Sarina Shah
Research Mentor: Stefanie Russman Block
Mentor Department: Psychology/Psychiatry, LSA
Author(s): Sarina Shah, Sophia Hovakimian, Kristin Mannella, Krisanne Litinas, Kate Fitzgerald, Scott Peltier, David Fresco, Steve Taylor, Stefanie Russman Block
Session: Session 6 (3:00 PM – 3:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 16
Abstract
Despite the growing interest in translating neuroscience research into tools to help anxiety, it is unclear whether Neurofeedback can enhance cognitive reappraisal and improve anxiety symptoms in young adults. Neurofeedback provides real time information on one’s brain activity, allowing them to regulate specific brain regions. Cognitive reappraisal is a strategy people can use to change how they interpret a negative situation to reduce emotional impact. Anxiety disorders affect a large portion of the population and while many behavioral therapies target skills such as cognitive reappraisal, many people struggle to engage these brain systems. This study examines whether the use of neurofeedback enhances the use of the prefrontal cortex during cognitive reappraisal which could improve emotion regulation and decrease the symptoms of anxiety. This study has 4 visits for the participant. The first visit is a baseline assessment, the second visit is the reappraisal practice, the third visit is the MRI visit, and the fourth visit is the follow-up assessment. The fourth visit takes place 1 month after visit 2. This is the time period we use to determine the difference in Hamilton Score, which is the scale we use to measure anxiety symptoms. During the MRI session, participants are asked to reappraise negative photos while either receiving real time neurofeedback based on prefrontal cortex activity or sham neurofeedback. After each reappraise image, participants see feedback in the form of a thermometer, which moves up based on how much they increased their prefrontal cortex activity while reappraising compared to viewing images without regulating their emotions. We are analyzing data from 20 different participants. It is hypothesized that an increase in prefrontal cortex activity will be correlated with a decrease in anxiety symptoms 1 month after the neurofeedback training, based on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. We did observe a decrease in anxiety symptoms in the 30-day span between visits 2 and 4, irrespective of individuals’ changes in prefrontal cortex activity. These findings will help clarify whether neurofeedback is an effective tool to help reduce anxiety symptoms in young adults.
