Self-Regulation of Amygdala Activation with Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback

Vadim Zotev¹, Frank Kruger², Raquel Phillips¹, Ruben Alvarez¹, W Kyle Simmons¹, Pat Bellgowan¹, Wayne Drevets¹, Jerzy Bodurka¹

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback allows a person to self-regulate activation in a specific brain region. We explore feasibility of amygdala activity self-regulation in emotional processing. A custom rtfMRI system was used to measure fMRI activation and provide region-of-interest neurofeedback as a variable-height bar. Twenty-one healthy male subjects were asked to feel happy so as to raise the bar. Eleven subjects experienced left amygdala neurofeedback. Ten received "sham" neurofeedback from the horizontal segment of intraparietal sulcus. Increased left amygdala activation was observed across training runs only with real neurofeedback. Our results demonstrate that healthy subjects can self-regulate amygdala function.