Direct modulation of aberrant brain network connectivity through real-time neurofeedback
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, United States
Abstract
The existence of abnormal connectivity patterns between resting state networks in neuropsychiatric disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), has been well established. Traditional treatment methods in ASD are limited, and do not address the aberrant network structure. Using real-time fMRI neurofeedback, we directly trained 3 brain nodes in participants with ASD, in which the aberrant connectivity has been shown to correlate with symptom severity. Desired network connectivity patterns were reinforced in real-time, without participants' awareness of the training taking place. This training regimen produced large, significant long-term changes in correlations at the network level, and whole brain analysis revealed that the greatest changes were focused on the areas being trained. These changes were not found in the control group. Moreover, changes in ASD resting state connectivity following the training were correlated to changes in behavior, suggesting that neurofeedback can be used to directly alter complex, clinically relevant network connectivity patterns.
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Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute of Mental Health (ZIAMH002920)
- Michal Ramot
- Sara Kimmich
- Haroon Popal
- Emily White
- Stephen J Gotts
- Alex Martin
National Institute of Mental Health (ZIAMH002783)
- Javier Gonzalez-Castillo
- Vinai Roopchansingh
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: The experiment was approved by the NIMH Institutional Review Board, protocol number 10-M-0027, clinical trials number NCT01031407. Written informed consent and consent to publish were obtained from all participants. All procedures performed were in accordance with ethical standards set out by the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (or 'Common Rule', U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Title 45 DFR 46).
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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Direct modulation of aberrant brain network connectivity through real-time neurofeedback
eLife 6:e28974.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.28974
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