Closed-Loop Systems and Real-Time Neurofeedback in Mindfulness Meditation Research.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging April 1, 2025 Joseph C C Chen, David A Ziegler 6 citations
Mindfulness meditation can improve well-being, but people often struggle with adherence, session quality, or dosage. Closed-loop systems and real-time neurofeedback—using signals from fMRI or EEG—may help support mindfulness performance and engagement. This review describes how neurofeedback signals such as fMRI activity in the posterior cingulate cortex, default mode network, central executive network, and salience network, as well as EEG alpha, theta, and gamma bands, have been used to provide subjective correlates of mindfulness states. Past work has focused on aligning interventions with the subjective meditation experience. Future research should use control conditions like mindfulness only or sham neurofeedback to quantify the effects of closed-loop and neurofeedback-guided meditation on cognition and well-being.