Published October 1, 2026, in Current Biology, this report combines two real-time fMRI neurofeedback experiments involving 141 participants. The studies asked whether people could use self-generated mental strategies to increase activity in the hippocampus.
What contingent feedback added Participants receiving feedback tied to their own hippocampal activity improved upregulation across hippocampal subfields compared with a yoked sham-feedback group given similar instructions. Strategy engagement alone did not predict success in the sham condition, supporting a specific role for contingent feedback in finding or refining useful mental content.
A focused neural signal The effect was absent in the untargeted but connected entorhinal cortex. Successful later training runs were also associated with shifts in network patterns during subsequent movie viewing, an exploratory sign that training may influence how naturalistic events are represented.
The important boundary This is evidence of short-term neural target engagement, not better memory, symptoms or daily function. The checked abstract does not provide effect sizes, study-specific denominators, adverse-event results or durability beyond the session. Clinical applications remain a research question.
Source and disclosure Authoritative abstract checked. The authors declared no competing interests, and Crossref identifies German Research Foundation support. Prepared with AI assistance and source-checked October 2, 2026.