Real-time Neurofeedback Training of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Based on Imagined Social Support

Self-modulation of the mPFC Using Rt-fMRI NF Training to Improve Negative Anticipation for Future Events

Randomized active-sham controlled between-subject real-time fMRI neurofeedback trial aiming to modulate activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to improve subjective negative anticipation.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Healthy; Neurofeedback
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: real-time fMRI sham-controlled neurofeedback training procedure

Detailed Description

A double-blinded, placebo-controlled, between-subject design will be employed in this study. In a randomized order, a total of 60 healthy subjects will be recruited and assigned to the experimental group (EG; N=30), which receives real feedback from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), or the sham control group (CG; N=30) which receives sham feedback from an unrelated brain region. Neurofeedback training consists of 1 baseline session without feedback (also as a localizer task), 4 training sessions with intermittent feedback and 1 transfer session without feedback. Each NF run includes 5 regulation blocks and 5 baseline blocks. Each trial starts with a jittered fixation cross (2~8 s), a modulation block (i.e. regulation or baseline; 30 s) without continous feedback, and a intermittent feedback period (4s) to display the mean activiation of the mPFC/control region during the regulation block compared with baseline block. Objectives are to determine (1) if subjects in the neurofeedback (NF) group can gain volitional control over the mPFC activation using imagined social support as regulation strategy, (2) whether successful increased modulation of the mPFC could improve negative anticipation and sense of control for future events .

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Benjamin Becker, Dr; Phone Number: 86-28-61830670; Email: ben_becker@gmx.de

Study Locations

• China
  • Sichuan
    • Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 611731
      • Recruiting
      • University of Electronic Science and Technology of China(UESTC), Chengdu, Sichuan 611731
      • Contact: Benjamin Becker, Dr; Phone Number: 86-28-61830670; Email: ben_becker@gmx.de

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• -Healthy subjects without any past or present psychiatric or neurological disorders

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of brain injury
• Psychiatric or Neurological Disorder
• Contraindications for MRI
• Regular use of psychotropic substances (medication, drugs)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Neurofeedback training; Participants in the neurofeedback training group are instructed to regulate their medial prefrontal cortex activity based on the visual intermittent neurofeedback.	Procedure: real-time fMRI sham-controlled neurofeedback training procedure; real-time fMRI neurofeedback training procedure running on the Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 4.2 software (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands)
Sham Comparator: Sham control; Participants in the sham control group receive the same instruction and perform the same regulation strategy based on neurofeedback from an unrelated region (i.e. primary motor cortex) which is not involved in episodic imagination in related to social support (a controlled sham region).	Procedure: real-time fMRI sham-controlled neurofeedback training procedure; real-time fMRI neurofeedback training procedure running on the Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 4.2 software (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Neural activity of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) based on blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal	Training-induced changes in mPFC activity will be assessed by analyzing BOLD-level activation of the mPFC	1 hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Training-related changes in anticipated anxiety	Participants will be required to rate the anticipated anxiety of future events using a Likert Scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = not at all anxious) and 9 = very anxious).	1 hour

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 16, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 10, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 15, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 15, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): January 23, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 28, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: social support; real-time neurofeedback; mPFC
• Other Study ID Numbers: BAM_lab_NF_06

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Corresponding individual level data will be made available upon request.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No