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

Learning to control one's own brain activity through neurofeedback may depend on the kind of subjective experience trainees have during training. In a short session where participants enhanced mid-frontal alpha power, those who learned reported sensing their inner and outer environment, while non-learners engaged in effortful trying, such as willing a bar to move. A classification system for verbal reports was developed to analyze these differences. The findings suggest that a sensing-oriented mindset, rather than active striving, is associated with successful neurofeedback learning.

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.