Self-regulation of the brain’s right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain-computer interface

Abstract

Neural oscillations, or brain rhythms, fluctuate in a manner reflecting ongoing behavior. Whether these fluctuations are instrumental or epiphenomenal to the behavior remains elusive. Attempts to experimentally manipulate neural oscillations exogenously using non-invasive brain stimulation have shown some promise, but difficulty with tailoring stimulation parameters to individuals has hindered progress in this field. We demonstrate here using electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback in a brain-computer interface that human participants (n=44) learned over multiple sessions across a 6-day period to self-regulate their Beta rhythm (13-20 Hz) over the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC). This Beta modulation had observable consequences on cognitive behavior: changes in an individual's inhibitory control performance before and after training were predicted by the magnitude of their training-related change in Beta over rIFC. This was not the case for a control group (n=38) who underwent training of their Alpha rhythm (8-12 Hz). The present data support the view that the right frontal Beta rhythm is a key component of the brain's inhibitory control system. Most importantly, we introduce causality to this relationship for the first time, as experimental modulation of rIFC Beta activity had a measurable impact upon behavior.

Exploring stop signal reaction time over two sessions of the anticipatory response inhibition task

“…Conversely, another study using the SST for non-selective RI did find an improvement in SSRT throughout 10 sessions, where SSRT decreased with each session (Berkman et al 2014). SSRT for selective stopping on the SST has shown a similar pattern of decreasing across sessions (Enz et al 2022;Xu et al 2014). To our knowledge, no study has specifically tested SSRT across multiple sessions of the ARIT.…”