Neurofeedback: principles, appraisal and outstanding issues

TL;DR

This paper critically reviews neurofeedback, discussing its principles, mechanisms, and challenges, emphasizing the need for better understanding of brain dynamics and precise definitions to enhance its efficacy and application.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive critique of neurofeedback's conceptual and methodological foundations, highlighting key issues and proposing directions for future research.

Findings

Neurofeedback's efficacy depends on understanding brain dynamics.

Current definitions of neural targets are often vague.

Improving neurofeedback requires precise brain-behavior relationship models.

Abstract

Neurofeedback is a form of brain training in which subjects are fed back information about some measure of their brain activity which they are instructed to modify in a way thought to be functionally advantageous. Over the last twenty years, NF has been used to treat various neurological and psychiatric conditions, and to improve cognitive function in various contexts. However, despite its growing popularity, each of the main steps in NF comes with its own set of often covert assumptions. Here we critically examine some conceptual and methodological issues associated with the way general objectives and neural targets of NF are defined, and review the neural mechanisms through which NF may act, and the way its efficacy is gauged. The NF process is characterised in terms of functional dynamics, and possible ways in which it may be controlled are discussed. Finally, it is proposed that improving NF will require better understanding of various fundamental aspects of brain dynamics and a more precise definition of functional brain activity and brain-behaviour relationships.