Abstract
Within the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback, most studies provide subjects with instructions or suggest strategies to regulate a particular brain area, while other neuro-/biofeedback approaches often do not. This study is the first to investigate the hypothesis that subjects are able to utilize fMRI neurofeedback to learn to differentially modulate the fMRI signal from the bilateral amygdala congruent with the prescribed regulation direction without an instructed or suggested strategy and apply what they learned even when feedback is no longer available. Thirty-two subjects were included in the analysis. Data were collected at 3 Tesla using blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD)-sensitivity optimized multi-echo EPI. Based on the mean contrast between up- and down-regulation in the amygdala in a post-training scan without feedback following three neurofeedback sessions, subjects were able to regulate their amygdala congruent with the prescribed directions with a moderate effect size of Cohen’s d = 0.43 (95% conf. int. 0.23–0.64). This effect size would be reduced, however, through stricter exclusion criteria for subjects that show alterations in respiration. Regulation capacity was positively correlated with subjective arousal ratings and negatively correlated with agreeableness and susceptibility to anger. A learning effect over the training sessions was only observed with end-of-block feedback (EoBF) but not with continuous feedback (trend). The results confirm the above hypothesis. Further studies are needed to compare effect sizes of regulation capacity for approaches with and without instructed strategies.
Highlights
If humans could more learn to improve self-regulation of particular brain functions or states such as emotions or motor tasks through some kind of training with lasting effects, this could have a large impact on areas such as mental and neurological health care and education
While neurofeedback based on electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings has been investigated for a number of decades (Budzynski et al, 2009), another type of neurofeedback based on functional magnetic resonance imaging is a much newer technique that has experienced a surge of interest within the neuroimaging community within recent years
This study confirms that subjects were able to utilize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback to learn to regulate the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal from their bilateral amygdala in prescribed directions without receiving specific regulation instructions or suggested strategies
Summary
If humans could more learn to improve self-regulation of particular brain functions or states such as emotions or motor tasks through some kind of training with lasting effects, this could have a large impact on areas such as mental and neurological health care and education. While neurofeedback based on electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings has been investigated for a number of decades (Budzynski et al, 2009), another type of neurofeedback based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a much newer technique that has experienced a surge of interest within the neuroimaging community within recent years Among these studies, target sites involved in emotional reactivity and regulation, Amygdala Regulation after fMRI-Neurofeedback processes that our group is interested in, are receiving a lot of attention: amygdala (Posse et al, 2003a; Johnston et al, 2010, 2011; Zotev et al, 2011, 2013, 2014; Paret et al, 2014, 2016; Young et al, 2014; Yuan et al, 2014), insula (Caria et al, 2007, 2010; Eippert et al, 2007; Lee et al, 2011; Veit et al, 2012), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; Weiskopf et al, 2003; deCharms et al, 2005; Hamilton et al, 2011). It needs to be considered in this context that most published studies have used only a single scanning session with just a few neurofeedback training runs, which provide little time to explore alternative strategies
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