NCT05260749

Real-time fMRI Neurofeedback Training on the Anterior Insula Based on Interoceptive Processing

Real-time fMRI Neurofeedback Training on the Anterior Insula Via Interoceptive Processing and Its Behavioral Effects

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 99 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 28 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The main aim of the study is to investigate whether subjects can learn self control of activity of the anterior insula via real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback training based on a regulation strategy of interoceptive processing.

Detailed description

A double-blinded, placebo-controled, between-subject design is employed in this study. In a randomized order, a total of 90 healthy subjects will be recruited and assigned into the experimental group (EG; N=33), which receives real feedback from the left anterior insula, or the control group (CG; N=33) which receives sham feedback from a whole slice of top brain, or the control group 2 (CG2; N=33) wich receives sham feedback from the middle temporal gyrus. Neurofeedback training consists of 4 training sessions with real-time feedback and 1 transfer session without feedback. A heartbeat detection task pre- and post-training was used to determine interoceptive accuracy changes induced by neurofeedback training. A pre-training empathy task before training was used to localise the anterior insula and as a baseline of empathic response. A post-training empathy task was used to determine the effects of neurofeedback training on empathic response by comparing with the pre-training one. Behavioral and fMRI data are collected during the empathy tasks and the neurofeedback task. Personality traits of subjects are assessed using validated Chinese version questionnaires, including the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), Interoceptive Confusion Questionnaire (ICQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ), Empathy Quotient (EQ). Subjects are asked to complete Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) twice before and after the neurofeedback training task.

Conditions

• Healthy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	real-time fMRI neurofeedback training procedure	real-time fMRI neurofeedback training procedure running on the Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 3.2 software (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands)
PROCEDURE	real-time fMRI sham-controlled neurofeedback training procedure	real-time fMRI sham neurofeedback training procedure running on the Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 3.2 software (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands)

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-06-16
• Primary completion: 2022-11-15
• Completion: 2022-12-01
• First posted: 2022-03-02
• Last updated: 2022-12-14

Locations

1 site across 1 country: China