fMRI neurofeedback of amygdala response to aversive stimuli enhances prefrontal–limbic brain connectivity

Paret, Christian; Ruf, Matthias; Gerchen, Martin Fungisai; Kluetsch, Rosemarie; Demirakça, Traute; Jungkunz, Martin; Bertsch, Katja; Schmahl, Christian; Ende, Gabriele

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.027

Cited by 108 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…increasing reappraisal success, not only results in reductions in self-reported negative affect over time (Denny and Ochsner, 2014), but also leads to long-lasting effects on the amygdala response (Denny et al , 2015). In line with these findings, previous studies demonstrated that neurofeedback training leads to an increase in top-down connectivity from the DMPFC onto the amygdala (Koush et al , 2015) as well as in bottom-up connectivity from the amygdala to the VMPFC (Paret et al , 2016). These findings indicate that the amygdala-frontal coupling underlying successful emotion regulation can be modulated in a self-organized, endogenous fashion.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Effective amygdala-prefrontal connectivity predicts individual differences in successful emotion regulation

Morawetz

Bode

Baudewig

et al. 2016

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

161

120

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The ability to voluntarily regulate our emotional response to threatening and highly arousing stimuli by using cognitive reappraisal strategies is essential for our mental and physical well-being. This might be achieved by prefrontal brain regions (e.g. inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) down-regulating activity in the amygdala. It is unknown, to which degree effective connectivity within the emotion-regulation network is linked to individual differences in reappraisal skills. Using psychophysiological interaction analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging data, we examined changes in inter-regional connectivity between the amygdala and IFG with other brain regions during reappraisal of emotional responses and used emotion regulation success as an explicit regressor. During down-regulation of emotion, reappraisal success correlated with effective connectivity between IFG with dorsolateral, dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (PFC). During up-regulation of emotion, effective coupling between IFG with anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial and ventromedial PFC as well as the amygdala correlated with reappraisal success. Activity in the amygdala covaried with activity in lateral and medial prefrontal regions during the up-regulation of emotion and correlated with reappraisal success. These results suggest that successful reappraisal is linked to changes in effective connectivity between two systems, prefrontal cognitive control regions and regions crucially involved in emotional evaluation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Effective amygdala-prefrontal connectivity predicts individual differences in successful emotion regulation

Morawetz

Bode

Baudewig

et al. 2016

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

161

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Given the critical role of the amygdala in anxiety and consistently observed hyperresponsivity in this region in anxiety-related disorders [18, 36, 37], previous rt-fMRI NF studies trained subjects to downregulate neural activity in this region and demonstrated that this strategy has the potential to enhance ER and attenuate anxious arousal [38-41]. In line with current neurocircuitry models of ER, successful downregulation of the amygdala was accompanied by increased functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal regulatory regions in both, healthy subjects [39, 42] as well as patient populations with exaggerated anxiety [40, 43]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The target amygdala-vlPFC pathway in the present study has previously been demonstrated to play an important role in successful ER [5, 15, 16] with rt-fMRI NF studies suggesting that successful downregulation over regional amygdala activity associates with both, increased connectivity in the amygdala-prefrontal pathways as well as enhanced ER [38, 39]. Moreover, previous clinical studies have emphasized the relevance of the amygdala-PFC circuits for treatment success, with changes in this pathway predicting symptom reduction after cognitive behavioral therapy [20] and anxiolytic drug treatment [21, 22] in patients with exaggerated anxiety.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Real-Time Functional Connectivity-Informed Neurofeedback of Amygdala-Frontal Pathways Reduces Anxiety

Zhao

Yao

et al. 2019

Psychother Psychosom

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Background: Deficient emotion regulation and exaggerated anxiety represent a major transdiagnostic psychopathological marker. On the neural level these deficits have been closely linked to impaired, yet treatment-sensitive, prefrontal regulatory control over the amygdala. Gaining direct control over these pathways could therefore provide an innovative and promising intervention to regulate exaggerated anxiety. To this end the current proof-of-concept study evaluated the feasibility, functional relevance and maintenance of a novel connectivity-informed real-time fMRI neurofeedback training. Methods: In a randomized crossover sham-controlled design, 26 healthy subjects with high anxiety underwent real-time fMRI-guided neurofeedback training to enhance connectivity between the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and the amygdala (target pathway) during threat exposure. Maintenance of regulatory control was assessed after 3 days and in the absence of feedback. Training-induced changes in functional connectivity of the target pathway and anxiety ratings served as primary outcomes. Results: Training of the target, yet not the sham control, pathway significantly increased amygdala-vlPFC connectivity and decreased levels of anxiety. Stronger connectivity increases were significantly associated with higher anxiety reduction on the group level. At the follow-up, volitional control over the target pathway was maintained in the absence of feedback. Conclusions: The present results demonstrate for the first time that successful self-regulation of amygdala-prefrontal top-down regulatory circuits may represent a novel intervention to control anxiety. As such, the present findings underscore both the critical contribution of amygdala-prefrontal circuits to emotion regulation and the therapeutic potential of connectivity-informed real-time neurofeedback.

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“…rtfMRI-NF was also used to study emotional regulation in healthy individuals who were trained for neurofeedback to downregulate the amygdala when viewing aversive pictures. 41 These results demonstrated that fMRI neurofeedback enhanced the functional connectivity of the amygdala and rtfMRI-NF could be used to influence the network of emotion processing and regulation, which may be beneficial for the treatment of patients with severe emotional dysregulation. However, a drawback of fMRI is the requirement of fully immobilized experimental subjects and lack of high temporal resolution.…”

Section: Imagingmentioning

confidence: 78%

Analytical Techniques in Neuroscience: Recent Advances in Imaging, Separation, and Electrochemical Methods

et al. 2016

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fMRI neurofeedback of amygdala response to aversive stimuli enhances prefrontal–limbic brain connectivity

Cited by 108 publications

References 33 publications

Effective amygdala-prefrontal connectivity predicts individual differences in successful emotion regulation

Effective amygdala-prefrontal connectivity predicts individual differences in successful emotion regulation

Real-Time Functional Connectivity-Informed Neurofeedback of Amygdala-Frontal Pathways Reduces Anxiety

Analytical Techniques in Neuroscience: Recent Advances in Imaging, Separation, and Electrochemical Methods

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