Hampson Lab
Overview
The present focus is the use of real-time fMRI neurofeedback to treat and study mental illness. We use this form of neurofeedback to train patients to control a specific aspect of their brain function. For example, we train patients with PTSD to control activity in their amygdala in a trauma recall context. After training, we examine whether they can better control the targeted aspects of brain function (i.e., the amygdala activity) and whether the training has rewired their brain networks or improved their symptoms.
By examining correlations between changes in brain function and symptoms we can learn about the neural substrates of the disorder. For example, if we find that amygdala-prefrontal connectivity increases in PTSD patients during training, and that the change in this connection is related to symptom improvement, it would provide evidence that this connection can mediate PTSD symptomatology. Thus, the two major aims of this work are to develop neurofeedback interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders and to probe the neural substrates underlying these disorders using perturb-and-measure approach targeting clinically relevant aspects of brain function. In addition to the neurofeedback research, we are running a number of other studies using functional neuroimaging to explore relationships between brain connectivity patterns and behavior.
The Hampson Lab is led by Michelle Hampson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Psychiatry, and in the Child Study Center.
Participant Eligibility/Benefits
Most of our studies involve MRI scans. We are beginning a new neurofeedback study for adolescents with Tourette Syndrome ages 10-16.
Research Interest
IRB Study Title
Research Team
Collaborating Yale Faculty
Associate Professor in the Child Study Center; Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Pediatric Depression Clinic, Child Study Center; Co-Director of the T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Childhood Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Child Study Center; Associate Director, Albert J. Solnit Integrated Training Program, Child Study Center; Co-Director of the Tic and OCD Program, Child Study Center
Emily Fraser Beede Professor of Child Psychiatry; Director, Social and Affective Neuroscience of Autism Program, Child Study Center; Director, Yale Toddler Developmental Disabilities Clinic
Dean of Yale College, Richard M. Colgate Professor of Psychology and Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and of Neurosurgery; Director MRI Research
Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Molecular Imaging Program, NCPTSD, VA; Director, Mood, Anxiety, and Cognitive Sciences Division
Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Professor of Psychiatry, of Neuroscience, and of Psychology; Co-Director, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation; Chair, Psychiatry; Chief of Psychiatry, Yale-New Haven Hospital; Director: NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism; Director, Clinical Neuroscience Division, VA National Center for PTSD
Neison Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Pediatrics; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology in the Yale Child Study Center; Chair, Child Study Center
Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry; Deputy Chair for Translational Research, Psychiatry; Director, Yale OCD Research Clinic; Director, Neuroscience Research Training Program, Yale Department of Psychiatry
Professor of Psychiatry, in the Child Study Center and of Neuroscience; Director, Center of Excellence in Gambling Research; Director, Yale Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders; Director, Women and Addictive Disorders, Women's Health Research at Yale