Self-regulation of Prefrontal Cortex During Emotional Cognitive Control in PTSD

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

Deficits in emotional cognitive control are present in a number of clinical psychiatric populations including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Deficits in this domain of function limit one's ability to focus attention on goal-directed activities while inhibiting reactions to irrelevant emotional stimuli, and this contributes to the symptoms of these disorders and makes individuals less likely to be successful in existing treatments. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) and its connectivity with other regions (i.e., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, insula, amygdala) is thought to play a central role in facilitating emotional cognitive control. However, past research has primarily utilized correlational approaches that limit conclusions about the directionality of these relationships. Enhancing our understanding of the neural underpinnings of emotional cognitive control could be valuable for informing treatment for populations with deficits in these processes, such as adults with PTSD. The current study utilizes a neuromodulatory approach called real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) whereby participants observe their own neural activity in the moment and are taught to self-regulate this activity. Adult volunteers, who have been diagnosed with PTSD, will be trained to increase neural activity in LDLPFC while involved in mental tasks involving emotional cognitive control processes. The mental tasks will include counting, remembering words, or planning events while viewing negatively-valenced emotional words (e.g., kill, death, threat). Participants in this study will complete a non-randomized LDLPFC rtfMRI-nf protocol to assess tolerability and feasibility of the protocol in a clinical population of interest. Resting-state fMRI scans and behavioral testing sessions will take place before and after rtfMRI-nf. The specific aims are to examine the impact of LDLPFC rtfMRI-nf on: (1) LDLPFC activity during emotional cognitive control, (2) LDLPFC functional connectivity with other brain regions during rest, and (3) cognitive control task performance. As this study is meant to be preliminary, the target sample size is not powered to detect statistical significance for these measures. However, effect size estimates will be calculated to provide potential justification for future work with this protocol in this clinical population. To these ends, this study will use rtfMRI-nf to examine preliminary evidence of a novel protocol to regulate LDLPFC activity in adults diagnosed with PTSD. This research will improve our understanding of emotional cognitive control and demonstrate whether this is a modifiable target for intervention in this clinical population of interest.

About this trial record page

What this page shows

Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04543513, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.

What this page does not do

No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.

Where the data comes from

Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.

Last refresh

Last update posted Aug 22, 2022 · Synced Sep 6, 2026

Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.