Abstract
The amygdala has a pivotal role in processing traumatic stress; hence, gaining control
over its activity could facilitate adaptive mechanism and recovery. To date, amygdala
volitional regulation could be obtained only via real-time functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI), a highly inaccessible procedure. The current article presents high-impact
neurobehavioral implications of a novel imaging approach that enables bedside monitoring
of amygdala activity using fMRI-inspired electroencephalography (EEG), hereafter termed
amygdala-electrical fingerprint (amyg-EFP). Simultaneous EEG/fMRI indicated that the
amyg-EFP reliably predicts amygdala-blood oxygen level–dependent activity. Implementing
the amyg-EFP in neurofeedback demonstrated that learned downregulation of the amyg-EFP
facilitated volitional downregulation of amygdala-blood oxygen level–dependent activity
via real-time fMRI and manifested as reduced amygdala reactivity to visual stimuli.
Behavioral evidence further emphasized the therapeutic potential of this approach
by showing improved implicit emotion regulation following amyg-EFP neurofeedback.
Additional EFP models denoting different brain regions could provide a library of
localized activity for low-cost and highly accessible brain-based diagnosis and treatment.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Failure to regulate: Counterproductive recruitment of top-down prefrontal-subcortical circuitry in major depression.J Neurosci. 2007; 27: 8877-8884
- Rethinking feelings: An fMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion.J Cogn Neurosci. 2002; 14: 1215-1229
- A causal model of post-traumatic stress disorder: Disentangling predisposed from acquired neural abnormalities.Trends Cogn Sci. 2013; 17: 337-347
- Real-time fMRI and its application to neurofeedback.Neuroimage. 2012; 62: 682-692
- EEG-neurofeedback for optimising performance. I: A review of cognitive and affective outcome in healthy participants.Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2013; 44: 124-141
- Self-regulation of amygdala activation using real-time fMRI neurofeedback.PloS One. 2011; 6: e24522
- Orbitofrontal cortex neurofeedback produces lasting changes in contamination anxiety and resting-state connectivity.Transl Psychiatry. 2013; 3: e250
- Real-time FMRI neurofeedback training of amygdala activity in patients with major depressive disorder.PloS One. 2014; 9: e88785
- Learned regulation of brain metabolism.Trends Cogn Sci. 2013; 17: 295-302
- Alpha-theta brainwave neurofeedback for Vietnam veterans with combat related post-traumatic stress disorder.Med Psychother. 1991; 4: 47-60
- The validity of individual frontal alpha asymmetry EEG neurofeedback.Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016; 11: 33-43
- Categorized EEG neurofeedback performance unveils simultaneous fMRI deep brain activation.in: Langs G. Rish I. Berthold M.R. Horvath T. Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging. Springer-Verlag, Berlin2012: 108-115
- An EEG finger-print of fMRI deep regional activation.Neuroimage. 2014; 102: 128-141
- Neural dynamics necessary and sufficient for transition into pre-sleep induced by EEG NeuroFeedback.Neuroimage. 2014; 97: 19-28
- Perceptual learning incepted by decoded fMRI neurofeedback without stimulus presentation.Science. 2011; 334: 1413-1415
- Real-time fMRI neurofeedback: Progress and challenges.Neuroimage. 2013; 76: 386-399
- Human vulnerability to stress depends on amygdalaʼs predisposition and hippocampal plasticity.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106: 14120-14125
- Resolving emotional conflict: A role for the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in modulating activity in the amygdala.Neuron. 2006; 51: 871-882
- Contrast analysis: Focused comparisons in the analysis of variance.Cambridge University Press Archive, Cambridge, UK1985
- Review on solving the inverse problem in EEG source analysis.J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2008; 5: 25
- Emotion processing and the amygdala: From a ‘low road’ to ‘many roads’ of evaluating biological significance.Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010; 11: 773-783
- Dissociable intrinsic connectivity networks for salience processing and executive control.J Neurosci. 2007; 27: 2349-2356
- The neural bases of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion.Biol Psychiatry. 2008; 63: 577-586
- Cognitive emotion regulation insights from social cognitive and affective neuroscience.Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2008; 17: 153-158
- Down-regulation of amygdala activation with real-time fMRI neurofeedback in a healthy female sample.Front Behav Neurosci. 2014; 8: 299
- Real-time neurofeedback using functional MRI could improve down-regulation of amygdala activity during emotional stimulation: A proof-of-concept study.Brain Topogr. 2014; 27: 138-148
- Prefrontal control of the amygdala during real-time fMRI neurofeedback training of emotion regulation.PLoS One. 2013; 8: e79184
- Common abnormalities and disorder-specific compensation during implicit regulation of emotional processing in generalized anxiety and major depressive disorders.Am J Psychiatry. 2011; 168: 968-978
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: January 06, 2016
Accepted:
December 17,
2015
Received in revised form:
December 16,
2015
Received:
August 24,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© Society of Biological Psychiatry, 2016.