1
|
Habes I, Rushton S, Johnston SJ, Sokunbi MO, Barawi K, Brosnan M, Daly T, Ihssen N, Linden DEJ. fMRI neurofeedback of higher visual areas and perceptual biases. Neuropsychologia 2016; 85:208-15. [PMID: 27020139 PMCID: PMC4863521 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.03.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2015] [Revised: 03/22/2016] [Accepted: 03/23/2016] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The self-regulation of brain activation via neurofeedback training offers a method to study the relationship between brain areas and perception in a more direct manner than the conventional mapping of brain responses to different types of stimuli. The current proof-of-concept study aimed to demonstrate that healthy volunteers can self-regulate activity in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) over the fusiform face area (FFA). Both areas are involved in higher order visual processing and are activated during the imagery of scenes and faces respectively. Participants (N=9) were required to upregulate PPA relative to FFA activity, and all succeeded at the task, with imagery of scenes being the most commonly reported mental strategy. A control group (N=8) underwent the same imagery and testing procedure, albeit without neurofeedback, in a mock MR scanner to account for any non-specific training effects. The upregulation of PPA activity occurred concurrently with activation of prefrontal and parietal areas, which have been associated with ideation and mental image generation. We tested whether successful upregulation of the PPA relative to FFA had consequences on perception by assessing bistable perception of faces and houses in a binocular rivalry task (before and after the scanning sessions) and categorisation of faces and scenes presented in transparent composite images (during scanning, interleaved with the self-regulation blocks). Contrary to our expectations, upregulation of the PPA did not alter the duration of face or house perception in the rivalry task and response speed and accuracy in the categorisation task. This conclusion was supported by the results of another control experiment (N=10 healthy participants) that involved intensive exposure to category-specific stimuli and did not show any behavioural or perceptual changes. We conclude that differential self-regulation of higher visual areas can be achieved, but that perceptual biases under conditions of stimulus rivalry are relatively robust against such internal modulation of localised brain activity. This study sets the basis for future investigations of perceptual and behavioural consequences of localised self-regulation of neural activity. Healthy participants trained differential self-regulation of higher visual areas. They were instructed to up-regulate the PPA whilst keeping FFA activity down. Up-regulation of the PPA was accompanied by frontal and parietal activation. No shift in perceptual biases in scene/face perceptual rivalry tasks was observed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- I Habes
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | - S Rushton
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | - S J Johnston
- School of Human and Health Sciences, Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
| | - M O Sokunbi
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK; Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 34136 Trieste, Italy
| | - K Barawi
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | - M Brosnan
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK; Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - T Daly
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4XN, UK
| | - N Ihssen
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | - D E J Linden
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK; Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4XN, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Habes I, Krall SC, Johnston SJ, Yuen KSL, Healy D, Goebel R, Sorger B, Linden DEJ. Pattern classification of valence in depression. Neuroimage Clin 2013; 2:675-83. [PMID: 24179819 PMCID: PMC3777671 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2013.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2012] [Revised: 05/03/2013] [Accepted: 05/06/2013] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Neuroimaging biomarkers of depression have potential to aid diagnosis, identify individuals at risk and predict treatment response or course of illness. Nevertheless none have been identified so far, potentially because no single brain parameter captures the complexity of the pathophysiology of depression. Multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) may overcome this issue as it can identify patterns of voxels that are spatially distributed across the brain. Here we present the results of an MVPA to investigate the neuronal patterns underlying passive viewing of positive, negative and neutral pictures in depressed patients. A linear support vector machine (SVM) was trained to discriminate different valence conditions based on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of nine unipolar depressed patients. A similar dataset obtained in nine healthy individuals was included to conduct a group classification analysis via linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Accuracy scores of 86% or higher were obtained for each valence contrast via patterns that included limbic areas such as the amygdala and frontal areas such as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. The LDA identified two areas (the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and caudate nucleus) that allowed group classification with 72.2% accuracy. Our preliminary findings suggest that MVPA can identify stable valence patterns, with more sensitivity than univariate analysis, in depressed participants and that it may be possible to discriminate between healthy and depressed individuals based on differences in the brain's response to emotional cues.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- I Habes
- CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK ; Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|