Comparative study of training intensity in neurofeedback

TL;DR

This study compares intensive versus sparse neurofeedback training schedules for enhancing upper alpha activity and their effects on working memory in healthy subjects, finding intensive training more effective within sessions.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the differential effects of training intensity and session structure in neurofeedback, highlighting the potential benefits of longer, more frequent sessions.

Findings

Intensive training increased alpha activity more within sessions.

No significant cognitive improvements across sessions for either modality.

Learners in the intensive group showed stronger within-session effects.

Abstract

Neurofeedback has proved to be useful in many instances. This technique is often used to address both medical issues and performance improvement. Despite the wide range of applications, no consensus has been reached about the optimal training schedule. In this work, a practical experiment was conducted aiming to compare the effects of intensive and sparse training modalities of enhancement of the individual upper alpha band at Fz, for working memory improvement, in 19 healthy subjects. The INTENSIVE group was submitted to 4 sessions of 37.5 minutes each, during consecutive days, while the SPARSE group performed 15 sessions of 25 minutes along approximately 2 months. The intensive modality proved to be significantly more effective in increasing the target frequency at Fz within session. However, no significant differences were found across sessions neither regarding cognitive improvements. The distinction between learners and non-learners led to significant results for the two groups across sessions, but only the learners of the INTENSIVE group show significant changes within session. Besides, for this subsample the effects in the INTENSIVE group are significantly stronger both within and across sessions. The results suggest that longer sessions with shorter trials and more breaks could be advantageous when training healthy subjects. Although further investigation is needed to establish if one modality outperforms the other, better outcomes might be obtained if each session consists in many short trials (in this case 30 seconds) and is performed on consecutive days.