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Real-time fMRI neurofeedback is a method in which a person receives feedback about their neural activation with the help of fMRI, and should learn to control this activation consciously. We have developed a novel paradigm to deliver neurofeedback in which a virtual environment serves as a feedback modality. This feedback is presented through a virtual environment in which the participants see a greem meadow with trees in the background. This environment changes depending on the brain activity: it gets brighter (the sun rises) and flowers grow and bloom. In other words, the higher the brain activity in the target brain region, the brigher the environment and more flowers bloom. We want to examine the efficacy of this neurofeedback task by comparing three different conditions. In a double-blind, randomised study, the participants will reveice feedback from the target region (experimental condition), a control region (active control condition), or sham feedback. To evaluate efficacy of this paradigm we are using the following psychometric measures in our study. These will be assessed before the neurofeedback training. Questionnaires marked with a star (*) will be reassessed at 4 and 12 weeks after the neurofeedback. - *Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) - *Essener Trauma Inventory (ETI) - *Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) - *WHO Quality of Life - Brief version (WHOQOL-BREF) - *Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) - Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) - Internal External Locus of Control-4 (IE-4) - *Appetitive and Facilitative Aggression Scale (AFAS) - Facilitative aggression subscale

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by severe social and functional deficits. Importantly, individuals with psychiatric disorders express elevated levels of ASD exacerbating social isolation, however, ASD is often not recognized and thus, deficits are not treated adequately. Evidence points towards the diagnostic relevance of different ASD markers including voice, gaze, attention to social-emotional cues as well as information processing. However, these indicators remain fragmented. Accordingly, there is a lack of combining multidimensional markers of ASD to assist objective identification of ASD-like traits in a comprehensive approach. In the planned project, we aim to assess the effectiveness of measures that can be captured with widely accessible digital devices as objective markers to screen the expression of ASD traits in a cohort of individuals with psychiatric disorders. In addition, we will combine multimodal inputs with voice samples of the participants, post process the obtained data, and enter it in a convolutional neural network to generate probabilities of belonging on the autism spectrum. Soft- and hardware for the computerized testing will be provided by the company Vitafluence.

Substance use disorder (SUD) – including substance abuse and dependence - is characterized by impairments in a range of emotional and cognitive processes, mediated by imbalanced communication across distributed brain networks. In this meta-analysis, we aim to include resting-state studies from previous case-control studies comparing individuals with SUD and healthy control subjects to specify robust patterns of aberrant brain functional connectivity.

Using previously published fMRI-neurofeedback studies, which used intermittent feedback, we will analyze the feedback and regulation blocks and investigate how the brain processes feedback and uses it to recalibrate self-regulation in neurofeedback experiments.

Additional file 1: Appendix 1. Regions demonstrating significant activations (reappraise > view) or deactivations (view > reappraise) in healthy controls, patients with MDD and patients with PTSD. Appendix 2. Between group differences in intrinsic connectivity as a measure of a voxel-analysis during cognitive reappraisal (reappraise > view).

Frontiers in neuroscience 14, 593854 (2021). doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.593854, Published by Frontiers Research Foundation, Lausanne