People can consciously control mental activity using brain scans

An example of brain activation from the Neurovault database. Red areas are activated by a particular task, blue areas are deactivated.
An example of brain activation from the Neurovault database. Red areas are activated by a particular task, blue areas are deactivated.
Credit: NSF

People who can “see” their brain activity can change it, after just one or two neurofeedback sessions, new research shows.

People in the study were able to quiet activity in the amygdala — an almond-shaped brain region that processes emotions such as fear — after seeing simple visual or auditory cues that corresponded to the activity level there, according to a new study published in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry. The findings reveal the incredible plasticity of the brain, the researchers said.

Read the full article at LiveScience.com

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