Normalization of Human Social and Emotional Dysfunction Using Noninvasive Brain Modulation Approaches: From Proof-Of-Concept to Clinical Studies

Mental disorders have become one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and most of them, such as depression, anxiety, autism and schizophrenia, have a high lifetime prevalence but relatively low treatment success rates. These disorders lead to marked impairments in the quality of life and social functioning of those affected. However, the available conventional treatment approaches, such as pharmacological and behavioral interventions are characterized by low efficacy, negative side effects, and high drop-out rates. Therefore, the development of novel – in particular non-invasive – treatment approaches is urgent. Based on brain imaging findings that mental disorders are closely associated with brain alterations both structurally and functionally, innovative brain modulation approaches have been recently developed to directly target the regulation of brain function.

Research on non-invasive brain modulation has become one of the frontiers in the field and has been increasingly demonstrated great potential as a novel intervention for social and emotional deficits in those disorders. Progress in the development of non-invasive brain modulation including pharmacological and neuroimaging technology-based approaches, such as oxytocin, vasopressin, real-time neuroimaging informed neurofeedback (NF) training, TMS and tDCS, have been shown great potential in intervening social and emotional deficits in the clinical population. For example, real-time neuroimaging informed NF training allows individuals to acquire voluntary control over their own brain activity or connectivity and consequently induces associated changes at both behavioral and neural levels. Application of NF training into the clinical population has shown positive findings, although at an initial stage, that it can decrease symptom severity in depression, social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder and so on. To improve our understanding of how these brain modulation approaches affect human behavior and neural response and underline their translational application potential, the current Research Topic welcomes submissions of original research articles as well as review/viewpoint articles that can bring new progress to the field.

Subtopics include but are not limited to human brain modulation using neurofeedback training (real-time fMRI/EEG/fNIRS neurofeedback), pharmacology (e.g., oxytocin, vasopressin, losartan...), or brain stimulation (e.g., TMS, tDCS, DBS...) and their effects on social and emotional processing in healthy or clinical populations. The development of innovative protocols of cognitive-behavioral therapy is also welcomed.