Central Institute for Mental Health, German Center for Mental Health (DZPG)

The way to optimization of neurofeedback training protocols for emotion regulation

Miroslava Jindrová (1,2), Florian Kirn (1), Noel Wieland (1), Nitzan Lubianiker (3), Talma Hendler (3), Christian Schmahl (1,2), Christian Paret (1)

(1) Central Institute for Mental Health, (2) German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), (3) Tel-Aviv University

Amygdala neurofeedback (NF) training is a promising tool for augmenting emotion regulation therapy. During the training, participants downregulate the amygdala response to negative stimuli while receiving real-time feedback. In this talk, I will compare different protocol parameters and their effects on the scalability and outcome of NF learning. First, I will show how the amygdala electrical fingerprint (AmyEFP), a functional magnetic resonance imaging-informed electroencephalography (EEG) signature, can be used as an EEG proxy of deep-brain activation for NF training and has already proven its feasibility in Borderline Personality Disorder. Next, I will elucidate on the timing of the feedback in NF training alongside affective stimuli. In a study with 102 healthy participants, we compared continuous and intermittent feedback during AmyEFP-NF. Both groups showed significant learning effects in downregulation; however, the intermittent feedback showed a more straightforward learning curve among the training sessions, suggesting that separating the processes of regulation and feedback interpretation reduces the complexity of the interface and leads to faster progress in learning. Finally, in the same study, we investigated the use of mental strategies during NF training. I will show if the successful mental strategies are characterized by different parameters than the unsuccessful ones, and what role exploration and exploitation of mental strategies play during NF training.