Keynan, Jackob N., Cohen, Avihay, Jackont, Gilan, Green, Nili, Goldway, Noam, Davidov, Alexander, Meir-Hasson, Yehudit, Raz, Gal, Intrator, Nathan, Fruchter, Eyal, Ginat, Keren, Laska, Eugene, Cavazza, Marc ORCID: 0000-0001-6113-9696 and Hendler, Talma (2018) Electrical fingerprint of the amygdala guides neurofeedback training for stress resilience. Nature Human Behaviour, 3. pp. 63-73. ISSN 2397-3374 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0484-3)

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Abstract

Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) has revived the translational perspective of neurofeedback (NF)1. Particularly for stress management, targeting deeply located limbic areas involved in stress processing2 has paved new paths for brain-guided interventions. However, the high cost and immobility of fMRI constitute a challenging drawback for the scalability (accessibility and cost-effectiveness) of the approach, particularly for clinical purposes3. The current study aimed to overcome the limited applicability of rt-fMRI by using an electroencephalography (EEG) model endowed with improved spatial resolution, derived from simultaneous EEG–fMRI, to target amygdala activity (termed amygdala electrical fingerprint (Amyg-EFP))4,5,6. Healthy individuals (n = 180) undergoing a stressful military training programme were randomly assigned to six Amyg-EFP-NF sessions or one of two controls (control-EEG-NF or NoNF), taking place at the military training base. The results demonstrated specificity of NF learning to the targeted Amyg-EFP signal, which led to reduced alexithymia and faster emotional Stroop, indicating better stress coping following Amyg-EFP-NF relative to controls. Neural target engagement was demonstrated in a follow-up fMRI-NF, showing greater amygdala blood-oxygen-level-dependent downregulation and amygdala–ventromedial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity following Amyg-EFP-NF relative to NoNF. Together, these results demonstrate limbic specificity and efficacy of Amyg-EFP-NF during a stressful period, pointing to a scalable non-pharmacological yet neuroscience-based training to prevent stress-induced psychopathology.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Cognitive neuroscience; Emotion; Neuroscience; Stress and resilience
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science > School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS) Faculty of Engineering & Science
Last Modified:	04 Mar 2022 13:06
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/22449

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