Improving Selective Attention in Healthy Adults Through SMR Neurofeedback: Electrophysiological and Behavioral Evidence

/Objectives: Neurofeedback (NFB) modulates electroencephalographic activity and has been proposed to enhance cognitive performance. This study investigated the effects of repeated sensorimotor rhythm (SMR; 12-15 Hz) neurofeedback training on selective auditory attention in healthy adults aged 25-40 years, utilizing both electrophysiological and behavioral assessments.

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✦ The floor

Discussion

Signed responses from readers of the wire.

✦ Clinical Takeaway ✦

No actionable change for audiology clinical practice; this study is in healthy adults using a brain-training approach not yet validated for hearing or auditory attention rehabilitation in clinical settings.

✦ Why It Matters ✦

If SMR neurofeedback reliably improves selective attention, it could hold future interest for auditory rehabilitation contexts where attention plays a key role, such as hearing in noise; however, clinical translation remains distant.

✦ Key Points ✦

01SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) neurofeedback training improved selective attention in healthy adults.
02Both EEG (brain-wave) and behavioral performance measures showed improvement after training.
03All participants were healthy adults — findings cannot yet be extrapolated to hearing-impaired populations.
04Attention is a key factor in speech understanding in noise, making this tangentially relevant to audiology.
05Multiple training sessions were used, suggesting a dose-dependent effect worth further investigation.

✦ Claims & Evidence ✦

ClaimEvidenceSupport

Repeated SMR neurofeedback training improves selective attention in healthy adults.

studypartially supported

SMR neurofeedback produces measurable electrophysiological changes alongside behavioral improvements in attention.

studypartially supported

✦ Research metadata ✦

PMID: 42651153
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci16080843.
Journal: Brain Sciences
Publication type: research_article
Evidence level: 2b
Population: Healthy adults
Intervention: Repeated SMR neurofeedback training sessions
Comparator: Pre-training baseline (within-subjects) or sham/control condition

Primary outcomes

Selective attention performance on behavioral tasks; Electrophysiological measures (EEG) of SMR and attention-related brain activity

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