Effects of Neurofeedback on Emotional Regulation in Adolescent Females
Post by Elisa Guma
What's the science?
Adolescence is characterized by a wide range of neural changes that subserve higher order socio-emotional and cognitive function. During this transition period deficits in emotional regulation may emerge putting individuals at higher risk for developing psychiatric illnesses. The structural and functional connectivity of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are thought to play a key role in modulating emotional regulation, however, it is unclear whether we can intervene to actively shape these connectivity patterns to improve emotional and cognitive abilities during this critical time. This week in Neuroimage, Zich and colleagues aim to investigate if they can successfully use neurofeedback (a type of biofeedback aimed at teaching individuals self-control of brain activity via visual or audio feedback) from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to help individuals regulate their emotions in real time.
How did they do it?
The authors conducted three different experiments to investigate whether neurofeedback based on an individual’s own PFC-amygdala connectivity could be used to modulate neural and emotional measures relevant for emotion regulation. In all experiments, adolescent females were evaluated on their emotional regulation abilities, as well as a variety of mood and anxiety measures. The first experiment was used to determine the best neurofeedback implementation. During the neurofeedback task participants were shown an image of a ten-segment thermometer while undergoing fMRI. During blocks in which no neurofeedback was occurring, the temperature was frozen at 6/10, whereas during neurofeedback blocks, the temperature of the thermometer was a direct real-time reflection of the PFC-amygdala connectivity. Participants were asked to try to control the temperature of the thermometer by controlling their thoughts and feelings and revisiting emotional reappraisal strategies. The three different implementations varied slightly in the way the thermometer displayed a change in connectivity.
Experiment 2 replicated experiment 1, except with a larger sample, and the best neurofeedback implementation (gleaned from experiment 1). Finally, in Experiment 3, the number of neurofeedback blocks was doubled, and the authors also collected Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy data from the anterior cingulate cortex (implicated in reward processing) and PFC to measure Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate, the major inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain.
What did they find?
In their first experiment, the authors identified the best neurofeedback implementation and found a negative reinforcement of functional connectivity to be optimal (i.e. if the thermometer changes from 2/10 to 3/10 there was a more negative correlation of PFC-amygdala connectivity). In experiment 2, the authors aimed to assess the effects of one neurofeedback session on neural, emotional/cognitive measures, and their association in a larger sample. They did not find a significant change in emotional/cognitive measures or in the change in functional connectivity at the group level, but they did observe a practice-related change in connectivity, related to changes in thought control ability. Further, they found that state anxiety before the MRI session influenced the difference between functional connectivity in neurofeedback blocks relative to those with no neurofeedback.
Finally, in experiment 3 the authors replicated the findings from above in an independent sample. Moreover, they found that the concentrations of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA — in both the PFC and anterior cingulate cortex — moderated the relationship between state anxiety before the MRI session and the effect of neurofeedback on PFC-amygdala functional connectivity.
What's the impact?
The study provides evidence for the feasibility of using neurofeedback in adolescent females to modulate functional connectivity measures between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Further, the authors show that the relationship between state anxiety and the effect of the neurofeedback was modulated by GABA concentrations in the PFC and anterior cingulate cortex. Future studies may investigate the effects of longer training sessions and extend this work into populations with neuropsychiatric disorders.
Zich et al. Modulatory effects of dynamic fMRI-based neurofeedback on emotion regulation networks in adolescent females. Neuroimage (2020). Access the original scientific publication here