.2013 Nov 1:81:110-118.

doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.030. Epub 2013 May 17.

Real-time fMRI links subjective experience with brain activity during focused attention

Kathleen A Garrison¹, Dustin Scheinost², Patrick D Worhunsky³, Hani M Elwafi⁴, Thomas A Thornhill 4th⁵, Evan Thompson⁶, Clifford Saron⁷, Gaëlle Desbordes⁸, Hedy Kober⁹, Michelle Hampson¹⁰, Jeremy R Gray¹¹, R Todd Constable¹², Xenophon Papademetris¹³, Judson A Brewer¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: kathleen.garrison@yale.edu.
² Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: dustin.scheinost@yale.edu.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: patrick.worhunsky@yale.edu.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: hani.elwafi@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: thomas.thornhill@yale.edu.
⁶ Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, 170 St. George Street, Room 428, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada. Electronic address: evan.thompson@utoronto.ca.
⁷ Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618, USA. Electronic address: cdsaron@ucdavis.edu.
⁸ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 Thirteenth St #2301, Boston, MA 02129, USA. Electronic address: gdesbord@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: hedy.kober@yale.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: michelle.hampson@yale.edu.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: jeremy.gray@yale.edu.
¹² Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: todd.constable@yale.edu.
¹³ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: xenophon.papademetris@yale.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: judson.brewer@yale.edu.

PMID:23684866
PMCID: PMC3729617
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.030

Real-time fMRI links subjective experience with brain activity during focused attention

Kathleen A Garrison et al. Neuroimage.2013.

.2013 Nov 1:81:110-118.

doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.030. Epub 2013 May 17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: kathleen.garrison@yale.edu.
² Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: dustin.scheinost@yale.edu.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: patrick.worhunsky@yale.edu.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: hani.elwafi@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: thomas.thornhill@yale.edu.
⁶ Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, 170 St. George Street, Room 428, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada. Electronic address: evan.thompson@utoronto.ca.
⁷ Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618, USA. Electronic address: cdsaron@ucdavis.edu.
⁸ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 Thirteenth St #2301, Boston, MA 02129, USA. Electronic address: gdesbord@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: hedy.kober@yale.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: michelle.hampson@yale.edu.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: jeremy.gray@yale.edu.
¹² Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: todd.constable@yale.edu.
¹³ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: xenophon.papademetris@yale.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George St. Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: judson.brewer@yale.edu.

PMID:23684866
PMCID: PMC3729617
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.030

Abstract

Recent advances in brain imaging have improved the measure of neural processes related to perceptual, cognitive and affective functions, yet the relation between brain activity and subjective experience remains poorly characterized. In part, it is a challenge to obtain reliable accounts of participant's experience in such studies. Here we addressed this limitation by utilizing experienced meditators who are expert in introspection. We tested a novel method to link objective and subjective data, using real-time fMRI (rt-fMRI) to provide participants with feedback of their own brain activity during an ongoing task. We provided real-time feedback during a focused attention task from the posterior cingulate cortex, a hub of the default mode network shown to be activated during mind-wandering and deactivated during meditation. In a first experiment, both meditators and non-meditators reported significant correspondence between the feedback graph and their subjective experience of focused attention and mind-wandering. When instructed to volitionally decrease the feedback graph, meditators, but not non-meditators, showed significant deactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex. We were able to replicate these results in a separate group of meditators using a novel step-wise rt-fMRI discovery protocol in which participants were not provided with prior knowledge of the expected relationship between their experience and the feedback graph (i.e., focused attention versus mind-wandering). These findings support the feasibility of using rt-fMRI to link objective measures of brain activity with reports of ongoing subjective experience in cognitive neuroscience research, and demonstrate the generalization of expertise in introspective awareness to novel contexts.

Keywords: Default mode network; Focused attention; Meditation; Posterior cingulate cortex; Real-time fMRI; Real-time neurofeedback.

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Figures

**Figure 1. Real-time fMRI neurofeedback protocol for Experiment 1A**
Participants performed 3 runs of a 30-second active baseline task, during which they viewed words and decided if the words described them, and a 3-minute focused attention task, during which they focused attention on the breath while viewing a real-time feedback graph representing activity in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC).

**Figure 2. Real-time fMRI neurofeedback protocol for Experiment 2**
Participants performed 13 runs of the same 30-second active baseline task, during which they viewed words and decided if the words described them, and a 60-second focused attention task, for which the instructions changed every 3–4 runs. For specific instructions, see Methods, Experiment 2, Blinded discovery fMRI protocol.

**Figure 3. Real-time feedback from the PCC during focused attention**
Mean percent signal change from the PCC during focused attention with real-time feedback is shown from an example non-meditator (top) and meditator (bottom) for run 1 and run 4, from Experiment 1A.

**Figure 4. Experienced meditators show significantly greater deactivation of the PCC during volitional decrease of the feedback graph than non-meditators**
Mean percent signal change ± SEM in the PCC during volitional decrease of the feedback graph for meditators (gray) and non-meditators (black), from Experiment 1B,p = .028.

**Figure 5. Experienced meditators show significant deactivation of the PCC during volitional decrease of the feedback graph in blinded discovery protocol**
Mean percent signal change ± SEM from the PCC during volitional decrease of the feedback graph for meditators (gray), from step 4 of Experiment 2, p=.026.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Real-time fMRI links subjective experience with brain activity during focused attention

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Real-time fMRI links subjective experience with brain activity during focused attention

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