Self-Regulation of the Fusiform Face Area in Autism Spectrum: A Feasibility Study With Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Cristian Montalba¹  Sergio Ruiz³  Jaime A. Pereira³  Rafael Torres³  Ranganatha Sitaram⁴  Pradyumna Sepulveda⁵  Mohit Rana⁶  Cristian Tejos⁸ 

[1] Biomedical Imaging Center, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile;Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile;Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile;Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile;Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom;Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;Laboratory for Brain Machine Interfaces and Neuromodulation, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile;Millennium Nucleus for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Santiago, Chile;

关键词: autism spectrum disorder (ASD);    real-time fMRI;    neurofeedback;    fusiform face area (FFA);    facial processing;    brain–computer interfaces;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnhum.2019.00446

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

One of the most important and early impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the abnormal visual processing of human faces. This deficit has been associated with hypoactivation of the fusiform face area (FFA), one of the main hubs of the face-processing network. Neurofeedback based on real-time fMRI (rtfMRI-NF) is a technique that allows the self-regulation of circumscribed brain regions, leading to specific neural modulation and behavioral changes. The aim of the present study was to train participants with ASD to achieve up-regulation of the FFA using rtfMRI-NF, to investigate the neural effects of FFA up-regulation in ASD. For this purpose, three groups of volunteers with normal I.Q. and fluent language were recruited to participate in a rtfMRI-NF protocol of eight training runs in 2 days. Five subjects with ASD participated as part of the experimental group and received contingent feedback to up-regulate bilateral FFA. Two control groups, each one with three participants with typical development (TD), underwent the same protocol: one group with contingent feedback and the other with sham feedback. Whole-brain and functional connectivity analysis using each fusiform gyrus as independent seeds were carried out. The results show that individuals with TD and ASD can achieve FFA up-regulation with contingent feedback. RtfMRI-NF in ASD produced more numerous and stronger short-range connections among brain areas of the ventral visual stream and an absence of the long-range connections to insula and inferior frontal gyrus, as observed in TD subjects. Recruitment of inferior frontal gyrus was observed in both groups during FAA up-regulation. However, insula and caudate nucleus were only recruited in subjects with TD. These results could be explained from a neurodevelopment perspective as a lack of the normal specialization of visual processing areas, and a compensatory mechanism to process visual information of faces. RtfMRI-NF emerges as a potential tool to study visual processing network in ASD, and to explore its clinical potential.

【 授权许可】

Unknown