Evaluation of brain training to boost mood in young people with depression (BOOST)

The presentation will overview a protocol for evaluating the feasibility, safety and acceptability of neurofeedback training in young people with depression using a 7 Tesla ultra-high-field MRI scanner. Importantly, high-strength scanners gain increased signal to noise, which allows for improved specificity due to higher resolution. Therefore, high-strength scanners can support the precise measurement of brain activity in smaller regions implicated in the neurobiology of depression (e.g., amygdala). The fMRI-neurofeedback pilot will be used to help youth aged 16-to-25 voluntarily regulate their own brain activity in regions associated with emotion regulation, specifically the amygdala. During neurofeedback, youth will be tasked to enhance positive emotional responses via recalling positive autobiographical memories. This presentation will provide a framework to design neurofeedback experiments as a means to pave the way for new interventions that target depressive symptoms in young people.