Anterior Insula Activity During Regulation, Empathic Responses After Anterior Insula Regulation
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim is to test whether rtfMRI-based neurofeedback training on anterior insula impacts pain empathy.
Detailed description
In the present study, investigators plan to use the real-time fMRI neurofeedback to train healthy subjects to learn volitional control over their own anterior insula (AI) activity. Then the effect of AI regulation will assessed by examining subjects' empathic responses and functional connectivity changes. Subjects were separated into two groups randomly. While the experimental group received specific neurofeedback from their own AI, the control group received sham NF from an unspecific region.
Interventions
DEVICEreal-time fMRI neurofeedback training running on Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 3.2 (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands)
Sponsors
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 30 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders
Exclusion criteria
* history of head injury; * claustrophobia; * pregnancy; * medical or psychiatric illness.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Neural Activity of Anterior Insula During Neorofeedback Training | three days. | Neural activity was analyzed using standard fMRI analysis procedure that examine neural activity during training of anterior insula regulation. The measures include BOLD signal analysis (reflecting neural activity strengths) as well as functional connectivity analysis (that examine the interaction between different brain regions). |
| Pain Empathy Rating Scores | three days. | Subjects were required to rate their empathic feeling towards painful pictures on a Likert Scale ranging from 1-9 (1 = not at all and 9 = very painful). The effects of training on the empathy for pain were analyzed comparing the feedback group with the controls group. For each subject differences were calculated between pictures that were preceded by a training compared to a no-training block. Within the context of the present design we expected that training-induced increases in anterior insula activity should lead to higher pain empathy ratings in the training group as compared to the control group. |
Participant flow
Participants by arm
| Arm | Count |
|---|---|
| Neurofeedback Training Neurofeedback training group receives neurofeedback from their own anterior insula.
real-time fMRI neurofeedback training running on Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 3.2 (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands) | 21 |
| Sham Control Sham control group receives sham neurofeedback from a large control brain region.
real-time fMRI neurofeedback training running on Turbo Brain voyager (TBV) 3.2 (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands) | 16 |
| Total | 37 |
Baseline characteristics
| Characteristic | Neurofeedback Training | Sham Control | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, Continuous | 22.2 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.3 | 21.7 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.5 | 21.95 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.4 |
| Region of Enrollment China | 21 Participants | 16 Participants | 37 Participants |
| Sex: Female, Male Female | 11 Participants | 7 Participants | 18 Participants |
| Sex: Female, Male Male | 10 Participants | 9 Participants | 19 Participants |
Adverse events
| Event type | EG000 affected / at risk | EG001 affected / at risk |
|---|---|---|
| deaths Total, all-cause mortality | — / — | — / — |
| other Total, other adverse events | 0 / 21 | 0 / 16 |
| serious Total, serious adverse events | 0 / 21 | 0 / 16 |
Outcome results
Primary
Neural Activity of Anterior Insula During Neorofeedback Training
Neural activity was analyzed using standard fMRI analysis procedure that examine neural activity during training of anterior insula regulation. The measures include BOLD signal analysis (reflecting neural activity strengths) as well as functional connectivity analysis (that examine the interaction between different brain regions).
Time frame: three days.
Population: From the initial population of 37 participants 5 had to be excluded because of high head movement during fMRI acquisition. This is a standard procedure in fMRI studies given that the analysis is very susceptible to movement artifacts.
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neurofeedback Training | Neural Activity of Anterior Insula During Neorofeedback Training | 0.077 percentage of BOLD signal change | Standard Error 0.016 |
| Sham Control | Neural Activity of Anterior Insula During Neorofeedback Training | 0.026 percentage of BOLD signal change | Standard Error 0.018 |
Primary
Pain Empathy Rating Scores
Subjects were required to rate their empathic feeling towards painful pictures on a Likert Scale ranging from 1-9 (1 = not at all and 9 = very painful). The effects of training on the empathy for pain were analyzed comparing the feedback group with the controls group. For each subject differences were calculated between pictures that were preceded by a training compared to a no-training block. Within the context of the present design we expected that training-induced increases in anterior insula activity should lead to higher pain empathy ratings in the training group as compared to the control group.
Time frame: three days.
Population: From the initial population of 37 participants 5 had to be excluded because of high head movement during fMRI acquisition. This is a standard procedure in fMRI studies given that the analysis is very susceptible to movement artifacts.
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neurofeedback Training | Pain Empathy Rating Scores | 0.249 units on a scale | Standard Error 0.107 |
| Sham Control | Pain Empathy Rating Scores | -0.09 units on a scale | Standard Error 0.122 |