Covariation of Spectral and Nonlinear Eeg Measures With Alpha Biofeedback

Remote Associates Test and Alpha Brain Waves

“…All degrees of freedom reported are Greenhouse-Geisser corrected when applicable unless noted. As in Fell, et al (2002), baseline segments (B) were not compared to training segments (T) (e.g. B1 to T1 and B4 to T4) since the baseline segments presented a nonchanging neurofeedback signal (e.g., nonmoving bar in our study) and the training segments a continuously changing feedback signal (moving bar in our study) and since the latter can be expected to increase alpha spectral power compared to the former, even without participants learning to change the signal due to NFB.…”

“…We adopted the following aspects of the alpha NFB protocol of Fell, et al (2002). The NFB consisted of four baseline segments (B1, B2, B3, and B4) and nine training segments (T1 to T9), which were administered in the following order: B1 T1 T2 T3 B2 T4 T5 T6 B3 T7 T8 T9 B4.…”

“…One ANOVA crossed the factors Condition (Alpha-up, Alpha-down) and Training Segment (T1 versus T9); a second ANOVA crossed the factors Condition (Alpha-up, Alpha-down) and Baseline Segment (B1 versus B4). The comparison of T1 and T9 and B1 versus B4 to examine training effects follows the approach by Fell, et al (2002). Effect sizes were computed as partial Eta squared values.…”

“…The signals were sampled by a 24-Bit analog-digital converter at a sampling rate of 256 Hz, bandpass filtered at 0.15-64 Hz. On-line, digital bandpass, infinite impulse response (IIR) filters (Butterworth cascaded 3rd order) were used to determine peak-to-peak amplitudes (magnitudes) in each of the following frequency bands: delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), beta 1 (12-16 Hz), beta2 (16-20 Hz), beta3 (20-28 Hz) (Fell, et al, 2002) and EMG (43-64 Hz). Participants were seated in a comfortable chair, made aware of the undesirable impact of movement and muscle tension on EEG recording (i.e.…”

“…To maximize chances of finding an effect of incubation against a no-incubation control condition, we presented each of the three cue words of a RAT problem with misleading distracters to increase mental fixation in view of the finding that RAT performance benefits from incubation under those conditions (Kohn & Smith, 2009;Smith & Blankenship, 1991). We adopted a NFB protocol for increasing alpha activity in a single 30-minute session (Fell, et al, 2002) and changed it in three ways. First, instead of basing the neurofeedback signal on an electrode over the center of scalp (i.e., Cz), we based it on an electrode over the right posterior occipital scalp.…”