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Research Article

Covert neurofeedback without awareness shapes cortical network spontaneous connectivity

View ORCID ProfileMichal Ramot, Shany Grossman, Doron Friedman, and Rafael Malach
PNAS April 26, 2016 113 (17) E2413-E2420; first published April 11, 2016; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516857113
Michal Ramot
aDepartment of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel;
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  • ORCID record for Michal Ramot
  • For correspondence: michal.ramot@nih.gov
Shany Grossman
aDepartment of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel;
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Doron Friedman
bSammy Ofer School of Communication, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia 4610101, Israel
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Rafael Malach
aDepartment of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel;
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  1. Edited by Marcus E. Raichle, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and approved March 10, 2016 (received for review August 24, 2015)

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Significance

Real-time functional MRI allows the use of well-localized, complex network activity patterns to drive neurofeedback, rather than a simple up/down regulation of a specific cortical region. We based our feedback on differential levels of activity in two high-order visual areas but misled participants to believe the feedback was random. Even without being given an explicit strategy, or having any awareness or intention of learning, our results show changes in resting-state connectivity, which are correlated with the ability to implicitly modulate interactions between neural networks to positively impact feedback. This opens up numerous possibilities for research, as well as for potential clinical intervention, even in states of altered consciousness.

Abstract

Recent advances in blood oxygen level-dependent–functional MRI (BOLD-fMRI)-based neurofeedback reveal that participants can modulate neuronal properties. However, it is unknown whether such training effects can be introduced in the absence of participants' awareness that they are being trained. Here, we show unconscious neurofeedback training, which consequently produced changes in functional connectivity, introduced in participants who received positive and negative rewards that were covertly coupled to activity in two category-selective visual cortex regions. The results indicate that brain networks can be modified even in the complete absence of intention and awareness of the learning situation, raising intriguing possibilities for clinical interventions.

  • neurofeedback
  • training
  • reward
  • spontaneous activity
  • functional connectivity

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: michal.ramot{at}nih.gov.
  • Author contributions: M.R., D.F., and R.M. designed research; M.R. and S.G. performed research; M.R. analyzed data; and M.R. and R.M. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1516857113/-/DCSupplemental.

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Shaping network connectivity through neurofeedback
Michal Ramot, Shany Grossman, Doron Friedman, Rafael Malach
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2016, 113 (17) E2413-E2420; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1516857113

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Shaping network connectivity through neurofeedback
Michal Ramot, Shany Grossman, Doron Friedman, Rafael Malach
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2016, 113 (17) E2413-E2420; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1516857113
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 113 (17)
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