Peer-guided movie neurofeedback to facilitate recovery in opioid use disorder
- 1Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Abstract
Real-time fMRI neurofeedback can modify clinically relevant brain states, but transferring brain dynamics between peers has not been tested, particularly in addiction, where social learning is central to recovery. Here we introduce peer-guided movie neurofeedback (PG-MovieNF), which trains participants to align their brain activity with treatment-related dynamics derived from peers further along in recovery viewing the same movie. Using longitudinal fMRI data from individuals with opioid use disorder watching Trainspotting before and after 8 weeks of adjunctive treatment, we derived a multivariate treatment-predictive signal in dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. An independent cohort then received real PG-MovieNF or yoked sham feedback during the same film. Real feedback increased alignment with the peer-derived target signal, reduced craving and improved affective ratings. Target alignment was coupled to shared orbitofrontal cortex dynamics during real feedback and predicted craving reduction. Together, these findings establish proof of concept for PG-MovieNF to enhance addiction recovery.
Related
- Prefrontal Cortical Changes With Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement in Opioid Use Disorder
- Vanderbilt Integrated Community TMS for Opioid Recovery (VICTORY): Study protocol for a randomized, controlled trial of non-invasive brain stimulation to reduce craving in people with opioid use disorder
- Measures of recovery used in clinical settings among people with opioid use disorder: a rapid review of the literature
- Modulating Amygdala Responses in Major Depressive Disorder using Naturalistic Neurofeedback with Emotional Faces
- Effects of EEG neurofeedback in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review of randomised and non-randomised studies.
BibTeX
@misc{kronberg2026peerguided,
title = {{Peer-guided movie neurofeedback to facilitate recovery in opioid use disorder}},
author = {G. Kronberg and N. E. McClain and M. Boros and S. Santhapuram and K. R. Drury and A. C. Hennings and U. Hasson and N. Alia-Klein and K. A. Norman and R. Z. Goldstein},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.18.26363414},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.26363414v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Peer-guided movie neurofeedback to facilitate recovery in opioid use disorder
AU - G. Kronberg
AU - N. E. McClain
AU - M. Boros
AU - S. Santhapuram
AU - K. R. Drury
AU - A. C. Hennings
AU - U. Hasson
AU - N. Alia-Klein
AU - K. A. Norman
AU - R. Z. Goldstein
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.18.26363414
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.26363414v1
AB - Real-time fMRI neurofeedback can modify clinically relevant brain states, but transferring brain dynamics between peers has not been tested, particularly in addiction, where social learning is central to recovery. Here we introduce peer-guided movie neurofeedback (PG-MovieNF), which trains participants to align their brain activity with treatment-related dynamics derived from peers further along in recovery viewing the same movie. Using longitudinal fMRI data from individuals with opioid use disorder watching Trainspotting before and after 8 weeks of adjunctive treatment, we derived a multivariate treatment-predictive signal in dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. An independent cohort then received real PG-MovieNF or yoked sham feedback during the same film. Real feedback increased alignment with the peer-derived target signal, reduced craving and improved affective ratings. Target alignment was coupled to shared orbitofrontal cortex dynamics during real feedback and predicted craving reduction. Together, these findings establish proof of concept for PG-MovieNF to enhance addiction recovery.
ER -