Abstract
Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have contributed to the understanding of psychiatric disorders by identifying brain activity related to symptoms and mental states. However, to elucidate causality in identified associations, intervention in brain activity is essential. Neurofeedback analyzes brain activity measured by EEG or MRI in real‐time and provides feedback to participants, promoting self‐regulation of brain activity. This not only contributes to inferring the causality but also holds promise for therapeutic applications. Unlike conventional neurofeedback, which provides one‐dimensional feedback such as the activity level of specific brain regions, decoded neurofeedback provides feedback on brain activity patterns. This allows manipulation of brain activity patterns corresponding to various mental states, greatly increasing flexibility. In this paper, we discuss the potential medical applications of this technique, using our efforts to develop decoded neurofeedback for the treatment of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as an example.
