Neuroscience
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Despite the success of neurofeedback treatment in many cases, the variability in the efficacy of the treatment is high, and some studies report that a significant proportion of subjects does not benefit from it. Quantifying the extent of this problem is difficult, as many studies do not report the variability among subjects. ⋯ A possible explanation for treatment ineffectiveness lies in the necessity to adapt the treatment protocol to the individual subject. We therefore discuss the use of personalized neurofeedback protocols as a potential way to reduce the inefficacy problem.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Neurofeedback training effects on inhibitory brain activation in ADHD: a matter of learning?
Neurofeedback training (NF) is a promising non-pharmacological treatment for ADHD that has been associated with improvement of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related symptoms as well as changes in electrophysiological measures. However, the functional localization of neural changes following NF compared to an active control condition, and of successful learning during training (considered to be the critical mechanism for improvement), remains largely unstudied. Children with ADHD (N=16, mean age: 11.81, SD: 1.47) were randomly assigned to either slow cortical potential (SCP, n=8) based NF or biofeedback control training (electromyogram feedback, n=8) and performed a combined Flanker/NoGo task pre- and post-training. ⋯ Subjects who were successful learners (n=9) also showed increased activation in an extensive inhibitory network irrespective of the type of training. Activation increased in an extensive inhibitory network following NF training, and following successful learning through NF and control biofeedback. Although this study was only powered to detect large effects and clearly requires replication in larger samples, the results suggest a crucial role for learning effects in biofeedback trainings.
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Despite evidence that Sensorimotor Rhythm (SMR) and beta1 neurofeedback have distinct cognitive enhancement effects, it remains unclear whether their amplitudes can be independently enhanced. Furthermore, demands for top-down attention control, postural restraint and maintenance of cognitive set processes, all requiring low-beta frequencies, might masquerade as learning and confound interpretation. The feasibility of selectively enhancing SMR and beta1 amplitudes was investigated with the addition of a random frequency control condition that also requires the potentially confounding cognitive processes. ⋯ Interestingly, SMR and beta1 amplitude increased across sessions in the three groups suggesting unspecific effects of neurofeedback in the low beta frequency band. Moreover, there was no clear evidence of frequency specificity associated with either SMR or beta1 training. Some methodological limitations may underpin the divergent results with previous studies.
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Low Motivational Incongruence predicts successful EEG resting-state neurofeedback in healthy adults.
Neurofeedback is becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread, although predictors of successful performance still remain scarce. Here, we explored the possible predictive value of psychological factors and report the results obtained from a neurofeedback training study designed to enhance the self-regulation of spontaneous EEG microstates of a particular type (microstate class D). Specifically, we were interested in life satisfaction (including motivational incongruence), body awareness, personality and trait anxiety. ⋯ There were no significant correlations related to other questionnaires, besides a trend in a sub-scale of the Life Satisfaction questionnaire. We conclude that motivational incongruence may be a potential predictor for neurofeedback success, at least in the current protocol. The finding may be explained by the interfering effect on neurofeedback performance produced by incompatible simultaneously active psychological processes, which are indirectly measured by the Motivational Incongruence questionnaire.
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Previous studies have shown that theta neurofeedback enhances motor memory consolidation on an easy-to-learn finger-tapping task. However, the simplicity of the finger-tapping task precludes evaluating the putative effects of elevated theta on performance accuracy. Mastering a motor sequence is classically assumed to entail faster performance with fewer errors. ⋯ A more complex task was used to study the effects of parietal elevated theta on 45 healthy volunteers The findings confirmed previous results on the effects of theta neurofeedback on memory consolidation. In contrast to the two control groups, in the theta-neurofeedback group the speed-accuracy tradeoff was reversed. The speed-accuracy tradeoff patterns only stabilized after a night's sleep implying enhancement in terms of both speed and accuracy.