A Multivariate Randomized Controlled Experiment about the Effects of Mindfulness Priming on EEG Neurofeedback Self-Regulation Serious Games

Neurofeedback training (NFT) is a technique often proposed to train brain activity SR with promising results. However, some criticism has been raised due to the lack of evaluation, reliability, and validation of its learning effects. The current work evaluates the hypothesis that SR learning may be...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied sciences Vol. 11; no. 16; p. 7725
Main Authors da Costa, Nuno M. C., Bicho, Estela, Ferreira, Flora, Vilhena, Estela, Dias, Nuno S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 22.08.2021
Subjects
assisted Neurofeedback
Biofeedback
Brain research
Computer & video games
Educational software
EEG
Electroencephalography
Experiments
Feedback
Games
Intervention
Meditation
Mindfulness
neurostimulation
randomized
Reliability analysis
self-regulation
serious games BCI
Software
Success
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Neurofeedback training (NFT) is a technique often proposed to train brain activity SR with promising results. However, some criticism has been raised due to the lack of evaluation, reliability, and validation of its learning effects. The current work evaluates the hypothesis that SR learning may be improved by priming the subject before NFT with guided mindfulness meditation (MM). The proposed framework was tested in a two-way parallel-group randomized controlled intervention with a single session alpha NFT, in a simplistic serious game design. Sixty-two healthy naïve subjects, aged between 18 and 43 years, were divided into MM priming and no-priming groups. Although both the EG and CG successfully attained the up-regulation of alpha rhythms (F(1,59) = 20.67, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.26), the EG showed a significantly enhanced ability (t(29) = 4.38, p < 0.001) to control brain activity, compared to the CG (t(29) = 1.18, p > 0.1). Furthermore, EG superior performance on NFT seems to be explained by the subject’s lack of awareness at pre-intervention, less vigour at post-intervention, increased task engagement, and a relaxed non-judgemental attitude towards the NFT tasks. This study is a preliminary validation of the proposed assisted priming framework, advancing some implicit and explicit metrics about its efficacy on NFT performance, and a promising tool for improving naïve “users” self-regulation ability.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app11167725