Significance: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a promising tool for neurofeedback (NFB) or brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). However, fNIRS signals are typically highly contaminated by systemic activity (SA) artifacts, and, if not properly corrected, NFB or BCIs run the risk of being based on noise instead of brain activity. This risk can likely be reduced by correcting for SA, in particular when short-distance channels (SDCs) are available. Literature comparing correction methods with and without SDCs is still sparse, specifically comparisons considering single trials are lacking.Aim: This study aimed at comparing the performance of SA correction methods with and without SDCs.Approach: Semisimulated and real motor task data of healthy older adults were used. Correction methods without SDCs included a simple and a more advanced spatial filter. Correction methods with SDCs included a regression approach considering only the closest SDC and two GLM-based methods, one including all eight SDCs and one using only two a priori selected SDCs as regressors. All methods were compared with data uncorrected for SA and correction performance was assessed with quality measures quantifying signal improvement and spatial specificity at single trial level.Results: All correction methods were found to improve signal quality and enhance spatial specificity as compared with the uncorrected data. Methods with SDCs usually outperformed methods without SDCs. Correction methods without SDCs tended to overcorrect the data. However, the exact pattern of results and the degree of differences observable between correction methods varied between semisimulated and real data, and also between quality measures.Conclusions: Overall, results confirmed that both Δ½HbO and Δ½HbR are affected by SA and that correction methods with SDCs outperform methods without SDCs. Nonetheless, improvements in signal quality can also be achieved without SDCs and should therefore be given priority over not correcting for SA.
1Research has shown that difficulties with emotion regulation abilities in childhood 2 and adolescence increase the risk for developing symptoms of mental disorders, e.g 3 anxiety. We investigated whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-4 based neurofeedback (NF) can modulate brain networks supporting emotion 5 regulation abilities in adolescent females. 6We performed three studies (total N=63). We first compared different NF 7 implementations regarding their effectiveness of modulating prefrontal cortex (PFC)-8 amygdala functional connectivity (fc). Further we assessed the effects of fc-NF on 9 neural measures, emotional/metacognitive measures and their associations. Finally, 10 we probed the mechanism underlying fc-NF by examining concentrations of 11 inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters. 12Results showed that NF implementations differentially modulate PFC-amygdala fc. 13Using the most effective NF implementation we observed important relationships 14 between neural and emotional/metacognitive measures, such as practice-related 15 change in fc was related with change in thought control ability. Further, we found 16 that the relationship between state anxiety prior to the MRI session and the effect of 17 fc-NF was moderated by GABA concentrations in the PFC and anterior cingulate 18 cortex. 19To conclude, we were able to show that fc-NF can be used in adolescent females to 20 shape neural and emotional/metacognitive measures underlying emotion regulation. 21We further show that neurotransmitter concentrations moderate fc-NF-effects. 22 23
Neuroimaging studies have found ‘reality monitoring’, our ability to distinguish internally generated experiences from those derived from the external world, to be associated with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of the brain. Here we probe the functional underpinning of this ability using real-time fMRI neurofeedback to investigate the involvement of mPFC in recollection of the source of self-generated information. Thirty-nine healthy individuals underwent neurofeedback training in a between groups study receiving either Active feedback derived from the paracingulate region of the mPFC (21 subjects) or Sham feedback based on a similar level of randomised signal (18 subjects). Compared to those in the Sham group, participants receiving Active signal showed increased mPFC activity over the course of three real-time neurofeedback training runs undertaken in a single scanning session. Analysis of resting state functional connectivity associated with changes in reality monitoring accuracy following Active neurofeedback revealed increased connectivity between dorsolateral frontal regions of the fronto-parietal network (FPN) and the mPFC region of the default mode network (DMN), together with reduced connectivity within ventral regions of the FPN itself. However, only a trend effect was observed in the interaction of the recollection of the source of Imagined information compared with recognition memory between participants receiving Active and Sham neurofeedback, pre- and post- scanning. As such, these findings demonstrate that neurofeedback can be used to modulate mPFC activity and increase cooperation between the FPN and DMN, but the effects on reality monitoring performance are less clear.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.