Functional and clinical outcomes of FMRI-based neurofeedback training in patients with alcohol dependence: a pilot study

Figures

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  Fig. 1. Experimental protocol. Active and sham rtfMRI conditions were applied in random order after baseline fMRI scans within a double-blind parallel group design

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  Fig. 2. Experimental procedures: patients participated in three rtfMRI NF sessions within 3–6 weeks; during the NF training neutral and alcohol-related pictures were presented in blocks of 40 s with 10 pictures of the respective category; participants were instructed to reduce brain activity during the presentation of alcohol-associated information; during the presentation of neutral information, participants were instructed to simply gaze at the pictures. A cue exposure task was used to define the individual target regions (ROIs). Before and after each NF training resting-state activity was acquired and a psychometric assessment was performed. NF: neurofeedback

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  Fig. 3. Comparison of craving-specific BOLD responses during active abstinent minus active relapse (alcohol-associated pictures minus neutral pictures) during the cue exposure task on day one (fixed effects analysis, p(Bonf) < 0.001, T score: 5.6–8.0, cluster threshold: 30 voxel; Talairach coordinates: x = -15, y = − 79, z = 0)

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  Fig. 4. Overall group comparison active vs. sham: BOLD responses of the active group compared to the sham group across all NF sessions (contrast of alcohol-associated pictures vs. neutral pictures; fixed effects analysis, p (Bonf) < 0.001, T score: 5.6–8.0, cluster threshold: 30 voxel; Talairach coordinates: x = 4, y = 29, z = 0)

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  Fig. 5. Overall within-active group comparison: BOLD responses 3rd NF run, 3rd session vs. 1st NF run, 1st session (contrast alcohol-associated pictures vs. neutral pictures; fixed effects analysis, p (Bonf) < 0.001, T score: 5.6–8.0, cluster threshold: 30 voxel; Talairach coordinates: x = 0, y = 13, z = − 3)

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  Fig. 6. Within-active group comparison, abstinence vs. relapse (contrast alcohol-associated pictures compared to neutral pictures during the 3rd NF run minus 1st NF run of NF session 1, 2, 3; fixed effects analysis, p (Bonf) < 0.001, T score: 5.6–8.0, cluster threshold: 30 voxel; Talairach coordinates: x = 0, y = 45, z = 23)