Volitional Regulation and Transferable Patterns of Midbrain Oscillations

Abstract Dopaminergic brain areas are crucial for cognition and their dysregulation is linked to neuropsychiatric disorders typically treated with pharmacological interventions. These treatments often have side effects and variable effectiveness, underscoring the need for alternatives. We introduce the first demonstration of neurofeedback using local field potentials (LFP) from the ventral tegmental area (VTA). This approach leverages the real-time temporal resolution of LFP and ability to target deep brain. In our study, non-human primates learned to regulate VTA beta power using a customized normalized metric to stably quantify VTA LFP signal modulation. The subjects demonstrated flexible and specific control with different strategies for specific frequency bands, revealing new insights into the plasticity of VTA neurons contributing to oscillatory activity that is functionally relevant to many aspects of cognition. Excitingly, the subjects showed transferable patterns, a key criterion for clinical applications beyond training settings. This work provides a foundation for neurofeedback-based treatments, which may be a promising alternative to conventional approaches and open new avenues for understanding and managing neuropsychiatric disorders. Significance statement This study demonstrates, for the first time, that neurofeedback using local field potentials (LFP) from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is feasible in non-human primates. By leveraging the temporal resolution and ability to target deep brain regions, this approach provides a novel way to modulate brain activity linked to dopamine-related functions. The findings reveal that subjects can flexibly control VTA LFP signals and transfer learned strategies to new settings, offering potential for developing neurofeedback-based treatments. This research opens new avenues for managing neuropsychiatric disorders, presenting an alternative to traditional pharmacological interventions that often have side effects and limited effectiveness. The study highlights the plasticity of VTA neurons and their relevance to cognition and mood regulation.