Alpha Neurofeedback Has a Positive Effect for Participants Who Are Unable to Sustain Their Alpha Activity
Open accessAbstract
Alpha rhythm (8–13 Hz) is linked to relaxed mental state in humans. Earlier reports have shown that individuals can increase their alpha power if provided with a valid feedback, compared to controls who are provided invalid feedback. However, these results remain controversial, partly because controls may be in a different behavioral state, making it difficult to directly compare their alpha power with the valid group. We here address this issue by using an experimental paradigm in which an invalid feedback is given on a fraction of trials, such that both valid and invalid conditions can be obtained from the same participant. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we recorded alpha power from the occipital area from 24 humans (nine females) and played a feedback tone which could be valid (tone frequency proportional to alpha power), invalid (tone sequence from a previous valid trial; participants were unaware of this condition), or neutral (constant tone frequency). We found that during eyes closed-state, neurofeedback did not enhance alpha activity beyond pre-trained state within the experimental duration, probably because of saturation of alpha rhythmicity. However, for participants whose alpha power decreased over time within a trial, valid feedback helped them to sustain alpha more than invalid feedback. Further, alpha increase showed a weak negative correlation with their self-reported attentional load but was uncorrelated with relaxation levels. Our results reconcile many conflicting reports in the neurofeedback literature, and show that even under most stringent control, valid neurofeedback can help participants who are otherwise unable to sustain their alpha activity.
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An increase in alpha band frequency was associated with an increased ability to relax.
“In addition, an increase in alpha band frequency was associated with an increased ability to relax.14”
From Evaluation of a manualised neurofeedback training in psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic outpatient treatment (Neuro-pp-out): study protocol for a clinical mixed-methods pilot study (2024) · cites this paper as [14]
The Results report no association between the change in alpha power and participants’ self-reported relaxation (p = 0.510). The Discussion reiterates that alpha-power change was uncorrelated with relaxation scores. The paper measured changes in alpha power, not an increase in the alpha band’s frequency. (LLM, conf=0.92)
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- Authors
- Biswas, A., & Ray, S.
- Affiliations
- Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Ray, Supratim
- Venue
- eneuro
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2019-07
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- ENEURO.0498-18.2019
- ISSN
- 2373-2822 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6709230
- OpenAlex
- W2966615745
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- eNeuro (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NOT FOUND REPOSITORY (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Tata Trusts
- DBT-IISc Partnership Programme
- Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance (500145/Z/09/Z)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Keywords
- alpha rhythm, alpha power, attentional load, relaxation, eyes-closed state, occipital EEG
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Alpha Rhythm, Attention, Electroencephalography, Female, Humans, Male, Occipital Lobe, Young Adult, Neurofeedback
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