NCT04828577

Brain Network Modulation and Alcohol Use

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 21 (actual)
• Sponsor: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The investigators will use real-time fMRI neurofeedback to enhance participants' ability to control their ability to modulate alcohol valuation.

Detailed description

All study procedures will take place during a single study visit. Before the imaging session, a research assistant will aid the participant to select salient images related to individualized future goals as well as alcohol images which elicit self-reported craving. All participants will complete two fMRI runs within a single session. In run 1 of the scan (offline classifier training), participants will perform an image viewing task displaying alternating blocks of these goal- and alcohol-related images. Between the image viewing blocks we will assess reinforcer pathology with brief in-scanner measures of alcohol valuation (BAAD). In total, there will be six blocks each of the goal-oriented images, alcohol-related images, and BAAD (18 blocks total). Since this is a proof-of-concept experiment, the interspersed BAAD blocks will enable monitoring and validating changes in the participant's alcohol valuation after the image viewing blocks. Only the fMRI measures of goal- and alcohol-related image viewing will be used to build a support vector classifier (SVC). The participants will see a dial with a needle on the screen along with instructions to think of either future goals or alcohol cues. The dial will be directly controlled by ongoing output from the SVC, updating the needle position as participants imagine immediate (alcohol-related) or delayed (goal-related) cues. Based on this, it is expected that participants will have increased whole-brain signal-to-noise for alcohol vs. goal fMRI analyses and increased recruitment of frontal-parietal networks from enhanced visual attention to the task.

Conditions

• Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Real Time Neurofeedback	Participants receive feedback from their own brain activity.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-01-13
• Primary completion: 2025-08-31
• Completion: 2025-08-31
• First posted: 2021-04-02
• Last updated: 2026-02-10
• Results posted: 2026-02-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States