Self-regulation of visual word form area activation with real-time fMRI neurofeedback

Abstract

The Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) is a key region of the brain’s reading network and its activation has been shown to be strongly associated with reading skills. Here, for the first time, we investigated whether voluntary regulation of VWFA activation is feasible using real-time fMRI neurofeedback. 40 adults with typical reading skills were instructed to either upregulate (UP group, N = 20) or downregulate (DOWN group, N = 20) their own VWFA activation during six neurofeedback training runs. The VWFA target region was individually defined based on a functional localizer task. Before and after training, also regulation runs without feedback (“no-feedback runs”) were performed. When comparing the two groups, we found stronger activation across the reading network for the UP than the DOWN group. Further, activation in the VWFA was significantly stronger in the UP group than the DOWN group. Crucially, we observed a significant interaction of group and time (pre, post) for the no-feedback runs: The two groups did not differ significantly in their VWFA activation before neurofeedback training, but the UP group showed significantly stronger activation than the DOWN group after neurofeedback training. Our results indicate that upregulation of VWFA activation is feasible and that, once learned, successful upregulation can even be performed in the absence of feedback. These results are a crucial first step toward the development of a potential therapeutic support to improve reading skills in individuals with reading impairments.

Visual word processing engages a hierarchical, distributed, and bilateral cortical network

“…Relatedly, the FC between VWFA and other regions is heightened for slow compared with fast readers, perhaps indicative of the need of the former to constrain responses further with top-down modulation, 25 and the VWFA can be upregulated using neurofeedback, hinting at a potential intervention for those with difficulties in text processing. 35 Last, poor readers show atypical topology compared with good readers, with a less functionally specialized cluster around the left inferior frontal gyrus and surprisingly stronger functional links between bilateral STGs and other regions 52 and between the left IFG and OTC. 76 …”