: Studies in Patients With Schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorders
Official title: Visual Exploration and Attention : Studies in Patients With Schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorders
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorders
Schizophrenia
Keywords: Visual perception
Local/global processing
Attention
Visual priming
Collinearity
Grouping
Lead sponsor: University Hospital, Strasbourg, France
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2009-06-04
Enrollment: 140
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 7
Maximum age (years): 55
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Psychiatry clinic in Strasbourg and Brumath. Pedopsychiatry Clinic in Strasbourg. Residents of Strasbourg and Brumath

Brief summary: The aim of the protocol is to better understand the impairments in visual processing, as such impairments may induce social interaction difficulties in subjects with autism spectrum disorders (adults and children) and schizophrenia, like face exploration.The same protocol will be used for the three populations, each population being compared with matched controls. The explorations are designed to test two different hypotheses regarding the mechanisms of the visual perception difficulties of the two populations. Even though difficulties to extract the global form of objects have been described in both subjects with autism and schizophrenia, we will test two different hypotheses for the two populations. We will test the hypothesis that subjects with autism display an advantage for the processing of local information arising at an early level of processing, whereas disorders observed in patients with schizophrenia originate from attention disorders. The protocol includes three consecutive studies, each one being applied in each of the three populations.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* IQ above 70, as evaluated with the WAIS III in adults and with the WISC in children
* signed consent
* DSM IV criteria in case of autism spectrum disorders or schizophrenia

Exclusion Criteria:

* grave or non stabilized somatic pathology
* pathology affecting the central nervous system; other than the studied pathologies
* intake of psychotropic drug, except for patients
* invalidating sensory processes

Primary outcomes:
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Brumath
country: France
facility: Pôle départemental du Centre de Ressources Autisme pour adultes (67) - Etablissement public de santé Alsace-Nord (site de Brumath)
city: Colmar
country: France
facility: Centre de Ressources Autisme Pôle adultes (68) - Espace Autisme 68
city: Loos
country: France
facility: Clinique Lautréamont
city: Strasbourg
country: France
facility: Pôle régional du Centre de Ressources Autisme pour enfants et adolescents - Unité d'évaluation des troubles du développement Hôpital de l'Elsau - Pôle de Psychiatrie - Unité d'évaluation des troubles du développement Hôpital de l'Elsau - HUS
city: Strasbourg
country: France
facility: INSERM U666 ; Pôle de Psychiatrie - Service de Psychiatrie Adulte- HUS
Study officials:
affiliation: Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
name: Anne GIERSCH
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: