Dataset Information

Regulation of arousal via online neurofeedback improves human performance in a demanding sensory-motor task.

ABSTRACT: Our state of arousal can significantly affect our ability to make optimal decisions, judgments, and actions in real-world dynamic environments. The Yerkes-Dodson law, which posits an inverse-U relationship between arousal and task performance, suggests that there is a state of arousal that is optimal for behavioral performance in a given task. Here we show that we can use online neurofeedback to shift an individual's arousal from the right side of the Yerkes-Dodson curve to the left toward a state of improved performance. Specifically, we use a brain-computer interface (BCI) that uses information in the EEG to generate a neurofeedback signal that dynamically adjusts an individual's arousal state when they are engaged in a boundary-avoidance task (BAT). The BAT is a demanding sensory-motor task paradigm that we implement as an aerial navigation task in virtual reality and which creates cognitive conditions that escalate arousal and quickly results in task failure (e.g., missing or crashing into the boundary). We demonstrate that task performance, measured as time and distance over which the subject can navigate before failure, is significantly increased when veridical neurofeedback is provided. Simultaneous measurements of pupil dilation and heart-rate variability show that the neurofeedback indeed reduces arousal. Our work demonstrates a BCI system that uses online neurofeedback to shift arousal state and increase task performance in accordance with the Yerkes-Dodson law.

SUBMITTER: Faller J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6442591 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Regulation of arousal via online neurofeedback improves human performance in a demanding sensory-motor task.

Faller Josef J Cummings Jennifer J Saproo Sameer S Sajda Paul P

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20190312 13

Our state of arousal can significantly affect our ability to make optimal decisions, judgments, and actions in real-world dynamic environments. The Yerkes-Dodson law, which posits an inverse-U relationship between arousal and task performance, suggests that there is a state of arousal that is optimal for behavioral performance in a given task. Here we show that we can use online neurofeedback to shift an individual's arousal from the right side of the Yerkes-Dodson curve to the left toward a sta ...[more]

PMID: 30862731

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Project description:Parasympathetic arousal is associated with states of heightened attention and well-being. Arousal may affect widespread cortical and subcortical systems across the brain, however, little is known about its influence on cognitive task processing and performance. In the current study, healthy adult participants (n ?= ?20) underwent multi-band echo-planar imaging (TR ?= ?0.72 ?s) with simultaneous pulse oximetry recordings during performance of the Multi Source Interference Task (MSIT), the Oddball Task (OBT), and during rest. Processing speed on both tasks was robustly related to heart rate (HR). Participants with slower HR responded faster on both the MSIT (33% variance explained) and the OBT (25% variance explained). Within all participants, trial-to-trial fluctuations in processing speed were robustly related to the heartbeat-stimulus interval, a metric that is dependent both on the concurrent HR and the stimulus timing with respect to the heartbeat. Models examining the cardiac-BOLD response revealed that a distributed set of regions showed arousal-related activity that was distinct for different task conditions. Across these cortical regions, activity increased with slower HR. Arousal-related activity was distinct from task-evoked activity and it was robust to the inclusion of additional physiological nuisance regressors into the models. For the MSIT, such arousal-related activity occurred across visual and dorsal attention network regions. For the OBT, this activity occurred within fronto-parietal regions. For rest, arousal-related activity also occurred, but was confined to visual regions. The pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus showed arousal-related activity during all three task conditions. Widespread cortical activity, associated with increased parasympathetic arousal, may be propagated by thalamic circuits and contributes to improved attention. This activity is distinct from task-evoked activity, but affects cognitive performance and therefore should be incorporated into neurobiological models of cognition and clinical disorders.

Dataset Information

Regulation of arousal via online neurofeedback improves human performance in a demanding sensory-motor task.

Publications

Regulation of arousal via online neurofeedback improves human performance in a demanding sensory-motor task.

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