File:Left Hand NFB.ogv

English: Dynamics of fMRI-based neurofeedback training: sensorimotor cortices responsible for finger movements.

Left and right sensorimotor cortices (SMC) were identified on single subject level using a functional localizer task (green blobs). During four weeks of training (three sessions per week), the fMRI signal difference between the left and right SMC, elicited by motor imagery, was visually presented to the subjects in real time. Each session consisted of two runs of right-sided and left-sided imaginary movements each. For a successful subject, each run was analyzed using FSL and thresholded using iterative two-threshold analysis (Auer et al., 2011). Activation (red-yellow) and deactivation maps (blue-white) were overlaid on the subject’s cortical surface reconstructed using Freesurfer.

The videos demonstrate that, during the initial sessions the right-hand training recruits an ipsilateral deactivation, whereas the left-hand training elicits a higher contralateral activation. In the second half of the training sessions the ipsilateral deactivation vanishes and the strength of the contralateral activation reaches a plateau for both hands.