There may be a way to tap into people’s brain activity to boost their confidence, a new study suggests. In the study, the researchers used a technique called decoded neurofeedback, which involves scanning people’s brains to monitor their brain activity, and using artificial intelligence to detect activity patterns that are linked with feelings of confidence. Then, whenever these patterns are detected, people are given a reward — in this case, participants were given a small amount of money. The researchers found that by doing this, they could boost participants’ confidence when they were doing a task in a laboratory, regardless of how well they actually performed the task. What’s more, the same technique could be used to decrease confidence, if people were rewarded when their brain activity showed a pattern that was linked to low confidence, according to the researchers. The finding “adds to the growing body of evidence on how confidence is generated in the brain,” the researchers wrote in the December 15th issue of the journal Nature Communications. The same group of researchers recently published a study suggesting that decoded neurofeedback could be used to erase frightening memories.