Deep brain electrical neurofeedback allows Parkinson patients to control pathological oscillations and quicken movements

Bichsel, Oliver; Stieglitz, Lennart; Oertel, Markus Florian; Baumann, Christian R.; Gassert, Roger; Imbach, Lukas L.

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-87031-2

“…Previous studies using implanted electrodes have reported that positive effects upon motor behavior could be achieved in macaques (Khanna & Carmena, 2017 ) and humans with Parkinson's disease (Bichsel et al, 2021 ) using BCI to train self‐regulation of the brain's Beta rhythm. Here, we build upon and extend these initial findings by making the advance to noninvasive scalp recorded EEG signals in humans, demonstrating that volitional modulation of Beta oscillations was achieved within 6 days of training.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐regulation of the brain's right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain‐computer interface

Enz

¹

,

Schmidt

²

,

Nolan

³

et al. 2022

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Neural oscillations, or brain rhythms, fluctuate in a manner reflecting ongoing behavior. Whether these fluctuations are instrumental or epiphenomenal to the behavior remains elusive. Attempts to experimentally manipulate neural oscillations exogenously using noninvasive brain stimulation have shown some promise, but difficulty with tailoring stimulation parameters to individuals has hindered progress in this field. We demonstrate here using electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback in a brain-computer interface that human participants (n = 44) learned over multiple sessions across a 6-day period to self-regulate their Beta rhythm (13-20 Hz), either up or down, over the right inferior frontal cortex. Training to downregulate Beta was more effective than training to upregulate Beta. The modulation was evident only during neurofeedback task performance but did not lead to offline alteration of Beta rhythm characteristics at rest, nor to changes in subsequent cognitive behavior. Likewise, a control group (n = 38) who underwent training to up or downregulate the Alpha rhythm (8-12 Hz) did not exhibit behavioral changes. Although the right frontal Beta rhythm has been repeatedly implicated as a key component of the brain's inhibitory control system, the present data suggest that its manipulation offline prior to cognitive task performance does not result in behavioral change in healthy individuals. Whether this form of neurofeedback training could serve as a useful therapeutic target for disorders with dysfunctional inhibitory control as their basis remains to be tested in a context where performance is abnormally poor and neural dynamics are different. K E Y W O R D S alpha oscillations, beta oscillations, brain-computer interface, inhibitory control, neurofeedback, stop signal task [Correction added on June 11, 2022, after first online publication: DOI number was updated in 2.5 section instead of the text '[URL to be inserted after acceptance]'].

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“…Previous studies using implanted electrodes have reported that positive effects upon motor behavior could be achieved in macaques (Khanna & Carmena, 2017) and humans with Parkinson's disease (Bichsel et al, 2021) using BCI to train self-regulation of the brain's Beta rhythm. Here we build upon and extend these initial findings by making the advance to noninvasive scalp recorded EEG signals in humans, demonstrating that volitional modulation of Beta oscillations was achieved within 6 days of training, and that the extent of the changes predicted subsequent improvements in cognitive performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies using implanted electrodes have reported that positive effects upon motor behavior could be achieved in macaques (Khanna & Carmena, 2017) and humans with Parkinson's disease (Bichsel et al, 2021) Using non-invasive BCI technology, volitional and causal self-regulation was achieved without the need for exogenous stimulation, paving the way for easier real-world application of neuromodulation to alter brain rhythms experimentally. The present data suggest, however, that offline neurofeedback training of the tonic Beta rhythm may not serve as a useful therapeutic target for disorders with dysfunctional inhibitory control as their basis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-regulation of the brain’s right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain-computer interface

Enz

¹

,

Schmidt

²

,

Nolan

³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Neural oscillations, or brain rhythms, fluctuate in a manner reflecting ongoing behavior. Whether these fluctuations are instrumental or epiphenomenal to the behavior remains elusive. Attempts to experimentally manipulate neural oscillations exogenously using non-invasive brain stimulation have shown some promise, but difficulty with tailoring stimulation parameters to individuals has hindered progress in this field. We demonstrate here using electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback in a brain-computer interface that human participants (n=44) learned over multiple sessions across a 6-day period to self-regulate their Beta rhythm (13-20 Hz) over the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC). This Beta modulation had observable consequences on cognitive behavior: changes in an individual's inhibitory control performance before and after training were predicted by the magnitude of their training-related change in Beta over rIFC. This was not the case for a control group (n=38) who underwent training of their Alpha rhythm (8-12 Hz). The present data support the view that the right frontal Beta rhythm is a key component of the brain's inhibitory control system. Most importantly, we introduce causality to this relationship for the first time, as experimental modulation of rIFC Beta activity had a measurable impact upon behavior.

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“…Intracranial electrodes also allow localized access to important deeper structures such as the hippocampus, insula, and amygdala. NF efforts that take advantage of these intracranial electrodes include studies using electrocorticography (ECoG) (Gharabaghi et al, 2014), local eld potentials (Khanna et al, 2017), and depth electrodes (Bichsel et al, 2021) to modulate sensorimotor function. One study (Yamin et al, 2017) ) and given that many scalp EEG studies have reported an increase in theta power during memory tasks (Düzel et al, 2005;Hanslmayr et al, 2009;Osipova et al, 2006), most memory NF studies using scalp EEG employ NF to increase theta power.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intracranial Neurofeedback Modulating Neural Activity in the Mesial Temporal Lobe During Memory Encoding: A Pilot Study

Koizumi

¹

,

Kunii

²

,

Ueda

³

et al. 2022

Preprint

0

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Removal of the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) is an established surgical procedure that leads to seizure freedom in patients with intractable MTL epilepsy; however, it carries the potential risk of memory damage. Neurofeedback (NF), which regulates brain function by converting brain activity into perceptible information and providing feedback, has attracted considerable attention in recent years for its potential as a novel complementary treatment for many neurological disorders. However, no research has attempted to artificially reorganize memory functions by applying NF before resective surgery to preserve memory functions. Thus, this study aimed (1) to construct a memory NF system that used intracranial electrodes to feedback neural activity on the language-dominant side of the MTL during memory encoding and (2) to verify whether neural activity and memory function in the MTL change with NF training. Two intractable epilepsy patients with implanted intracranial electrodes underwent at least five sessions of memory NF training to increase the theta power in the MTL. There was an increase in theta power and a decrease in fast beta and gamma powers in one of the patients in the late stage of memory NF sessions. NF signals were not correlated with memory function. Despite its limitations as a pilot study, to our best knowledge, this study is the first to report that intracranial NF may modulate neural activity in the MTL, which is involved in memory encoding. The findings provide important insights into the future development of NF systems for the artificial reorganization of memory functions.

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Deep brain electrical neurofeedback allows Parkinson patients to control pathological oscillations and quicken movements

Cited by 20 publications

References 24 publications

Self‐regulation of the brain's right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain‐computer interface

Self‐regulation of the brain's right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain‐computer interface

Self-regulation of the brain’s right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain-computer interface

Intracranial Neurofeedback Modulating Neural Activity in the Mesial Temporal Lobe During Memory Encoding: A Pilot Study

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