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An Effective Neurofeedback Intervention to Improve Social Interactions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Neurofeedback training (NFT) approaches were investigated to improve behavior, cognition and emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirteen children with ASD completed pre-/post-assessments and 16 NFT-sessions. The NFT was based on a game that encouraged social interactions and provided feedback based on imitation and emotional responsiveness. Bidirectional training of EEG mu suppression and enhancement (8–12 Hz over somatosensory cortex) was compared to the standard method of enhancing mu. Children learned to control mu rhythm with both methods and showed improvements in (1) electrophysiology: increased mu suppression, (2) emotional responsiveness: improved emotion recognition and spontaneous imitation, and (3) behavior: significantly better behavior in every-day life. Thus, these NFT paradigms improve aspects of behavior necessary for successful social interactions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a fellowship provided by the Max Kade Foundation to the Department of Cognitive Science, UCSD and by grant funding from the ISNR Research Foundation, the European Community Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 2013, nr. 258169) and the EPSRC/IMRC Grants 113946. Portions of the research in this paper uses the MMI-Facial Expression Database collected by Valstar and Pantic. The authors thank all colleagues and students from the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at UCSD (with special thanks to Alexandra Tonnesen for handling the evaluations) and from the Alliant International University San Diego (with special thanks to Richard Gevirtz for his support) as well as all participants and their families.

Author Contributions

EF conceived of the study, designed and coordinated the study, performed the measurement, the analyses of the EEG and EMG data and the statistical analyses, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript; AS and TL implemented the framework to connect the Social Mirroring Game to the NFT in a closed feedback loop in real-time. NS and SL developed the Social Mirroring Game. SP participated in the analyses of the EEG and EMG data. JP participated in the design, coordination, analyses and interpretation of the data and in drafting the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0515, USA

    Elisabeth V. C. Friedrich, Steven Pillen & Jaime A. Pineda

  2. Institute of Mechanical, Process and Energy Engineering, School of Engineering and Physical Science, Heriot-Watt University Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK

    Aparajithan Sivanathan & Theodore Lim

  3. School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK

    Neil Suttie & Sandy Louchart

  4. Digital Design Studio, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, G51 1EA, UK

    Sandy Louchart

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  1. Elisabeth V. C. Friedrich
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  2. Aparajithan Sivanathan
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  3. Theodore Lim
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  4. Neil Suttie
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  7. Jaime A. Pineda
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Correspondence to Elisabeth V. C. Friedrich.

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Friedrich, E.V.C., Sivanathan, A., Lim, T. et al. An Effective Neurofeedback Intervention to Improve Social Interactions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 4084–4100 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2523-5

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