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Peripheral Visual Performance Enhancement by Neurofeedback Training

Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback volume 38, pages 285–291 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Peripheral visual performance is an important ability for everyone, and a positive inter-individual correlation is found between the peripheral visual performance and the alpha amplitude during the performance test. This study investigated the effect of alpha neurofeedback training on the peripheral visual performance. A neurofeedback group of 13 subjects finished 20 sessions of alpha enhancement feedback within 20 days. The peripheral visual performance was assessed by a new dynamic peripheral visual test on the first and last training day. The results revealed that the neurofeedback group showed significant enhancement of the peripheral visual performance as well as the relative alpha amplitude during the peripheral visual test. It was not the case in the non-neurofeedback control group, which performed the tests within the same time frame as the neurofeedback group but without any training sessions. These findings suggest that alpha neurofeedback training was effective in improving peripheral visual performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show evidence for performance improvement in peripheral vision via alpha neurofeedback training.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the subjects for their participation and Xiaoting Qu for experiment arrangement, the Editor-in-Chief and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive and detailed comments that helped improve very much the quality of this paper. This work is supported in part by FCT SFRH/BSAB/1101/2010 and PEst-OE/EEI/LA0009/2013 Grants and the Macau Science and Technology Development Fund under Grant FDCT 036/2009/A and the University of Macau Research Committee under Grants MYRG139(Y1-L2)-FST11-WF, MYRG079(Y1-L2)-FST12-VMI and MYRG069(Y1-L2)-FST13-WF.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Wenya Nan, Feng Wan, Chin Ian Lou & Mang I Vai

  2. Department of Bio Engineering, Systems and Robotics Institute, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Agostinho Rosa

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  1. Wenya Nan
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  2. Feng Wan
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  3. Chin Ian Lou
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  4. Mang I Vai
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  5. Agostinho Rosa
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Correspondence to Feng Wan.

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Nan, W., Wan, F., Lou, C.I. et al. Peripheral Visual Performance Enhancement by Neurofeedback Training. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 38, 285–291 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-013-9233-6

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Keywords

  • Alpha
  • EEG
  • Peripheral vision
  • Neurofeedback training
  • Performance enhancement