Abstract
The brain regions supporting sustained attention (sustained attention network; SAN) and mind-wandering (default-mode network; DMN) have been extensively studied. Nevertheless, this knowledge has not yet been translated into advanced brain-based attention training protocols. Here, we used network-based real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to provide healthy individuals with information about current activity levels in SAN and DMN. Specifically, 15 participants trained to control the difference between SAN and DMN hemodynamic activity and completed behavioral attention tests before and after neurofeedback training. Through training, participants improved controlling the differential SAN-DMN feedback signal, which was accomplished mainly through deactivating DMN. After training, participants were able to apply learned self-regulation of the differential feedback signal even when feedback was no longer available (i.e., during transfer runs). The neurofeedback group improved in sustained attention after training, although this improvement was temporally limited and rarely exceeded mere practice effects that were controlled by a test-retest behavioral control group. The learned self-regulation and the behavioral outcomes suggest that neurofeedback training of differential SAN and DMN activity has the potential to become a non-invasive and non-pharmacological tool to enhance attention and mitigate specific attention deficits.
Highlights
Attention please! This simple phrase refers to a complex cognitive process by which the brain selects relevant aspects of incoming information while ignoring irrelevant input
Already in the very first training run, participants showed significant up-regulation of the differential feedback signal (Fig. 3.A, two-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Z = .80, p = .0020), and this control increased across training runs (Fig. 3.A, linear regression: β = .04, R2 = .64, F(1,8) = 14.2, p = .005)
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that individuals can acquire intentional control over the activity difference between sustained attention network (SAN) and default-mode network (DMN) regions through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-neurofeedback training
Summary
Attention please! This simple phrase refers to a complex cognitive process by which the brain selects relevant aspects of incoming information while ignoring irrelevant input. Sustained attention and mindwandering are viewed as mutually exclusive – based on a definition of mind-wandering as task-unrelated thoughts (Seli et al, 2018) –, which is reflected by a competitive pattern of brain activation in SAN (the dorsal attention network) and DMN These two networks are intrinsically anticorrelated (Fox et al, 2005) and are thought to reflect the antagonistic information processing with external versus internal orientation (Spreng, 2012). Practitioners of attention-based meditation are better able to deactivate the DMN (Brewer et al, 2011), to activate attention-related regions (Brefczynski-Lewis et al, 2007; Manna et al, 2010), and exhibit higher network anticorrelation even at rest (Josipovic et al, 2012) Taken together, these studies suggest that increased sustained attention is achieved whenever there is a combination of DMN suppression together with SAN activation, an ability that could be enhanced. We used a differential neurofeedback approach (i.e., feeding back the activity difference between two brain regions/networks) to simultaneously train both SAN up- and DMN down-regulation in order to improve attention
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