Differential Subjective Experiences in Learners and Non-learners in Frontal Alpha Neurofeedback: Piloting a Mixed-Method Approach.

Summary

Learning to control brain activity through neurofeedback is associated with distinct subjective experiences. In a short training session where participants enhanced mid-frontal alpha power, those who successfully learned reported more sensing of inner and outer environments, while non-learners engaged in effortful trying. A classification system for verbal reports was developed to analyze these differences, providing a framework for future studies on the link between subjective experience and neurofeedback protocols.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In a neurofeedback paradigm, trainees learn to willfully control their brain dynamics. How this is realized remains an open question. We evaluate the hypothesis that learning success is associated with a specific phenomenology. To address this proposal, we combined quantitative and qualitative analyses of a short neurofeedback training (NFT) session during which participants enhanced mid-frontal alpha power and were then subsequently interviewed about their experiences. We analyzed the electrophysiological data to determine learning success and classify trainees as learners and non-learners. The subjective experiences differed between the two groups and are best described along a trying-sensing continuum, with non-learners engaging effortfully with the task (e.g., "I will it [the bar] to move") whereas learners reported more sensing of their inner (e.g., "Something inside my stomach") and outer environment (e.g., "I was aware of the sound of the beeps"). In the process of piloting this mixed-method approach, we developed a classification system for the verbal reports. This system provides an explicit analytic framework which might guide future studies that aim to investigate the association between subjective experiences and NFT protocols.

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