Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2021 Sep 16;11(1):18489.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-96893-5.

Alpha activity neuromodulation induced by individual alpha-based neurofeedback learning in ecological context: a double-blind randomized study

Fanny Grosselin  1   2   3 , Audrey Breton  4 , Lydia Yahia-Cherif  5   6   7   8 , Xi Wang  4 , Giuseppe Spinelli  4 , Laurent Hugueville  5   6   7   8 , Philippe Fossati  6   7   8   9   10 , Yohan Attal  4 , Xavier Navarro-Sune  4 , Mario Chavez  6 , Nathalie George  5   6   7   8   11
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Alpha activity neuromodulation induced by individual alpha-based neurofeedback learning in ecological context: a double-blind randomized study

Fanny Grosselin et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The neuromodulation induced by neurofeedback training (NFT) remains a matter of debate. Investigating the modulation of brain activity specifically associated with NF requires controlling for multiple factors, such as reward, performance, congruency between task and targeted brain activity. This can be achieved using sham feedback (FB) control condition, equating all aspects of the experiment but the link between brain activity and FB. We aimed at investigating the modulation of individual alpha EEG activity induced by NFT in a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled study. Forty-eight healthy participants were assigned to either NF (n = 25) or control (n = 23) group and performed alpha upregulation training (over 12 weeks) with a wearable EEG device. Participants of the NF group received FB based on their individual alpha activity. The control group received the auditory FB of participants of the NF group. An increase of alpha activity across training sessions was observed in the NF group only (p < 0.001). This neuromodulation was selective in that there was no evidence for similar effects in the theta (4-8 Hz) and low beta (13-18 Hz) bands. While alpha upregulation was found in the NF group only, psychological outcome variables showed overall increased feeling of control, decreased anxiety level and increased relaxation feeling, without any significant difference between the NF and the control groups. This is interpreted in terms of learning context and placebo effects. Our results pave the way to self-learnt, NF-based neuromodulation with light-weighted, wearable EEG systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

MyBrain Technologies provided the mobile EEG device used in the present study. F.G, A.B., X.W., G.S., Y.A., X.N.-S. are or were full-time employees of myBrain Technologies and had a role in the study conceptualization, methodology, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, supervision, visualization, project administration and/or writing the manuscript. More precisely, F.G. was financially supported by myBrain Technologies during her PhD studies. Y.A. is the Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder of myBrain Technologies, and had a role in the study conceptualization, methodology and supervision and in writing the manuscript. N.G. and L.H. have a collaboration agreement with myBrain Technologies for the development of the experimental protocol and the dry wearable mobile EEG system used in the study and the ICM has granted a license to myBrain Technologies for the development of this EEG device. The authors L.Y.-C., P.F., and M.C. declare having no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Melomind device. Left: The device comprises an audio headset and two posterior branches at the end of which two gold-coated dry electrodes are inserted. Right: These electrodes are positioned at P3 and P4 locations (indicated in black) according to the extended 10–20 International System.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Timeline of the experimental protocol. Before and after the NFT program, the participants completed three psychometric trait questionnaires, to assess psychological stress (Perceived Stress Scale—PSS), trait anxiety (STAI-Y-B), and affectivity (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule—PANAS). NFT was performed over 12 weeks (W1, W2, … W12), with one training session per week (Session 1,… , Session 12). See main text for detailed description of the sessions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Neuromodulation induced by NFT. (a) Evolution of the NF index across sessions, for the NF (in red) and the control (in blue) groups. (b) Evolution of the NF learning score across sessions. In both subplots, dotted lines and points represent the values of the NF index along the 12 sessions, averaged across participants for each group; the shaded areas represent the standard errors of the means. The solid lines represent the session effect estimated for each group from the LMM. Graphs were obtained with R software (v.4.0.2; R Core Team, 2020).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Within-sessions modulation of NF index for the NF (in red) and the control (in blue) groups. The dotted lines and points represent the values of the NF index along the training exercises, averaged across sessions and participants for each group. Training exercises are expressed in minutes (each exercise lasted 3 min, with 7 exercises—21 min training—in each session). Shaded areas represent the standard errors of the means. The solid lines represent the exercise effect estimated for each group from the LMM. Graph was obtained with R software (v.4.0.2; R Core Team, 2020).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of NFT on anxiety level. (a) Pre-post (phase) mean effects. Evolution of the STAI-Y-A scores from pre- to post-NF training sessions, averaged across participants and sessions, for the NF (in red) and control (in blue) groups. Shaded areas represent standard errors of the means. (b) Between-session effect on STAI-Y-A scores in each group. For each session, the pre- and post-session anxiety levels were averaged. Same legend as in Fig. 3a. Graphs were obtained with R software (v.4.0.2; R Core Team, 2020).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effects of NFT on relax-VAS scores. (a) Pre-post (phase) mean effects. (b) Between-session effect on relax-VAS scores in each group. Same legend as in Fig. 5. Graphs were obtained with R software (v.4.0.2; R Core Team, 2020).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Evolution of the between-session effect of feeling of control with NF learning. See Fig. 3 for legend. Graph was obtained with R software (v.4.0.2; R Core Team, 2020).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Singer K. The effect of neurofeedback on performance anxiety in dancers. J. Dance Med. Sci. 2004;8:78–81.
    1. Dupee M, Werthner P. Managing the stress response: The use of biofeedback and neurofeedback with olympic athletes. Biofeedback. 2011;39:92–94. doi: 10.5298/1081-5937-39.3.02. - DOI
    1. Nan W, Yang L, Wan F, Zhu F, Hu Y. Alpha down-regulation neurofeedback training effects on implicit motor learning and consolidation. J. Neural Eng. 2020;17:026014. doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab7c1b. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sterman MB, Friar L. Suppression of seizures in an epileptic following sensorimotor EEG feedback training. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1972;33:89–95. doi: 10.1016/0013-4694(72)90028-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lubar JF, Shouse MN. EEG and behavioral changes in a hyperkinetic child concurrent with training of the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR): A preliminary report. Biofeedback Self-Regul. 1976;1:293–306. doi: 10.1007/BF01001170. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types