December 5, 2012

Learning to control brain activity improves visual sensitivity



(December 5, 2012)  Training eople to control their own brain activity can enhance their visual sensitivity, according to a new study. This non-invasive ‘neurofeedback’ approach could one day be used to improve brain function in patients with abnormal patterns of activity, for example after a stroke.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL used non-invasive, real-time brain imaging that enabled participants to watch their own brain activity on a screen, a technique known as neurofeedback. During the training phase, they were asked to try to increase activity in the area of the brain that processes visual information, the visual cortex, by imagining images and observing how their brains responded.

After the training phase, the participants' visual perception was tested using a new task that required them to detect very subtle changes in the contrast of an image. When they were asked to repeat this task while clamping brain activity in the visual cortex at high levels, those who had successfully learned to control their brain activity could improve their ability to detect even very small changes in contrast.

This improved performance was only observed when participants were exercising control over their brain activity.

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