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Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training of Selective Attention in Older Adults
Tian Lin1, Mohit Rana2, Peiwei Liu1
1Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Background:
Selective attention declines with age, due to age-related functional changes in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) neurofeedback has been used in young adults to train volitional control of brain activity, including in dACC.
Methods:
For the first time, this study used rtfMRI neurofeedback to train 19 young and 27 older adults in volitional up- or down-regulation of bilateral dACC during a selective attention task.
Results:
Older participants in the up-regulation condition (experimental group) showed greater reward points and dACC BOLD signal across training sessions, reflective of neurofeedback training success; and faster reaction time and better response accuracy, suggesting behavioral benefits on selective attention. These effects were not observed for older participants in the down-regulation condition (inverse condition control group), supporting specificity of volitional dACC up-regulation training in older adults. These effects were, unexpectedly, also not observed for young participants in the up-regulation condition (age control group), perhaps due to a lack of motivation to continue the training.
Conclusions:
These findings provide promising first evidence of functional plasticity in dACC in late life via rtfMRI neurofeedback up-regulation training, enhancing selective attention, and demonstrate proof of concept of rtfMRI neurofeedback training in cognitive aging.
