Recognition, Psychology
Recognition, Psychology relates to brain function and cognitive performance. Peak Brain Institute explores how QEEG brain mapping and neurofeedback training connect to recognition, psychology through evidence-based approaches. Explore our 2 research papers covering this topic.
Research Papers
Extracting information from the shape and spatial distribution of evoked potentials
BACKGROUND: Over 90 years after its first recording, scalp electroencephalography (EEG) remains one of the most widely used techniques in human neuroscience research, in particular for the study of event-related potentials (ERPs). However, because of its low signal-to-noise ratio, extracting useful information from these signals continues to be a hard-technical challenge. Many studies focus on simple properties of the ERPs such as peaks, latencies, and slopes of signal deflections. NEW METHOD: To overcome these limitations, we developed the Wavelet-Information method which uses wavelet decomposition, information theory, and a quantification based on single-trial decoding performance to extract information from evoked responses. RESULTS: Using simulations and real data from four experiments, we show that the proposed approach outperforms standard supervised analyses based on peak amplitude estimation. Moreover, the method can extract information using the raw data from all recorded channels using no a priori knowledge or pre-processing steps. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD(S): We show that traditional approaches often disregard important features of the signal such as the shape of EEG waveforms. Also, other approaches often require some form of a priori knowledge for feature selection and lead to problems of multiple comparisons. CONCLUSIONS: This approach offers a new and complementary framework to design experiments that go beyond the traditional analyses of ERPs. Potentially, it allows a wide usage beyond basic research; such as for clinical diagnosis, brain-machine interfaces, and neurofeedback applications requiring single-trial analyses.
View Full Paper →Real-Time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Amygdala Neurofeedback Changes Positive Information Processing in Major Depressive Disorder
BACKGROUND: In participants with major depressive disorder who are trained to upregulate their amygdalar hemodynamic responses during positive autobiographical memory recall with real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) training, depressive symptoms diminish. This study tested whether amygdalar rtfMRI-nf also changes emotional processing of positive and negative stimuli in a variety of behavioral and imaging tasks. METHODS: Patients with major depressive disorder completed two rtfMRI-nf sessions (18 received amygdalar rtfMRI-nf, 16 received control parietal rtfMRI-nf). One week before and following rtfMRI-nf training, participants performed tasks measuring responses to emotionally valenced stimuli including a backward-masking task, which measures the amygdalar hemodynamic response to emotional faces presented for traditionally subliminal duration and followed by a mask, and the Emotional Test Battery in which reaction times and performance accuracy are measured during tasks involving emotional faces and words. RESULTS: During the backward-masking task, amygdalar responses increased while viewing masked happy faces but decreased to masked sad faces in the experimental versus control group following rtfMRI-nf. During the Emotional Test Battery, reaction times decreased to identification of positive faces and during self-identification with positive words and vigilance scores increased to positive faces and decreased to negative faces during the faces dot-probe task in the experimental versus control group following rtfMRI-nf. CONCLUSIONS: rtfMRI-nf training to increase the amygdalar hemodynamic response to positive memories was associated with changes in amygdalar responses to happy and sad faces and improved processing of positive stimuli during performance of the Emotional Test Battery. These results may suggest that amygdalar rtfMRI-nf training alters responses to emotional stimuli in a manner similar to antidepressant pharmacotherapy.
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