When people are given the opportunity to see what is happening inside their head in real time, they quickly learn to suppress pain, self-control, and improve mental performance. If most of us had access to such technology, the world would be transformed. Many of us have developed special ways of dealing with feelings and emotions. For example, when we feel stressed, we can calm down if we start breathing correctly. If we have a throbbing toothache, we try to relieve it with a meditative technique. And when we feel empty, we can cheer ourselves up by imagining that we are somewhere in a "happy place." Those who have tried these strategies know that they often work, but with varying degrees of success.
Now imagine if you could see what happens inside your brain when you experience emotions and feelings such as pain, anxiety, depression, fear, and pleasure - all in real time. Suddenly, your feelings are no longer a mystery, and the effectiveness of the little mental tricks you use in your daily life becomes apparent.
This is the idea behind a new technique known as real-time fMRI. By receiving concrete visual feedback of brain activity as we perform mental tricks and strategies, we can learn to consciously control our emotions, feelings, and whims, as if at the push of a button. With practice, you can learn to control your own mind in the same way that a weightlifter controls a specific muscle group. Obviously, all of this raises a tantalizing prospect of a future in which we can train advanced brains that transcend our present.
The first demonstration that real-time fMRI can be a powerful tool came in 2005, along with a study in which scientists taught people how to control pain. Eight people were lying in the scanner, experiencing a painful burning sensation on their skin. The scientists showed them a virtual flame representing activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area of the brain involved in pain processing. Through a variety of cognitive strategies such as “trying to leave or approach a painful stimulus” and “trying to feel a stimulus with high or low intensity,” scientists quickly learned to control the size of the flame while altering the level of electrical activity in the area responsible for the pain. …
It is important to note that a decrease or increase in this nerve signal correlates with the subjective sensations of pain, measured using a questionnaire and a 10-point pain scale. Surprisingly, in one single 13-minute session, participants learned to easily control the size of the flame and were able to reduce their pain by over 50%.
Since then, real-time fMRI research has taken off and new clinical and experimental applications are emerging almost every month. Methods for displaying brain activity now include feedback, such as beeps or “thermometer on display,” built into VR headsets.
Promotional video:
A 2017 study published in the journal Appetite found that training can help fight obesity. Over the course of a four-day training period, overweight men learned to increase the interaction between brain regions involved in functioning and reward, improving self-control and learning to make healthy food choices.
Another study published this year found that learning to control the right prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that is impaired in people with ADHD, reduced ADHD symptoms and improved attention. These improvements persisted 11 months after the trials, showing that learning can cause long-term changes in the brain.
A 2016 study found that older adults using this technique also improved their cognitive function. It may well be that young individuals could improve brain function in this way. A 2015 study of healthy adults showed that neurofeedback training can improve focus and reduce distraction.
Other recent studies have shown that training can be used to treat PTSD in war veterans, depression, anxiety, and even cigarette addiction. Another study by James Sulzer of the University of Texas at Austin and his colleagues showed that participants can learn to regulate the levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which can be used to treat Parkinson's disease.
Research has clearly shown that this technology can be used in countless ways, but how long-term effective and practical it is remains to be seen. Since real-time fMRI requires expensive equipment, its immediate use should be designed to treat severe conditions when more affordable treatments are powerless. However, as with any new technology, fMRI scanners will become cheaper, more compact, and more affordable over time.
And this opens up a whole new world of possibilities. To get a sense of the untapped potential, imagine what it would be like if an athlete or bodybuilder worked without being able to see their body or numbers on the scales. It would be incredibly difficult to determine which exercises work and which don't, and to what extent. Hone practically any skill effectively requires visual feedback, and the same can be said for brain training.
What would be the ultimate learning potential with real-time fMRI if you had easy access to it and could be trained weekly or even daily to control your brain? If several 10-minute sessions produce statistically significant results, what can 10,000 hours of practice do? There is no true way to test yet, but "mental superpowers" may be quite achievable.
Training with neurofeedback could provide a shortcut to the abilities that monks, for example, demonstrate, which can completely block excruciating pain and alter physiology to dry a towel on their back in a cold room.
So, while the ultimate potential of this technology remains to be seen, it is not unreasonable to believe that the amazing mental abilities of experienced meditators, who take years to develop, can one day be achieved in a short period of time.
ILYA KHEL