The Emergent Property of Inhibitory Control: Implications of Intermittent Network-Based fNIRS Neurofeedback Training

Zeng Lingwei ^1* Gai Lidong ² Sun Kewei ¹ Yuan Yimeng ¹ Gao Yuntao ¹ Hui Wang ¹ Xiuchao Wang ¹ Zhihong Wen ³

• ¹ School of Medical Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
• ² Air Force Aviation University, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
• ³ Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

Studies have shown that inhibitory control is supported by frontal cortex and small-world brain networks. However, it remains unclear how regulating the topology changes the inhibitory control. We investigated the effects of small-worldness upregulation training on resting-state networks via fNIRS neurofeedback training, which will contribute to a deeper insight of inhibitory control.A five-day training session was used to regulate the small-worldness of the frontal cortex, and the color-word Stroop task was tested before and after training. Fifty healthy adults were recruited and randomly assigned to the sham feedback group (sham group), or intermittent fNIRS-based brain network feedback group (fNIRS-NF group). On the basis of the exclusion of incomplete data, 45 valid data sets were retained and analyzed (sham: 21, fNIRS-NF: 24).Training improved the resting-state brain networks and task performance, and their variations had a significant correlation, which provided causal inference about the small-worldness and inhibitory. The analysis of the hemodynamic response before and after training showed that the activation estimated by general linear model was lower in the fNIRS-NF group, indicating that their cognitive load was lower and lasted for at least 1 week. In addition, the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were separately extracted for edge variation caused by training, and the results showed that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increased more internal connections than the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, indicating differences in cortical plasticity.Intermittent fNIRS neurofeedback training an effective method of modulating resting state brain networks; And a small world network is a potential target for cognitive intervention, providing additional insight into inhibitory control.