Virtual reality and speech analysis for the assessment of impulsivity and decision-making: protocol for a comparison with neuropsychological tasks and self-administered questionnaires

Abstract

Introduction Impulsivity is present in a range of mental disorders and has been associated with suicide. Traditional measures of impulsivity have certain limitations, such as the lack of ecological validity. Virtual reality (VR) may overcome these issues. This study aims to validate the VR assessment tool ‘Spheres & Shield Maze Task’ and speech analysis by comparing them with traditional measures. We hypothesise that these innovative tools will be reliable and acceptable by patients, potentially improving the simultaneous assessment of impulsivity and decision-making.Methods and analysis This study will be carried out at the University Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz (Madrid, Spain). Our sample will consist of adults divided into three groups: psychiatric outpatients with a history of suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours, psychiatric outpatients without such a history and healthy volunteers. The target sample size was established at 300 participants (100 per group). Participants will complete the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11; the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behaviour Scale; Iowa Gambling Task; Continuous Performance Test; Stop signal Task, and Go/no-go task, three questions of emotional affect, the Spheres & Shield Maze Task and two satisfaction surveys. During these tasks, participant speech will be recorded. Construct validity of the VR environment will be calculated. We will also explore the association between VR-assessed impulsivity and history of suicidal thoughts and/or behaviour, and the association between speech and impulsivity and decision-making.Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz (PIC128-21_FJD). Participants will be required to provide written informed consent. The findings will be presented in a series of manuscripts that will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals for publication.Trial registration number NCT05109845; Pre-results.