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Neurofeedback Training Induces Changes in White and Gray Matter

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Check out this Knowledge Base article from StressTherapy Solutions: Neurofeedback Training Induces Changes in White and Gray Matter.

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Study at a glance

Area
QEEG, Methods & Mechanisms
Study type
Randomized controlled trial
Authors
Ghaziri J, Tucholka A, Larue V, Blanchette-Sylvestre M, Reyburn G, Gilbert G, Lévesque J, Beauregard M
Journal
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience
Year
2013
Population
Adults
Protocol
Beta-1 enhancement at F4 and P4; sham and no-training control groups

Key findings

  • Healthy students randomized to neurofeedback, sham or no-training groups
  • Neurofeedback raised beta-1 at F4 and P4; sustained attention improved only in that group
  • Diffusion MRI showed higher fractional anisotropy in attention pathways
  • Grey-matter volume rose in frontal and parietal areas linked by those pathways

DOI 10.1177/1550059413476031 → PubMed 23536382 →

Healthy university students were randomly assigned to neurofeedback training to raise beta-1 activity at F4 and P4, a protocol aimed at sustained attention, to sham feedback, or to no training. MRI scans a week before and a week after showed that only the trained group improved on visual and auditory sustained-attention tests, and only that group showed structural changes: stronger white-matter pathways linked to attention and more grey matter in related areas. The authors present it as the first evidence that neurofeedback can change brain structure, not only brain activity.