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Learning to modulate one’s own brain activity: The effect of spontaneous mental strategies
Open accessAbstract
Using neurofeedback (NF), individuals can learn to modulate their own brain activity, in most cases electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms. Although a large body of literature reports positive effects of NF training on behavior and cognitive functions, there are hardly any reports on how participants can successfully learn to gain control over their own brain activity. About one third of people fail to gain significant control over their brain signals even after repeated training sessions. The reasons for this failure are still largely unknown. In this context, we investigated the effects of spontaneous mental strategies on NF performance. Twenty healthy participants performed either a SMR (sensorimotor rhythm, 12-15 Hz) based or a Gamma (40-43 Hz) based NF training over ten sessions. After the first and the last training session, they were asked to write down which mental strategy they have used for self-regulating their EEG. After the first session, all participants reported the use of various types of mental strategies such as visual strategies, concentration, or relaxation. After the last NF training session, four participants of the SMR group reported to employ no specific strategy. These four participants showed linear improvements in NF performance over the ten training sessions. In contrast, participants still reporting the use of specific mental strategies in the last NF session showed no changes in SMR based NF performance over the ten sessions. This effect could not be observed in the Gamma group. The Gamma group showed no prominent changes in Gamma power over the NF training sessions, regardless of the mental strategies used. These results indicate that successful SMR based NF performance is associated with implicit learning mechanisms. Participants stating vivid reports on strategies to control their SMR probably overload cognitive resources, which might be counterproductive in terms of increasing SMR power.
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“Notably, no explicit strategies or instructions were given as, with few exceptions [204], implicit strategies have been shown to produce better outcomes [205–210].”
From Infraslow closed-loop brain training for anxiety and depression (ISAD): a protocol for a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled pilot trial in adult females with internalizing disorders (2022) · cites this paper as [207]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“Better performance could be due to decoder recalibration [29], re-parameterizations of the BCI, and the application and adoption of better mental strategies [9,64,65], among other factors.”
From The Cybathlon BCI race: Successful longitudinal mutual learning with two tetraplegic users (2018) · cites this paper as [64]
In the citing paper
“No apparent “breakthroughs” are evident, which could support the only likely alternative hypothesis, that of the employment of better mental strategies sparking immediate, rather than gradual, improvements [9,64].”
From The Cybathlon BCI race: Successful longitudinal mutual learning with two tetraplegic users (2018) · cites this paper as [64]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kober, S. E., Witte, M., Ninaus, M., Neuper, C., & Wood, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Graz (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Wood, Guilherme
- Venue
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 695-695
- ISSN
- 1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3798979
- OpenAlex
- W2041078369
- Cited by
- 225
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 7.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Unipub UB Graz (Universität Graz) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- European Commission (287320)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Free Will and Agency
- Keywords
- neurofeedback, self-regulation of brain activity, sensorimotor rhythm, gamma band, implicit learning, cognitive resource allocation
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