Effect of voluntary EEG α power increase training on heart rate variability

Abstract

The following objectives were set out to study the effect of EEG α power increase training on the heart rate variability (HRV) as an index of the autonomic regulation of cognitive functions: (1) to establish the interrelation between a voluntary increase in the α power in the individual upper α band and the HRV and related characteristics of cognitive and emotional spheres; (2) to determine the nature of the relationship between the α activity indices and HRV depending on the resting α frequency EEG pattern; and (3) to study how the individual α frequency EEG pattern is reflected in the HRV changes as a result of biofeedback training. Psychometric indices of cognitive performance and the characteristics of EEG α activity and HRV were recorded in 27 healthy men 18-34 years of age before, during, and after ten training sessions of a voluntary increase in α power in the individual upper α band with the eyes closed. To determine the biofeedback effect in the α power increase training, the data of two groups were compared: the experimental, with a real biofeed back (14 subjects), and the control, with a sham biofeedback (13 subjects). The follow up effect of the train ing was assessed one month after its end. The results showed that α biofeedback training increased the resting α frequency, improved cognitive perfor mance, reduced psychoemotional stress, and increased HRV only in the subjects with a low baseline α fre quency. In the subjects with a high baseline resting α frequency, the α biofeedback training had no effect on the resting α power and cognitive performance but reduced the HRV (judging by the pNN 50 parameter). The positive correlation between the α peak frequency and HRV in subjects with initially low α frequency and the negative correlation in the subjects with a high baseline α frequency explains the opposite biofeedback effects on HRV in subjects with low and high α frequency. From the theoretical standpoint, the results of this study contribute to understanding the mechanisms of heart-brain neurovisceral relationships and their effect on the cognitive performance. From the applied standpoint, they suggest that EEG biofeedback can be used for improving autonomic regulation in healthy subjects and the development of individual approaches to the development of the biofeedback technology, which can be used both in clinical practice for treatment and rehabilitation of psychosomatic syndromes and in educational training.

Neurofeedback, Self-Regulation, and Brain Imaging: Clinical Science and Fad in the Service of Mental Disorders

“…Moreover, some studies divided participants into responders and non-responders, thus inflating results [64,66]. Interestingly, only individuals with a lower baseline alpha frequency, constituting 70 percent of participants, successfully increased alpha power.…”

“…While training propelled cognitive improvement in many participants, studies lacked active control groups, and instead employed wait-list controls [63], controls who sat passively during feedback sessions [64], or no controls at all [65][66][67].…”

The relationships between the achievement motivations and temperaments of psychology students with different lateral organization profiles

“…The close relationship of the indices of α activity and heart rate variability has also been shown, and this relationship testifies to the important role of neurovisceral relationships in the regulation of mental processes (Bazanova et al, 2013).…”

Effect of alterations in breathing patterns on EEG activity in normal human subjects

“…Altered respiratory patterns may not only induce hypoxemia, hyper-or hypocapnia leading to changed arterial blood pressure (7) but these hemodynamic changes also cause altered cortical functions (8). EEG findings in COPD patients with encephalopathy/ intellectual impairment show higher occurrence of slow wave bands and lower occurrence of beta waves predominantly in the fronto-temporal region, secondary to hypoxemia & hypercapnia (9,10).…”