Dataset Information

Connectome-wide search for functional connectivity locus associated with pathological rumination as a target for real-time fMRI neurofeedback intervention.

ABSTRACT: Real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) enables noninvasive targeted intervention in brain activation with high spatial specificity. To achieve this promise of rtfMRI-nf, we introduced and demonstrated a data-driven framework to design a rtfMRI-nf intervention through the discovery of precise target location associated with clinical symptoms and neurofeedback signal optimization. Specifically, we identified the functional connectivity locus associated with rumination symptoms, utilizing a connectome-wide search in resting-state fMRI data from a large cohort of mood and anxiety disorder individuals (N = 223) and healthy controls (N = 45). Then, we performed a rtfMRI simulation analysis to optimize the online functional connectivity neurofeedback signal for the identified functional connectivity. The connectome-wide search was performed in the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus brain regions to identify the precise location of the functional connectivity associated with rumination severity as measured by the ruminative response style (RRS) scale. The analysis found that the functional connectivity between the loci in the precuneus (-6, -54, 48 mm in MNI) and the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ; 49, -49, 23 mm) was positively correlated with RRS scores (depressive, p < 0.001; brooding, p < 0.001; reflective, p = 0.002) in the mood and anxiety disorder group. We then performed a rtfMRI processing simulation to optimize the online computation of the precuneus-RTPJ connectivity. We determined that the two-point method without a control region was appropriate as a functional connectivity neurofeedback signal with less dependence on signal history and its accommodation of head motion. The present study offers a discovery framework for the precise location of functional connectivity targets for rtfMRI-nf intervention, which could help directly translate neuroimaging findings into clinical rtfMRI-nf interventions.

SUBMITTER: Misaki M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7082218 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Connectome-wide search for functional connectivity locus associated with pathological rumination as a target for real-time fMRI neurofeedback intervention.

Misaki Masaya M Tsuchiyagaito Aki A Al Zoubi Obada O Paulus Martin M Bodurka Jerzy J

NeuroImage. Clinical 20200312

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) enables noninvasive targeted intervention in brain activation with high spatial specificity. To achieve this promise of rtfMRI-nf, we introduced and demonstrated a data-driven framework to design a rtfMRI-nf intervention through the discovery of precise target location associated with clinical symptoms and neurofeedback signal optimization. Specifically, we identified the functional connectivity locus associated with rumination symptoms, utilizing a conne ...[more]

PMID: 32193171

Similar Datasets

Project description:Self-regulation of brain activation using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) is an emerging approach for treating mood and anxiety disorders. The effect of neurofeedback training on resting-state functional connectivity warrants investigation as changes in spontaneous brain activation could reflect the association between sustained symptom relief and brain alteration. We investigated the effect of amygdala-focused rtfMRI-nf training on resting-state functional connectivity in combat veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who were trained to increase a feedback signal reflecting left amygdala activity while recalling positive autobiographical memories (Zotev et al., 2018). The analysis was performed in three stages: i) first, we investigated the connectivity in the left amygdala region; ii) next, we focused on the abnormal resting-state functional connectivity identified in our previous analysis of this data (Misaki et al., 2018); and iii) finally, we performed a novel data-driven longitudinal connectome-wide analysis. We introduced a longitudinal multivariate distance matrix regression (MDMR) analysis to comprehensively examine neurofeedback training effects beyond those associated with abnormal baseline connectivity. These comprehensive exploratory analyses suggested that abnormal resting-state connectivity for combat veterans with PTSD was partly normalized after the training. This included hypoconnectivities between the left amygdala and the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and between the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The increase of SMA-dACC connectivity was associated with PTSD symptom reduction. Longitudinal MDMR analysis found a connectivity change between the precuneus and the left superior frontal cortex. The connectivity increase was associated with a decrease in hyperarousal symptoms. The abnormal connectivity for combat veterans without PTSD - such as hypoconnectivity in the precuneus with a superior frontal region and hyperconnectivity in the posterior insula with several regions - could also be normalized after the training. These results suggested that the rtfMRI-nf training effect was not limited to a feedback target region and symptom relief could be mediated by brain modulation in several regions other than in a feedback target area. While further confirmatory research is needed, the results may provide valuable insight into treatment effects on the whole brain resting-state connectivity.

Project description:We have previously shown that in participants with major depressive disorder (MDD) trained to upregulate their amygdala hemodynamic response during positive autobiographical memory (AM) recall with real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) training, depressive symptoms diminish. Here, we assessed the effect of rtfMRI-nf on amygdala functional connectivity during both positive AM recall and rest.The current manuscript consists of a secondary analysis on data from our published clinical trial of neurofeedback. Patients with MDD completed two rtfMRI-nf sessions (18 received amygdala rtfMRI-nf, 16 received control parietal rtfMRI-nf). One-week prior-to and following training participants also completed a resting-state fMRI scan. A GLM-based functional connectivity analysis was applied using a seed ROI in the left amygdala. We compared amygdala functional connectivity changes while recalling positive AMs from the baseline run to the final transfer run during rtfMRI-nf training, as well during rest from the baseline to the one-week follow-up visit. Finally, we assessed the correlation between change in depression scores and change in amygdala connectivity, as well as correlations between amygdala regulation success and connectivity changes.Following training, amygdala connectivity during positive AM recall increased with widespread regions in the frontal and limbic network. During rest, amygdala connectivity increased following training within the fronto-temporal-limbic network. During both task and resting-state analyses, amygdala-temporal pole connectivity decreased. We identified increased amygdala-precuneus and amygdala-inferior frontal gyrus connectivity during positive memory recall and increased amygdala-precuneus and amygdala-thalamus connectivity during rest as functional connectivity changes that explained significant variance in symptom improvement. Amygdala-precuneus connectivity changes also explain a significant amount of variance in neurofeedback regulation success.Neurofeedback training to increase amygdala hemodynamic activity during positive AM recall increased amygdala connectivity with regions involved in self-referential, salience, and reward processing. Results suggest future targets for neurofeedback interventions, particularly interventions involving the precuneus.

Project description:Neurofeedback (NFB) enables the voluntary regulation of brain activity, with promising applications to enhance and recover emotion and cognitive processes, and their underlying neurobiology. It remains unclear whether NFB can be used to aid and sustain complex emotions, with ecological validity implications. We provide a technical proof of concept of a novel real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) NFB procedure. Using rtfMRI-NFB, we enabled participants to voluntarily enhance their own neural activity while they experienced complex emotions. The rtfMRI-NFB software (FRIEND Engine) was adapted to provide a virtual environment as brain computer interface (BCI) and musical excerpts to induce two emotions (tenderness and anguish), aided by participants' preferred personalized strategies to maximize the intensity of these emotions. Eight participants from two experimental sites performed rtfMRI-NFB on two consecutive days in a counterbalanced design. On one day, rtfMRI-NFB was delivered to participants using a region of interest (ROI) method, while on the other day using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Our multimodal VR/NFB approach was technically feasible and robust as a method for real-time measurement of the neural correlates of complex emotional states and their voluntary modulation. Guided by the color changes of the virtual environment BCI during rtfMRI-NFB, participants successfully increased in real time, the activity of the septo-hypothalamic area and the amygdala during the ROI based rtfMRI-NFB, and successfully evoked distributed patterns of brain activity classified as tenderness and anguish during SVM-based rtfMRI-NFB. Offline fMRI analyses confirmed that during tenderness rtfMRI-NFB conditions, participants recruited the septo-hypothalamic area and other regions ascribed to social affiliative emotions (medial frontal / temporal pole and precuneus). During anguish rtfMRI-NFB conditions, participants recruited the amygdala and other dorsolateral prefrontal and additional regions associated with negative affect. These findings were robust and were demonstrable at the individual subject level, and were reflected in self-reported emotion intensity during rtfMRI-NFB, being observed with both ROI and SVM methods and across the two sites. Our multimodal VR/rtfMRI-NFB protocol provides an engaging tool for brain-based interventions to enhance emotional states in healthy subjects and may find applications in clinical conditions associated with anxiety, stress and impaired empathy among others.

Dataset Information

Connectome-wide search for functional connectivity locus associated with pathological rumination as a target for real-time fMRI neurofeedback intervention.

Publications

Connectome-wide search for functional connectivity locus associated with pathological rumination as a target for real-time fMRI neurofeedback intervention.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets