Blame Rebalance fMRI Feedback Proof-of-concept

Summary

The investigators have shown that decoupling of brain networks when feeling guilty is the first potential functional neuroimaging biomarker of risk of major depression. It remains detectable on remission of symptoms (Green et al., 2012). Decoupling of neural networks was found while people felt guilty during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) relative to feeling indignation. Guilt-selective brain decoupling is therefore an excellent target for interventions to reduce the largely increased risk of recurrent episodes in people who have had one episode but are currently remitted. To our knowledge, however, there is no proof-of-concept study showing that self-blame-selective decoupling on fMRI can be detected and fed back to the participants after a short temporal delay in a real-time fMRI setting and whether coupling can be increased through neurofeedback training. This project aims at developing the first fMRI neurofeedback system to treat self-blame-selective neural decoupling and to test its feasibility in people with major depressive disorder currently remitted from symptoms.

Conditions

• Major Depressive Disorder

Interventions

DEVICE

GUILT-INCREASE-CORRELATION

This uses a novel software "FRIEND" created at IDOR in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The software is used on a regular clinical fMRI scanner

DEVICE

GUILT-STABILIZE-CORRELATION

This uses a novel software "FRIEND" created at IDOR in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The software is used on a regular clinical fMRI scanner

Sponsors & Collaborators

• D'Or Institute for Research and Education

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jorge Moll, MD PhD · D'Or Institute for Research and Education

• Roland Zahn, MD PhD · D'Or Institute for Research and Education

• Paulo Mattos, MD PhD · D'Or Institute for Research and Education

• Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza, MD PhD · D'Or Institute for Research and Education

• Leonardo F Fontenelle, M.D. · Instituto de Psiquiatria da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-05-31

Primary Completion

2014-10-31

Completion

2014-10-31

Countries

• Brazil

Study Locations