Zhou Wenbin, Nan Wenya, Xiong Kaiwen, Ku Yixuan
School of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Zhengzhou Shuqing Medical College, Zhengzhou, China.
NPJ Sci Learn. 2024 Apr 18;9(1):32. doi: 10.1038/s41539-024-00242-w.
Neurofeedback (NF) training is a closed-loop brain training in which participants learn to regulate their neural activation. NF training of alpha (8-12 Hz) activity has been reported to enhance working memory capacity, but whether it affects the precision in working memory has not yet been explored. Moreover, whether NF training distinctively influences performance in different types of working memory tasks remains unclear. Therefore, the present study conducted a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled experiment to investigate how alpha NF training affected the capacity and precision of working memory, as well as the related neural change. Forty participants were randomly and equally assigned to the NF group and the sham control group. Both groups received NF training (about 30 min daily) for five consecutive days. The NF group received alpha (8-12 Hz) training, while the sham control group received sham NF training. We found a significant alpha increase within sessions but no significant difference across sessions. However, the behavioral performance and neural activity in the modified Sternberg task did not show significant change after alpha NF training. On the contrary, the alpha NF training group significantly increased visual working memory capacity measured by the Corsi-block tapping task and improved visual working memory precision in the interference condition in a color-recall task. These results suggest that alpha NF training influences performance in working memory tasks involved in the visuospatial sketchpad. Notably, we demonstrated that alpha NF training improves the quantity and quality of visual working memory.
神经反馈（NF）训练是一种闭环脑训练，参与者在其中学习调节自身的神经激活。据报道，α波（8 - 12赫兹）活动的NF训练可增强工作记忆容量，但它是否会影响工作记忆的精确性尚未得到探究。此外，NF训练是否对不同类型工作记忆任务的表现有独特影响仍不明确。因此，本研究进行了一项随机、单盲、假对照实验，以探究α波NF训练如何影响工作记忆的容量和精确性以及相关的神经变化。40名参与者被随机且平均地分配到NF组和假对照组。两组均连续五天接受NF训练（每天约30分钟）。NF组接受α波（8 - 12赫兹）训练，而假对照组接受假NF训练。我们发现训练过程中α波有显著增加，但不同训练阶段之间没有显著差异。然而，在改良的斯特恩伯格任务中，行为表现和神经活动在α波NF训练后并未显示出显著变化。相反，α波NF训练组通过Corsi方块敲击任务测量的视觉工作记忆容量显著增加，并且在颜色回忆任务的干扰条件下提高了视觉工作记忆的精确性。这些结果表明，α波NF训练会影响涉及视觉空间画板的工作记忆任务的表现。值得注意的是，我们证明了α波NF训练提高了视觉工作记忆的数量和质量。
