Predicting Successful Learning of SMR Neurofeedback in Healthy Participants: Methodological Considerations

Weber, Emily; Köberl, A.; Frank, Susan J.; Doppelmayr, Michael

doi:10.1007/s10484-010-9142-x

Cited by 86 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Furthermore, we found a significant threshold increase after the first session only in SMR NFT group, suggesting that our training protocol is facilitative to golfers. This evidence was in line with previous work in which the SMR amplitude increased above the daily adjusted threshold (Weber, Köberl, Frank, & Doppelmayr, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Sensorimotor Rhythm Neurofeedback Enhances Golf Putting Performance

Cheng

Huang

Chang

et al. 2015

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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Sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) activity has been related to automaticity during skilled action execution. However, few studies have bridged the causal link between SMR activity and sports performance. This study investigated the effect of SMR neurofeedback training (SMR NFT) on golf putting performance. We hypothesized that preelite golfers would exhibit enhanced putting performance after SMR NFT. Sixteen preelite golfers were recruited and randomly assigned into either an SMR or a control group. Participants were asked to perform putting while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded, both before and after intervention. Our results showed that the SMR group performed more accurately when putting and exhibited greater SMR power than the control group after 8 intervention sessions. This study concludes that SMR NFT is effective for increasing SMR during action preparation and for enhancing golf putting performance. Moreover, greater SMR activity might be an EEG signature of improved attention processing, which induces superior putting performance.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Sensorimotor Rhythm Neurofeedback Enhances Golf Putting Performance

Cheng

Huang

Chang

et al. 2015

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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“…Along with an optimistic view on the efficacy of neurofeedback in training the capacity for self regula tion and treating numerous psychosomatic and neuro logical diseases, there are data that the efficiency of α stimulating biofeedback is no higher than 70% [41] or even 50% [6,11,42]. This skepticism has some meth odological grounds: (1) biofeedback training aimed at increasing the power in a standard range not related to individual spectral-frequency characteristics may not only prove ineffective, but even harm the patient's condition [43,44]; (2) some researchers carry out α stimulating training with the subject's eyes open [6,42]; therefore, when teaching the subjects to voluntar ily increase the α wave amplitude with the eyes open, they decrease the degree of activation (the difference between the amplitudes in the eyes closed and eyes open states) [45] and, hence, decrease the subject's capacity for self control [46], which accounts for the low efficiency of α stimulating biofeedback as a self regulation training; (3) the training for an α power increase does not take into account the coherence of the scalp's EMG and EEG signals, which disorient the subjects as to what sensations they should memorize: those corresponding to the α state or to the tension of the scalp muscles [15,16].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Training for voluntarily increasing individual upper α power as a method for cognitive enhancement

et al. 2012

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40Neurofeedback or EEG biofeedback training is a technology for developing the skills of voluntary mod ification of the EEG frequency and/or amplitude. The purpose of neurofeedback is to teach the subject to perceive and reproduce a specific cerebral activity. Therefore, EEG biofeedback training is a uniquely useful tool for finding the correspondence between a given state of cerebral activity and cognitive functions. For example, a distinct correspondence has been found between the power of the upper (high fre quency) α rhythm (10-12 Hz) and the performance of tasks requiring inner control of information process ing, such as mental rotation performance [1-3] and musical performance [4]. These results served as the basis for the development of α stimulating biofeed back training for the enhancement of mental functions and the demonstration of the key role of α activity in the control of cognitive functions [3, 5-9].However, as data on the effect of α stimulating bio feedback training on cognitive functions accumulated, a number of methodological limitations of its use became evident. For example, a conclusion on EEG biofeedback training efficiency cannot be considered valid unless it is based on the comparison of the results of biofeedback training with the results of training where the subjects fulfilled the same instructions as in the true biofeedback variant, but there was no feed back [10][11]. Many authors [7-9, 12] compare the results of feedback training with data on the control group where the subjects received neither biofeedback nor instructions on other self regulation techniques that were included in the biofeedback training ses sions. Therefore, evaluation of the results of biofeed back training require an adequate control group where the instructions, recommendations, methods of influ ence, and the duration of the contact between the sub jects and the trainer should be the same as in the experimental group, with the absence of biofeedback being the only difference. This "ideal control" is gen erally referred to as sham biofeedback [11,13]. Since this adequate method of identification of the biofeed back training effect has not been used thus far, the spe cific role of feedback in the training for increasing the α activity remains unknown; i.e., it is unclear where the increase in the α power and cognitive enhance Abstract-In order to estimate the effect of simultaneous α EEG stimulating and electromyogram (EMG) decreasing biofeedback training on the α activity and cognitive functions, fluency, accuracy, and flexibility during cognitive tasks, as well as α activity characteristics before, during, and after ten training sessions of voluntarily increasing α power in an individual upper α range with the eyes closed were studied in 27 healthy men aged 18-34 years. To isolate the biofeedback effect in training for the α power increase, data on two groups of subjects were compared: an experimental group (14 subjects) with true biofeedback and a control group (13 subjects) with sham biofeedback. Follow up t...

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“…Studies examining the effects of NF training on healthy volunteers have also reported that the percentage of individuals who are able to exert control over their EEG is approximately 50 % [75,76]. If only half of children trained with NF are responders, this may account for \the inconsistent results across studies, depending on the composition of the subject group.…”

Section: Responder Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Utility of EEG in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Research Update

2012

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Summary Psychiatric research applications of electroencephalography (EEG), the earliest approach to imaging human cortical brain activity, are attracting increasing scientific and clinical interest. For more than 40 years, EEG research has attempted to characterize and quantify the neurophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), most consistently associating it with increased frontocentral theta band activity and increased theta to beta (θ/β) power ratio during rest compared to non-ADHD controls. Recent reports suggest that while these EEG measures demonstrate strong discriminant validity for ADHD, significant EEG heterogeneity also exists across ADHD-diagnosed individuals. In particular, additional studies validating the use of the θ/β power ratio measure appear to be needed before it can be used for clinical diagnosis. In recent years, the number and the scientific quality of research reports on EEG-based neurofeedback (NF) for ADHD have grown considerably, although the studies reviewed here do not yet support NF training as a first-line, stand-alone treatment modality. In particular, more research is needed comparing NF to placebo control and other effective treatments for ADHD. Currently, after a long period of relative stasis, the neurophysiological specificity of measures used in EEG research is rapidly increasing. It is likely, therefore, that new EEG studies of ADHD using higher density recordings and new measures drawn from viewing EEG as a 3-dimensional functional imaging modality, as well as intensive re-analyses of existing EEG study data, can better characterize the neurophysiological differences between and within ADHD and non-ADHD subjects, and lead to more precise diagnostic measures and effective NF approaches.

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Predicting Successful Learning of SMR Neurofeedback in Healthy Participants: Methodological Considerations

Cited by 86 publications

References 24 publications

Sensorimotor Rhythm Neurofeedback Enhances Golf Putting Performance

Sensorimotor Rhythm Neurofeedback Enhances Golf Putting Performance

Training for voluntarily increasing individual upper α power as a method for cognitive enhancement

Clinical Utility of EEG in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Research Update

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