The burden of disability caused by brain disorders is set to keep rising during the next decades, urging health policy planners to prioritize rehabilitation services.
Neurofeedback (NF), consists in providing real-time neural activation feedback to self-regulate brain activity. It is a powerful technique to trigger brain plasticity, and therefore, it is making brain training increasingly feasible with promising impacts on rehabilitation for a broad range of brain disorders. While electroencephalography (EEG) based NF is widely diffused and has an excellent temporal resolution, it has a limited spatial resolution. To overcome this limitation, current studies are showing the high potential of combining EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in bimodal NF training.
However, there is a high variability in NF efficacy, as around the 30% of participants undergoing NF training fail to regulate their brain activity. The “one size fits all” approach of standardized NF protocols is known to contribute to the NF inefficacy problem. In addition, specific psychological factors, such as motivation and attention, have been related to NF performance. Poorer performances in NF can reduce the mastering confidence leading to disengagement with the task and a potential label of “non-responder” for individuals over time.
Using leading-edge technology through an interdisciplinary approach, IONA proposes to use eye-tracking and skin conductance to monitor participants’ task engagement state during NF training and to consequently adapt in real-time NF targets to keep the participant focused during the training. To do that, in a first moment, we will develop a method to detect changes in task engagement and to optimally adapt the NF target difficulty level. In a second moment, the method will be validated by testing learning improvement during NF training when adapting NF targets based on the task engagement level. This way, IONA aims to individually optimize NF protocols.
By increasing NF efficacy and boosting its potential as a promising rehabilitation technique, IONA results will contribute to improve patients’ quality of life and to reduce the burden of brain disorders.
The expertise of the Department of Psychology of the University G. D’Annunzio in cognitive neurosciences and psychophysiology, combined with the renowned experience of the Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies in neuroimaging, creates an optimal interdisciplinary synergy for the execution of IONA.