lange termijn effecten van neurofeedback

Een onderzoeksgroep van Hersencentrum, de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam en de Ludwich Maximillian Universiteit München heeft studie gedaan naar de lange termijn effecten van neurofeedback op hersenactiviteit en cognitieve functies. Het blijkt dat er 3 jaar na een neurofeedbacktraject nog effecten meetbaar zijn met behulp van EEG onderzoek. Er wordt echter geen verschil gevonden in de prestaties op cognitieve taken.

Accepted Manuscript
Short and long-term effects of sham-controlled prefrontal EEG-neurofeedback training in healthy subjects
H.J. Engelbregt, D. Keeser, L. van Eijk, E.M. Suiker, D. Eichhorn, S. Karch, J.B. Deijen, O. Pogarell
PII: S1388-2457(16)00011-0
DOI: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1388245716000110
Reference: CLINPH 2007721
To appear in: Clinical Neurophysiology
Accepted Date: 8 January 2016

Abstract
Objective: In this study we evaluated long-term effects of frontal beta EEG-neurofeedback
training (E-NFT) on healthy subjects. We hypothesized that E-NFT can change frontal beta
activity in the long-term and that changes in frontal beta EEG activity are accompanied by
altered cognitive performance.

Methods: 25 healthy subjects were included and randomly assigned to active or sham E-NFT.
On average the subjects underwent 15 E-NFT training sessions with a training duration of 45
minutes. Resting-state EEG was recorded prior to E-NFT training (t1) and in a 3-year followup
(t3).

Results:
Compared to sham E-NFT, which was used for the control group, real E-NFT
increased beta activity in a predictable way. This increase was maintained over a period of
three years post training. However, E-NFT did not result in significantly improved cognitive
performance.

Conclusion:
Based on our results, we conclude that EEG-NFT can selectively modify EEG
beta activity both in short and long-term.
Significance: This is a sham controlled EEG neurofeedback study demonstrating long-term
effects in resting state EEG.