Operant (biofeedback) control of left-right frontal alpha power differences: Potential neurotherapy for affective disorders

Joel P Rosenfeld*, Grace Cha, Tad Blair, Ian H. Gotlib

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two experiments were done with subjects from a paid pool of undergraduates. In each study, there were five 1-hour sessions on each of 5 days: (1) Baseline: Rewards given for randomly selected 20% of the 700-ms sequential epochs; mean and SD of baseline power differences determined. 2) Exploration: Subjects were rewarded when right minus left alpha differences in an epoch were greater than the baseline mean plus about .85 SD (p = .20); subjects told to discover how to generate rewards. (3)-(5). Training: Subjects were paid (over and above the $8/h flat rate) in proportion to their hit rates. In the first study (in which active filters passed 8-12 Hz activity, and the rectified, integrated amplitude was utilized), 6 of 8 subjects met learning criteria (a significant difference between baseline and training scores). In the second study (in which on-line FFTs were used to extract alpha power), 3 of 5 subjects met learning criteria.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)241-258
Number of pages18
JournalBiofeedback and Self-Regulation
Volume20
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 1995

Keywords

  • EEG biofeedback
  • Neurofeedback
  • affective disorders
  • alpha asymmetry
  • cerebral asymmetry
  • depression
  • neurotherapy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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