Information
- Publication Type: Master Thesis
- Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
- Date: October 2021
- Date (Start): 10. November 2020
- Date (End): 27. October 2021
- Diploma Examination: January 2022
- Open Access: yes
- First Supervisor: Eduard Gröller
- Pages: 137
- Keywords: Neurofeedback, emotion processing
Abstract
Neurofeedback (NF) based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) offers promising possibilities for therapeutic approaches in neurological and psychiatric diseases. By providing information over the current activity in a target brain region, conscious control can be learned allowing for counteracting disease-specific symptoms. Social feedback in the form of a face with changing expressions is often chosen as a very intuitive type of feedback. Since the brain regions affected in psychiatric conditions are often involved in the perception and processing of emotions, it is possible that these regions are additionally activated with emotional feedback. In this thesis it is examined whether such an additional activity has a significant influence on the measured activity, as this could lead to inaccurate feedback and, as a result, to suboptimal learning outcomes. For this purpose, the data of a previously published study is reanalysed while particularly taking the potential influence of the feedback signal into account. Using different model approaches, the exact nature of the influence is investigated, as well as whether positive and negative feedback differ in their influence. Given the highly individual aspects of NF and the goal to implement corrections for the training of a single subject in an openly available NF software, the analyses were conducted on an individual but also the group level allowing for tests of generalizability. At the single run level, a significant influence of both the feedback and its change over time was found. Positive feedback more often had a significant impact on the neuronal activation than negative feedback. With regard to the change over time, significant results could more often be found with negative feedback. At the group level, only the
change in feedback showed a significant influence on the activation of the target region. In a cross-validation, it was not possible to determine generalizability beyond a single run for any of the models under investigation. The examined effect seems to be very individual both for subjects and measurements and should therefore be treated separately from case to case. In NF studies in which emotional feedback is used while training a brain region involved in emotion processing, accounting for the influence of the feedback signal could improve the accuracy of the presented feedback and, hence, learning performance and therapeutic success.
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BibTeX
@mastersthesis{Caic2021,
title = "Modelling the Effect of emotional Feedback as Stimulus in
fMRI Neurofeedback",
author = "Victoria Caic",
year = "2021",
abstract = "Neurofeedback (NF) based on functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) offers promising possibilities for
therapeutic approaches in neurological and psychiatric
diseases. By providing information over the current activity
in a target brain region, conscious control can be learned
allowing for counteracting disease-specific symptoms. Social
feedback in the form of a face with changing expressions is
often chosen as a very intuitive type of feedback. Since the
brain regions affected in psychiatric conditions are often
involved in the perception and processing of emotions, it is
possible that these regions are additionally activated with
emotional feedback. In this thesis it is examined whether
such an additional activity has a significant influence on
the measured activity, as this could lead to inaccurate
feedback and, as a result, to suboptimal learning outcomes.
For this purpose, the data of a previously published study
is reanalysed while particularly taking the potential
influence of the feedback signal into account. Using
different model approaches, the exact nature of the
influence is investigated, as well as whether positive and
negative feedback differ in their influence. Given the
highly individual aspects of NF and the goal to implement
corrections for the training of a single subject in an
openly available NF software, the analyses were conducted on
an individual but also the group level allowing for tests of
generalizability. At the single run level, a significant
influence of both the feedback and its change over time was
found. Positive feedback more often had a significant impact
on the neuronal activation than negative feedback. With
regard to the change over time, significant results could
more often be found with negative feedback. At the group
level, only the change in feedback showed a significant
influence on the activation of the target region. In a
cross-validation, it was not possible to determine
generalizability beyond a single run for any of the models
under investigation. The examined effect seems to be very
individual both for subjects and measurements and should
therefore be treated separately from case to case. In NF
studies in which emotional feedback is used while training a
brain region involved in emotion processing, accounting for
the influence of the feedback signal could improve the
accuracy of the presented feedback and, hence, learning
performance and therapeutic success. ",
month = oct,
pages = "137",
address = "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
school = "Research Unit of Computer Graphics, Institute of Visual
Computing and Human-Centered Technology, Faculty of
Informatics, TU Wien",
keywords = "Neurofeedback, emotion processing",
URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2021/Caic2021/",
}
Master Thesis
Poster
