Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padua, Italy.
Exp Brain Res. 2012 Aug;221(1):69-74. doi: 10.1007/s00221-012-3148-y. Epub 2012 Jun 23.
Scientific evidence supporting the reliability of neurofeedback (NF) in modifying the electroencephalographic (EEG) pattern is still limited. Several studies in NF research and clinical setting have been focused to increase sensory-motor rhythm (SMR) and simultaneously decrease theta activity with the aim of increasing attention performance and reducing hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. The goal of the present study was to assess the efficacy of NF training to enhance the SMR/theta ratio across sixteen sessions of training in eight healthy volunteers. Results suggested an increase of SMR/theta across weeks of training. Theta activity was strongly and steadily inhibited since the first session of training with slight decreases in the following weeks; instead, SMR was strongly inhibited at the beginning and progressively increased across sessions. These results suggest that individuals are able to inhibit theta activity easily while they fail to increase SMR in the first sessions. On the other hand, a separate analysis performed on the baseline preceding NF revealed a decreasing trend of SMR/theta ratio across the 8 weeks of training. Results point to the importance of providing EEG data in addition to behavioral modification, during NF training, to avoid possible misinterpretation of results.
支持神经反馈 (NF) 改变脑电图 (EEG) 模式可靠性的科学证据仍然有限。在 NF 研究和临床环境中，已经有几项研究侧重于增加感觉运动节律 (SMR)，同时减少θ活动，目的是提高注意力表现和减少多动和冲动行为。本研究的目的是评估 NF 训练在 16 次训练中提高 SMR/θ 比值的效果，共 8 名健康志愿者。结果表明，随着训练周数的增加，SMR/θ 比值增加。θ活动自训练的第一节课就受到强烈而稳定的抑制，随后几周略有下降；相反，SMR 在开始时受到强烈抑制，并在整个训练过程中逐渐增加。这些结果表明，个体能够很容易地抑制θ活动，而在最初的几节课中，他们无法增加 SMR。另一方面，在 NF 之前的基线进行的单独分析显示，SMR/θ 比值在 8 周的训练中呈下降趋势。结果表明，在 NF 训练期间，除了行为改变之外，提供脑电图数据非常重要，以避免对结果的可能误解。
