Neurofeedback Tunes Scale-Free Dynamics in Spontaneous Brain Activity
Tomas Ros, Paul Frewen, Jean Theberge, Rosemarie Kluetsch, Andreas, Mueller, Gian Candrian, Rakesh Jetly, Patrik Vuilleumier, Ruth Lanius

TL;DR
This study demonstrates that neurofeedback can modulate brain's scale-free dynamics, normalizing abnormal long-range temporal correlations in both healthy and PTSD-affected individuals, with implications for clinical interventions.
Contribution
It shows that neurofeedback can induce self-tuning of brain activity's temporal complexity, reversing abnormal dynamics associated with psychiatric disorders.
Findings
Neurofeedback increased LRTCs in healthy adults.
PTSD patients showed normalization of abnormal LRTCs after NFB.
LRTC strength inversely related to oscillation amplitude.
Abstract
Brain oscillations exhibit long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs), which reflect the regularity of their fluctuations: low values representing more random (decorrelated) while high values more persistent (correlated) dynamics. LRTCs constitute supporting evidence that the brain operates near criticality, a state where neuronal activities are balanced between order and randomness. Here, healthy adults used closed-loop brain training (neurofeedback, NFB) to reduce the amplitude of alpha oscillations, producing a significant increase in spontaneous LRTCs post-training. This effect was reproduced in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, where abnormally random dynamics were reversed by NFB, correlating with significant improvements in hyperarousal. Notably, regions manifesting abnormally low LRTCs (i.e., excessive randomness) normalized toward healthy population levels, consistent…
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