Effects of daily heart rate variability biofeedback practice on the amygdala's structural covariance network.

Five weeks of daily HRV biofeedback was associated with condition-specific patterns in how amygdala and prefrontal volume changes covaried, supporting further study of brain-heart training mechanisms.

Alemu K, Yoo HJ, Nashiro K, Min J, Nasseri P, Cho C, Choi P, Bachman SL, Porat S, Dutt S, Thayer JF, Mather M.
International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · Publication date: 2026-08-30
Added to site: 2026-10-07
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2026.113461

First published online August 30, 2026; the October issue date is later. Added October 7, 2026 as a historical addition.

Modalities

HRV biofeedback, MRI

Clinical focus

Emotion regulation, Brain-heart interactions

Population

Younger and older adults

Sample

151 participants, including 100 younger and 51 older adults

Intervention / method

Daily biofeedback practice intended either to increase or decrease heart-rate oscillations, with MRI before and after five weeks

Comparator

Increase-HRV versus decrease-HRV biofeedback conditions

Clinician summary

The two conditions showed opposing right-amygdala and left-medial-prefrontal structural covariance patterns. In the increase-HRV condition, left-amygdala change was inversely associated with right-orbitofrontal change; that association was absent in the decrease-HRV condition.

How to interpret the findings

Structural covariance is an association across participants, not direct connectivity or proof that biofeedback changed a specific pathway. The abstract does not provide arm counts, randomization details, clinical outcomes, effect sizes, adverse events or durability beyond five weeks.

Equipment and disclosures

MRI plus HRV biofeedback; device details were not verified from the checked abstract.

The indexed record lists National Institute on Aging and National Institutes of Health support. Authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Related evidence

Compare findings from the same clinical area, including mixed results.

• Regulation in acute stress experience through functional near-infrared spectroscopy neurofeedback of the prefrontal cortex. · Positive with limitations