visual feedback
Research Papers
Regulation of anterior insular cortex activity using real-time fMRI
Recent advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquisition and processing techniques have made real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) of localized brain areas feasible, reliable and less susceptible to artefacts. Previous studies have shown that healthy subjects learn to control local brain activity with operant training by using rtfMRI-based neurofeedback. In the present study, we investigated whether healthy subjects could voluntarily gain control over right anterior insular activity. Subjects were provided with continuously updated information of the target ROI’s level of activation by visual feedback. All participants were able to successfully regulate BOLD-magnitude in the right anterior insular cortex within three sessions of 4 min each. Training resulted in a significantly increased activation cluster in the anterior portion of the right insula across sessions. An increased activity was also found in the left anterior insula but the percent signal change was lower than in the target ROI. Two different control conditions intended to assess the effects of non-specific feedback and mental imagery demonstrated that the training effect was not due to unspecific activations or non feedback-related cognitive strategies. Both control groups showed no enhanced activation across the sessions, which confirmed our main hypothesis that rtfMRI feedback is area-specific. The increased activity in the right anterior insula during training demonstrates that the effects observed are anatomically specific and self-regulation of right anterior insula only is achievable. This is the first group study investigating the volitional control of emotionally relevant brain region by using rtfMRI training and confirms that self-regulation of local brain activity with rtfMRI is possible.
View Full Paper →The effects of visual feedback on hemispheric alpha asymmetries and reported processing strategies: A single-subject experimental design
A double reversal single-subject experimental design was used to study the effects of visual feedback on the hemispheric alpha asymmetries of a male subject during a linguistic task. Results indicated that the subject demonstrated flexibility in hemispheric alpha and corresponding processing strategies employed when an alpha biofeedback procedure was used. These results provide further support for the notion that right and left hemispheric activation is associated with different, yet compatible, cognitive strategies and that both can be manipulated under conditions of feedback.
View Full Paper →Biofeedback produced slow brain potentials and task performance
Twenty subjects learned to control slow potential (SP) shifts of the brain by means of a biofeedback procedure. Depending upon the pitch of a signal tone, negative SP shifts had to be increased or reduced during intervals of 6 sec each. Visual feedback of the actual SP shift was given. Blocks of training trials alternated with blocks of test trials without any feedback of the SPs. At the end of every test trial a simple arithmetic problem had to be solved by the subjects. Subjects performed the computation in a shorter time interval if an increased negativity preceded task onset as compared to slower response times during suppression of negativity. Results suggest that cortical negativity reflects unspecific preparation for cerebral performance.
View Full Paper →Biofeedback of slow cortical potentials. I
An experiment was performed to investigate the self-regulation of slow cortical potentials (SCP) found in a previous study (Elbert et al. 1979). Seventeen subjects received continuous visual feedback fo their actual cortical shift perceptible as a rocket moving across a TV-screen during intervals of 6 sec; subjects had to direct the rocket into one of two goals representing more or less cortical negativity, depending on the pitch of two signal tones. Within two identical experimental sessions feedback trials alternated with test trials without feedback. Highly significant differences of SCP between the two required polarities were demonstrated. The most pronounced differences were observed during test trials without feedback of the second session in which a positive shift below baseline level occurred when positivity (or less negativity) was required
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