Real-time fMRI brain computer
interfaces: Self-regulation of
single brain regions to networks
Sergio Ruiz, Korhan Buyukturkoglu, Mohit Rana, Niels Birbaumer, &
Ranganatha Sitaram
Biological Psychology 95 (2014)
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Task
Participant
Signal Acquisition
Task
Feedback
Participant
fMRI-BCI
Computer:
Preprocessing
Signal analysis
Neurofeedback
• Information about neural activity provided to subjects in real time to
facilitate learned self-regulation  changes in brain fxn, cognition,
behavior (Stoekel et al., 2014)
• rtfMRI-BCI
• BOLD in predetermined region of interest (ROI)
• Signal translated to visual cue
• Operant training to voluntarily regulate activation in ROI
• Clinical relevance (i.e. anterior insula; hypoactive in patients with attenuated
affect)
• Behavioral regulation strategies to up-regulate activation
• Paired w/ behavioral task & subjective input
Single ROI in Healthy Individuals
• Movement
• e.g. arm/hand primary motor areas, premotor cortex
• Imagery of movement, cognitive strategies to elicit particular activation
• Task involves navigating maze, maintaining optimal activation
• Cognition
• Perception
• Emotion
• e.g. amygdala, anterior insula
• Self-ratings of emotional arousal, valence/arousal ratings of images
• Successful self-regulation and improved performance/symptoms in PD,
hemiparesis, schizophrenia, addiction, depression
Schizophrenia
patient
activation
clusters and
BOLD time
series during
insula selfregulation (red)
and baseline
(blue) in early
and late training
sessions (Ruiz et
al., 2013)
Ruiz et al. (2013)
Changes observed
as result of single
ROI self-regulation
training. Effective
connectivity
changes reflected
by CD
Functional Connectivity Enhancement
• Can subjects enhance functional
connectivity w/ training?
• Ruiz et al. (2011) provided feedback of
correlation coefficient between IFG &
STG over sessions of training
• Successful up-regulation of connectivity
between inferior frontal gyrus and
superior temporal gyrus
• Semantic priming task performed pre/post
training sessions w/ observed
enhancement
Limitations/Future Directions
• Control condition?
• No feedback, sham feedback, control region, etc.
• Lack information on mental strategies, influence of attention/motivation
• Focus on up-regulation
• Pair equitable performance w/ down-regulation?
• Regions chosen a priori
• RT processing capacity for > 2 ROIs??
• Future directions for movement & rehabilitation research?
References
Stoeckel, L. E., Garrison, K. A., Ghosh, S. S., Wighton, P., . . ., Evins, A. E. (2014). Optimizing real time
fMRI neurofeedback for therapeutic discovery and development. Neuroimage: Clinical, 5, 245-255.
Ruiz, S., Buyukturkoglu, K., Tana, M., Birbaumer, N., & Sitaram, R. (2014). Real-time fMRI brain
computer interfaces: Self-regulation of single brain regions to networks. Biological Psychology, 95,
4-20.
Ruiz, S., Rana, M., Sass, K., Kircher, T., Birbaumer, N., & Sitaram, R. (2011). Brain network
connectivity and behaviour enhancement: A fMRI-BCI study. In 17th Annual Meeting of the
Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec City, Canada.
Ruiz, S., Lee, S., Soekadar, S. R., Caria, A., Veit, R., Kircher, T., Birbaumer, N., & Sitaram, R. (2013)
Acquired self-control of insula cortex modulates emotion recognition and brain network connectivity
in schizophrenia.