Applications of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Based Neurofeedback Training in Neurophsychiatric Disorders

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy is a noninvasive optical imaging technique based on measuring hemodynamic changes (oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin) in brain oxygenation concerning cognitive activity and enables real-time evaluation of brain activity in neuropsychiatric studies. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based neurofeedback provides self-regulation of hemodynamic changes in the effective regions of the brain as a result of the application of training sessions with visual/auditory/tactile stimuli through operant conditioning in neuropsychiatric disorders. The purpose of this review is to evaluate comprehensively over the possible implementations and development of this neurofeedback training in neuropsychiatric disorders including social anxiety disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, eating disorder, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorder according to recent literature data. Accordingly, the current literature related to the subject scanned in Pubmed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Web of Knowledge/Web of Science, EMBASE, EBSCOhost and Scopus databases were examined in this review. According to the results of this investigation, it is predicted that functional near-infrared spectroscopy-neurofeedback training protocols based on the self-regulation of the brain's functional activities based on the cognitive and behavioral basis with different stimuli might be a promising alternative method when applied to as specific to disorder/symptom and/or individual in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. Thus, functional near-infrared spectroscopy-neurofeedback studies focusing on the effect mechanisms of different brain networks and activity changes are needed in addition to its clinical effects to perform effective neurofeedback treatment in neuropsychiatric disorders. In future studies, it should be aimed to focus on hemodynamic changes in target brain regions such as prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior-superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, which are affected by these disorders by using this method.