An interventional study of Acute Maastricht Stress Test (MAST), active condition. and Acute Maastricht Stress Test (MAST), placebo condition in Healthy Participants, sponsored by Hôpital le Vinatier. Recruiting at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-07-24.
Sponsored by Hôpital le Vinatier · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Reality-monitoring is a crucial cognitive process in daily life to remember the source of an information. Deficits of reality-monitoring have been shown into the continuum of schizophrenia, suggesting a preexisting alteration in population at-risk for psychosis that will be exacerbated during psychotic transition. It is admitted that stress plays a crucial role in the psychotic transition and can alter cognitive performances. However, less is known about the effects of stress on reality-monitoring, even though this process appears to be central in psychotic disorders.
The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of stress on reality-monitoring, both on behavioral and neurophysiological aspects
Forty healthy subjects will be included in the study. Participants will be subject to a standardized stress protocol, half of them receiving an active stress and the other half receiving a placebo. All participants will also complete a reality-monitoring task, electrophysiological (EEG) recordings as well as socio-demographic and psychometric evaluations
Hôpital le Vinatier is the lead sponsor of 106 studies on the registry; 41 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
20 healthy subjects will be subject to the active condition of a standardized stress protocol
Procedure: Acute Maastricht Stress Test (MAST), active condition.
20 healthy subjects will be subject to the placebo condition of a standardized stress protocol.
Procedure: Acute Maastricht Stress Test (MAST), placebo condition
The MAST is a standardized stress protocol combining a 5 min preparation phase and 10 min acute stress phase. The last phase is composed by an alternation of physical and psychosocial stressors. In the active condition, participants have to switch between immersion of the hand into cold water and complex mental arithmetic operations.
The MAST is a standardized stress protocol combining a 5 min preparation phase and 10 min acute stress phase. The last phase is composed by an alternation of physical and psychosocial stressors. In the placebo condition, participants have to switch between immersion of the hand into tempered water and simple mental arithmetic counts.
Reality-monitoring performances
scores obtained at the reality-monitoring task (accuracy, range 0-100%)
Time frame: within 1 hour after the stress procedure
electroencephalogram (EEG) activity
EEG activity recorded at rest (spectral power) and during reality-monitoring task
Time frame: 1time within 1 hour after the stress procedure
Working memory
scores at the n-back task (expressed as % of good responses)
Time frame: 1 time within 1 hour after the stress procedure
Basic auditory performances
scores at the Tone Matching Task (expressed as % of good responses)
Time frame: 1 time within 1 hour after the stress procedure
Salivary cortisol
Salivary cortisol (in µg/L)
Time frame: throughout and within 1 hour after the stress procedure
Blood pressure
blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic, in mmHg)
Time frame: throughout and within 1 hour after the stress procedure
Heart rate
Heart rate (in beats per minute)
Time frame: throughout and within 1 hour after the stress procedure
expression rate of genes involved in the regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor signaling pathway
The expression rate of genes of the glucocorticoid receptor signaling pathway (NR3C1, FKBP4, HSP90, HSP70, FKBP5, BAG1, PTGES3)
Time frame: 1 time before and 1 time 1 hour after the stress procedure
Subjective stress
Subjective stress assessed with the STAI-YA (scores between 20 and 80)
Time frame: 1 time before and 1 time 1 hour after the stress procedure
Psychometric characteristics that may influence stress response (1)
Scores at the 16-item Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16), ranging between 0 and 16 (higher scores indicate higher psychotic risks).
Time frame: Basline, before the stress procedure
Psychometric characteristics that may influence stress response (2)
Scores at the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), between 28 and 140 (higher scores indicate higher trauma exposure)
Time frame: Basline, before the stress procedure
Psychometric characteristics that may influence stress response (3)
State Trait Anxiety Inventory (form B) scores between 40 and 160 20 and 80 (STAI-YB) between 20 and 80 (higher scores indicate higher state anxiety)
Time frame: Basline, before the stress procedure
Psychometric characteristics that may influence stress response (4)
Scores at the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), between 0 and 74 (higher scores indicate higher schizotypal traits)
Time frame: Basline, before the stress procedure
Psychometric characteristics that may influence stress response (5)
Scores at the Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale (LSHS), between 0 and 64 (higher scores indicate a greater likelihood of experiencing hallucinations)
Time frame: Basline, before the stress procedure
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