The Choice of Feedback Stimulus Can Determine the Success of Alpha Feedback Training

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The experimenter's choice of auditory feedback stimulus may determine the success of alpha feedback training, The stimulus medium of the feedback message may interfere with or enhance the person's ability to increase alpha activity. Forty undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of two feedback stimulus groups or one of two stimulus control groups. The two auditory stimuli used for feedback produced dramatically different effects on the spectral power in high and low frequency alpha during training, whereas the stimulus controls showed little change from eyes open baselines. The experiences associated with the auditory stimuli before training and the alpha levels for the pre and post stimulus baselines were significant predictors of alpha changes during training. These results suggest that the feedback stimulus may influence how alpha information is received and utilized by affecting arousal, attentional capacity, and control strategies, or may directly influence the generators of the alpha rhythm.