Trial Outcomes & Findings for Neurofeedback Enhanced Cognitive Reappraisal Training (NCT NCT06132659)

Neurofeedback Enhanced Cognitive Reappraisal Training

The PFC was defined in MNI space using significant group level activation in the posterior medical frontal cortex from the reappraise\>look contrast from earlier pilot subjects. Percent signal change in this region was extracted for all participants. Change in PFC activity was calculated as the linear slope of change across all 5 runs of the task. To this end, a linear regression was conducted for each participant separately with "run" as the independent variable and "PFC percent signal change" as the dependent variable to calculate change in percent signal change over time. These slopes were then averaged for each group .

The Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) is a pictorial assessment technique in which a changing manikin figure depicts values along the primary dimension of affective valence (positive/negative). Users may indicate emotional reactions along a scale from 1-9, with higher numbers indicating greater negative affect. After the scan, participants will rate each image they saw along this scale. Differences in SAM ratings from look to reappraise trials (e.g., average reappraise score minus average look score) will be evaluated and compared between sham-NF and veritable-NF groups. Higher difference score indicates that images viewed during reappraisal are seen as more positive than those viewed during the look condition.

To examine amygdala connectivity, the study team will use a psychophysiological interaction analysis. Deconvolved time series from anatomical left and right amygdala seeds for each participant will be multiplied by a vector for the reappraise \> look contrast at each run (baseline, neurofeedback (NF1, NF2, NF3), transfer). Regressors for the seed time series, the original condition and the interaction term will be convolved with the canonical hemodynamic response function. Change in connectivity from pre-to-post training will be calculated by subtracting the baseline-run contrast map from the transfer-run contrast map. Resulting contrast maps will be entered into second-level random effects analyses in the software SPM, where voxels in the PFC will be examined at p\<0.05 FWE-corrected threshold.