Using Real-time fMRI Neurofeedback to Improve Memory Control and Reduce Fear Returning in Healthy Adults Ages 18 to 50

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to evaluate a new behavioral intervention using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI neurofeedback to reduce the return of threat expectancy in healthy adults. The study focuses on understanding why fear returns after exposure therapy by studying spontaneous recovery in threat learning through Pavlovian conditioning and extinction. It also explores the relationship between memory control ability and this recovery process, using brain activity between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus as key targets. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups an active neurofeedback group receiving real-time feedback designed to enhance memory control by reinforcing negative connectivity between the right dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, or a control group receiving sham neurofeedback with similar instructions but no actual feedback. The intervention involves four fMRI sessions conducted within 60 days, aiming to strengthen participants ability to inhibit memories linked to threat. Throughout the study, participants will undergo multiple fMRI sessions to measure spontaneous recovery behavior and neurofeedback learning. Researchers will assess how well participants control memory and how this influences threat expectancy. Monitoring includes behavioral tests and brain imaging to evaluate the impact of the neurofeedback intervention. The total study period for each participant will be up to 60 days from the first to the fourth fMRI session.

Neurofeedback to Reduce Spontaneous Recovery of Threat Expectancy