An interventional study of Real-time fMRI neurofeedback training in Healthy, sponsored by University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 35 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-07.
Sponsored by University of Electronic Science and Technology of China · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
The goal of this study is to investgate whether individual differences of cognitive control capacity could predict neurofeedback performance and the behavioral effects resulting from successful anterior insula regulation via interoceptive strategy.
The experimental protocol comprises two visits with a 3-7 days interval. The first visit includes: (1) completion of standardized psychological questionnaires, (2) pre-test of the heartbeat counting task (HCT), and (3) four validated cognitive control tasks, including the Go/No-Go task, Stroop task, Task-switching task, N-back task. The main task of the second visit is a fMRI task followed by a post-test of the HCT. The MRI scanning protocol includes anatomical scan, two resting-state scans (pre- and post-training), four runs of fMRI neurofeedback training and a transfer run without feedback. During the regulation block of the training task, participants are asked to upregulate the anterior insula activity followed by a pain empathy rating and strategy efficacy rating. All participants receive real-time neurofeedback from the left anterior insula. Scores of questionnaires including Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Beck Depression Inventory-Ⅱ, Autism Spectrum Quotient, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Toronto Alexithymia scale, Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, Interoceptive Confusion Questionnaire, Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Cognitive Flexibility Inventory are also collected before the experiment.
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China is the lead sponsor of 109 studies on the registry; 35 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants received real-time neurofeedback information from the target regulation brain region.
Other: Real-time fMRI neurofeedback training
Real-time neurofeedback information is computed using the Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 4.0 software (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands). Functional images are collected and processed in real time based on contrasts of regulation vs. rest conditions. The BOLD signal of the target region is then transformed into visual bars and displayed to participants via the projector screen while participants keep using regulation strategy (heartbeat interoception in our study) to upregulate the target region.
BOLD signal of the anterior insula during neurofeedback training
The anterior insula activity induced by regulation relative to rest blocks in the neurofeedback training task and transfer task.
Time frame: 1 hour
Behavioral measurements in the cognitive control tasks
Response time and accuracy are recorded in the cognitive control tasks (i.e., the Go/No-Go task, Stroop task, Task-switching, N-back task).
Time frame: 1 hour
Pain empathy ratings scores
Subjects were required to rate their empathic feeling towards painful pictures on a Likert Scale ranging from 1-9 (1 = not at all and 9 = very painful) after each block.
Time frame: 1 hour
Strategy efficacy rating scores
Subjects were required to rate the strategy efficacy on a Likert Scale ranging from 1-9 (1 = not at all and 9 = very) after each block.
Time frame: 1 hour
Intero-ceptive accuracy
The ratio of participants' perceived number of heartbeat relative to the recorded number of heartbeat in the heartbeat counting task.
Time frame: 15 minutes
Confidence rating scores of interoceptive sensitivity
Subjects were asked to rate to what extent they can feel their heartbeat based on a Likert Scale ranging from 1-9 (1 = very low and 9 = very high) in the heartbeat counting task.
Time frame: 15 minutes
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China