Theta Neurofeedback Training Supports Motor Performance and Flow Experience

Abstract

Flow is defined as a cognitive state that is associated with a feeling of automatic and effortless control, enabling peak performance in highly challenging situations. In sports, flow can be enhanced by mindfulness training, which has been associated with frontal theta activity (4-8 Hz). Moreover, frontal-midline theta oscillations were shown to subserve control processes in a large variety of cognitive tasks. Based on previous theta neurofeedback training studies, which revealed that one training session is sufficient to enhance motor performance, the present study investigated whether one 30-minute session of frontal-midline theta neurofeedback training (1) enhances flow experience additionally to motor performance in a finger tapping task, and (2) transfers to cognitive control processes in an n-back task. Participants, who were able to successfully upregulate their theta activity during neurofeedback training (responders), showed better motor performance and flow experience after training than participants, who did not enhance their theta activity (non-responders). Across all participants, increase of theta activity during training was associated with motor performance enhancement from pretest to posttest irrespective of pre-training performance. Interestingly, theta training gains were also linked to the increase of flow experience, even when corresponding increases in motor performance were controlled for. Results for the n-back task were not significant. Even though these findings are mainly correlational in nature and additional flow-promoting influences need to be investigated, the present findings suggest that frontal-midline theta neurofeedback training is a promising tool to support flow experience with additional relevance for performance enhancement.

Forgetting ourselves in flow: an active inference account of flow states and how we experience ourselves within them

“…Computationally, this amounts to a high precision weighting on the likelihood mapping between sensory evidence and inferred perceptual states, encoded within the A tensor in POMDP schema. The experience is therefore dominated by presently incoming, action-relevant sensory data, which inhibits all forms of mental time-travel, including planning and retrospection ( Klasen et al, 2012 ; Yoshida et al, 2014 ; Katahira et al, 2018 ; Eschmann et al, 2022 ).…”

The more, the better? Learning rate and self-pacing in neurofeedback enhance cognitive performance in healthy adults

“…Notably, the efficacy of neurofeedback varies across participants with some of them not increasing the targeted brain activity at all ( Alkoby et al, 2018 ). While some researchers separate their analyses for participants who were successful in regulating their brain activity, hereafter referred to as “responders,” and for those who were not, hereafter referred to as “non-responders” ( Hsueh et al, 2016 ; Autenrieth et al, 2020 ; Eschmann et al, 2022 ), other researchers have investigated the association between learning rate and outcome measures in a continuous manner ( Nan et al, 2012 ; Navarro Gil et al, 2018 ; Naas et al, 2019 ). To explain these variations between participants, previous studies have assessed psychological ( Thibault et al, 2016 ) and neurophysiological factors ( Scheinost et al, 2014 ; Zhao et al, 2021 ) as predictors of improvements in behavioral and neurophysiological outcomes.…”