Nawaz Rab, Wood Guilherme, Nisar Humaira, Yap Vooi Voon
Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar 31900, Malaysia.
Biomedical Engineering Research Division, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2023 Feb 3;10(2):200. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10020200.
Neurofeedback, an operant conditioning neuromodulation technique, uses information from brain activities in real-time via brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. This technique has been utilized to enhance the cognitive abilities, including working memory performance, of human beings. The aims of this study are to investigate how alpha neurofeedback can improve working memory performance in healthy participants and to explore the underlying neural mechanisms in a working memory task before and after neurofeedback. Thirty-six participants divided into the NFT group and the control group participated in this study. This study was not blinded, and both the participants and the researcher were aware of their group assignments. Increasing power in the alpha EEG band was used as a neurofeedback in the eyes-open condition only in the NFT group. The data were collected before and after neurofeedback while they were performing the N-back memory task (N = 1 and N = 2). Both groups showed improvement in their working memory performance. There was an enhancement in the power of their frontal alpha and beta activities with increased working memory load (i.e., 2-back). The experimental group showed improvements in their functional connections between different brain regions at the theta level. This effect was absent in the control group. Furthermore, brain hemispheric lateralization was found during the N-back task, and there were more intra-hemisphere connections than inter-hemisphere connections of the brain. These results suggest that healthy participants can benefit from neurofeedback and from having their brain networks changed after the training.
神经反馈是一种操作性条件反射神经调节技术，它通过脑机接口（BCI）技术实时利用大脑活动信息。该技术已被用于提高人类的认知能力，包括工作记忆表现。本研究的目的是调查阿尔法神经反馈如何改善健康参与者的工作记忆表现，并探索在神经反馈前后的工作记忆任务中潜在的神经机制。三十六名参与者被分为神经反馈训练（NFT）组和对照组参与了本研究。本研究并非双盲研究，参与者和研究人员都知道他们的分组情况。仅在NFT组中，在睁眼条件下将阿尔法脑电频段功率增加用作神经反馈。在他们执行N-回溯记忆任务（N = 1和N = 2）时，在神经反馈前后收集数据。两组的工作记忆表现均有改善。随着工作记忆负荷增加（即2-回溯），其额叶阿尔法和贝塔活动的功率增强。实验组在θ水平上不同脑区之间的功能连接有改善。对照组则没有这种效果。此外，在N-回溯任务期间发现了大脑半球的偏侧化，并且大脑半球内连接比半球间连接更多。这些结果表明，健康参与者可以从神经反馈以及训练后大脑网络的改变中受益。
