Leveraging technology to probe mechanisms of psychopathology: A proof of concept study of inhibitory control

Quantifying relevant behavioral mechanisms has relied on rigorous, time-consuming tools restricted to laboratory settings and inaccessible to the clinical community. Advances in technology provide an opportunity to develop more accessible platforms. Here, we developed CALM-IT, a novel mobile-applica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 20; no. 6; p. e0319004
Main Authors: Cardinale, Elise M., Meigs, Jennifer M., Haller, Simone P., Fling, Kenny, Pandya, Urmi, Siegal, Olivia, Poe, Anjali, Shaughnessy, Shannon, Zapp, Christian, Bezek, Jessica L., Lee, Kyunghun, Khosravi, Parmis, German, Ramaris, Jangraw, David C., Henry, Lauren M., Byrne, Meghan E., Kircanski, Katharina, Leibenluft, Ellen, Naim, Reut, Pine, Daniel S., Brotman, Melissa A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 06.06.2025
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Accessibility
Adolescent
Anxiety
Applications programs
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Behavior
Child
Childhood
Children
Control
Control tasks
Design
Feasibility
Female
Frontal gyrus
Gamification
Humans
In vivo methods and tests
Inhibition
Inhibition, Psychological
Laboratories
Male
Mental health
Mobile Applications
Mobile communications networks
Mobile computing
Portable computers
Post traumatic stress disorder
Proof of Concept Study
Psychology, Pathological
Psychopathology
Psychopathology - methods
Research methodology
Schizophrenia
Stars & galaxies
Technology application
Validity
Young Adult
Youth
United States
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Quantifying relevant behavioral mechanisms has relied on rigorous, time-consuming tools restricted to laboratory settings and inaccessible to the clinical community. Advances in technology provide an opportunity to develop more accessible platforms. Here, we developed CALM-IT, a novel mobile-application to experimentally assess inhibitory control in vivo. In a transdiagnostic sample of 200 youth aged 8-20, we (i) apply knowledge from canonical inhibitory control tasks in the methodological design of the mobile application, (ii) establish feasibility and engagement with CALM-IT, (iii) assess test-retest reliability of CALM-IT, (iv) investigate the convergent validity of CALM-IT with behavioral and neural responses to laboratory-based tasks, and (v) probe clinical relevance via associations with clinical symptoms. First, we provide evidence that our novel inhibitory control mobile application, CALM-IT, was accessible, feasible, and engaging. Second, we found performance was reliable over time. Third, we found CALM-IT performance was associated with established measures of inhibitory control and activation in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus. Associations with brain but not behavior survived after controlling for age. Finally, we found evidence linking impaired CALM-IT performance to increased levels of co-occurring anxiety, irritability, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Validation of this neuroscience-informed mobile application represents a critical first step in bridging precise, mechanism-driven research and community-based assessment of childhood psychopathology. The present work lays the groundwork for future research that could provide researchers and clinicians with a multifaceted tool to measure clinically-relevant behaviors in an engaging and accessible manner.
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ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0319004