prefrontal activation
Research Papers
Higher prefrontal activity based on short-term neurofeedback training can prevent working memory decline in acute stroke
This study aimed to clarify whether short-term neurofeedback training during the acute stroke phase led to prefrontal activity self-regulation, providing positive efficacy to working memory. A total of 30 patients with acute stroke performed functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based neurofeedback training for a day to increase their prefrontal activity. A randomized, Sham-controlled, double-blind study protocol was used comparing working memory ability before and after neurofeedback training. Working memory was evaluated using a target-searching task requiring spatial information retention. A decline in spatial working memory performance post-intervention was prevented in patients who displayed a higher task-related right prefrontal activity during neurofeedback training compared with the baseline. Neurofeedback training efficacy was not associated with the patient’s clinical background such as Fugl–Meyer Assessment score and time since stroke. These findings demonstrated that even short-term neurofeedback training can strengthen prefrontal activity and help maintain cognitive ability in acute stroke patients, at least immediately after training. However, further studies investigating the influence of individual patient clinical background, especially cognitive impairment, on neurofeedback training is needed. Current findings provide an encouraging option for clinicians to design neurorehabilitation programs, including neurofeedback protocols, for acute stroke patients.
View Full Paper →Short and long-term effects of sham-controlled prefrontal EEG-neurofeedback training in healthy subjects
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 min. Resting-state EEG was recorded prior to E-NFT training (t1) and in a 3-year follow-up (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
View Full Paper →Evaluating Prefrontal Activation and Its Relationship with Cognitive and Emotional Processes by Means of Hemoencephalography (HEG)
The main aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of the method of diagnosis known as hemoencephalography (HEG), which measures hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal cortex by determining differences in oxygen flow to show patterns of neuronal activity. Of the 5 tests designed for this purpose, 2 are strictly cognitive, while the other 3 have primarily emotional or sensitive content. The tests were applied to a sample of 70 university students. The Wilcoxon nonparametric signed rank test was applied to test the paired differences between the HEG baseline result and the HEG result of the task. Results show, first, that the HEG method successfully determines oxygen flow to the prefrontal cortex and clearly differentiates the subject's baseline from HEG activation during the task (Wilcoxon, p < .05); second, that HEG results vary depending on the type of activity, whether cognitive (low emotional load) or emotional (high emotional load) in such a way that cognitive areas, those located higher in the cortex (dorsolateral prefrontal), show less activity during emotional tests and more activity during cognitive tests, thus associating higher areas (dorsolateral prefrontal) with cognition and deeper areas (medial temporal, medial prefrontal, and cingulate) with emotion. The HEG procedure is effective in detecting states or situations of ailment or suffering not always accompanied by evident external manifestations. Furthermore, the procedure can differentiate between cognitive and emotional processing. The HEG method can help diagnosis in clinical settings due to its ability to detect painful-feeling processing independently of both body and verbal language.
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