Positive Feedback vs. No-Feedback Games for Behavioral Change

Bard College

Status: Completed

Conditions: Major Depressive Disorder; Low Mood

Treatments: Behavioral: positive feedback

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06025838

FeedbackGames

Details and patient eligibility

About

We aim to investigate here whether we can develop a reinforcement learning game which provides game-based feedback to encourage positive actions (behaviors) both inside and outside of the game. Does providing positive reward when participants make decisions which are associated with value-based actions (like those in BA) result in different game decisions? We propose that it will increase positive actions in the game. And, secondly, how does it affect short-term behavior (in one week)? We propose that it will increase pro-health activities and may reduce depressive symptoms.

Full description

We know that behavior influences mood -- our best interventions to improve mood rely upon the relationship between these. Treatments like this are thought to work in part by helping individuals to increase value-derived behaviors; participants are given guidance which results in an increase of positive behaviors and a decrease of coping behaviors that don't help -- that is, their health-seeking behavior is reinforced while behaviors that diminish health are reduced. In past work, we showed that a text-based game could be used to explore what sort of decisions people would make in certain environments. That game showed associations between in-game behaviors and real-life depressive symptoms and actions. Such work focuses on low-level symptoms of depression -- increasingly common, especially after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. We aim to investigate here whether we can develop a reinforcement learning game which provides game-based feedback to encourage positive actions (behaviors) both inside and outside of the game.

Thus, the experiment described below and proposed in this application would test the role of positive rewards (positive-feedback) in a dichotomous-choice game, compared to neutral (no-feedback).

Enrollment: 171 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 34 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18-34 years old
• Fluent in English
• Based in the United States

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Quadruple Blind

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171 participants in 2 patient groups

positive feedback

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive positive feedback and reward for their decisions taken during a small game similar to a normal person's life. For example, they are encouraged to exercise, make food, and interact with friends.

Treatment:

Behavioral: positive feedback

no feedback

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants receive no feedback. While they may undertake the same decisions during a small game similar to a normal person's life, they receive no encouragement and are not given reward or positive feedback.