Overview
- Researchers trained volunteers with real-time fMRI neurofeedback to upregulate the brain’s reward hub, the ventral tegmental area.
- Participants received a standard hepatitis B shot after training, with antibody titers checked at two and four weeks and at three months.
- Those who most increased VTA activity showed higher protective antibodies, though overall group differences were not statistically significant.
- The protocol used four scanner sessions with visual feedback that grew with target activation as participants imagined positive future outcomes.
- Authors and outside commentators pointed to potential relevance for placebo mechanisms and immunotherapy adjuncts, while stressing the modest, preliminary nature of the effect and the need for larger trials.