Clinical Trial: Understanding Daily Fluctuations in Self-Regulation
Study Status: Not yet recruiting
Recruit Status: Not yet recruiting
Study Type: Observational
Official Title: Understanding Daily Fluctuations in Self-Regulation
Brief Summary: Understanding Daily Fluctuations in Self-Regulation, also known as the Digital Marshmallow Test (DMT), is a collaboration by Northwell Health, Cornell Tech, and Sage Bionetworks. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this is a pioneering study to advance the science in identifying and helping individuals who act on short-term temptations, despite long-term consequences. Using Apple's ResearchKit(™) and Android's ResearchStack applications, the Digital Marshmallow Test will leverage the powerful capabilities of the smartphone to examine impulsivity using a range of game-like tasks and sensor capabilities within the mobile phone. Across studies, more impulsive individuals are significantly more likely to suffer from obesity, Type II Diabetes, substance abuse, gambling problems, suicidal behaviors, and increased criminality among many other problems. Early self-report studies reveal a relationship between the inability to delay gratification and different patterns of mobile phone use. This will be the first study to develop non-invasive mobile methods to identify and help those at greatest risk for impulsive responding before serious problems occur.
Detailed Summary:
Poor self-regulation and impulsivity are underlying symptoms of numerous mental health problems such as obesity, substance abuse, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), gambling, binge eating, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and suicidal behaviors. This makes it one of the most important personal and public health intervention targets. The classic Marshmallow Test done by Mischel and colleagues determined that the inability to delay gratification in childhood was predictive of lower Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and higher BMI in adulthood. However, assessments of impulsivity and poor self-regulation are rarely included in routine medical care because of time and financial constraints.
The mobile phone has changed our ability to assess and intervene with individuals remotely, providing an avenue for ambulatory diagnostic testing and just-in-time adaptive interventions that can be accessed by billions of people. Newer methods of assessment using the mobile phone, including Apple's ResearchKit, provide the opportunity for powerful assessments of impulsivity beyond simple self-report. To date, there have been no measures of impulsivity integrated into ResearchKit or any mobile application, aside from the beta version that the investigators recently built, nor has the research community explored the possibilities of passive impulsivity assessment using mobile analytics embedded in all phones. There is preliminary evidence that mobile analytics, such as latency to respond to a text, can predict personality traits associated with impulsivity such as extroversion and neuroticism, and self-report studies reveal that there is a direct relationship between the inability to delay gratification and different patterns of mobile phone use. These studies highlight potential power of mobile phenotyping as a ubiquitous measure of health determinants in
Sponsor: Northwell Health
Current Primary Outcome: Impulsivity [ Time Frame: 21 Days ]
Original Primary Outcome: Same as current
Current Secondary Outcome:
Original Secondary Outcome:
Information By: Northwell Health
Dates:
Date Received: December 27, 2016
Date Started: January 2017
Date Completion: January 2018
Last Updated: January 3, 2017
Last Verified: January 2017
