Using neurofeedback to augment meditation practice: A critical assessment

Cordes, Lars (2022) Using neurofeedback to augment meditation practice: A critical assessment. Master's Thesis / Essay, Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences.

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Abstract

Meditation practices such as mindfulness meditation have been shown to lead to a range of positive life outcomes and are now used in treatment approaches to several psychological disorders. Neurofeedback, the act of making a measure of brain activity available to an individual, allowing them to act upon it, has been proposed to augment meditation practice. This essay aims to assess whether positive outcomes of neurofeedback-assisted meditation surpass outcomes of regular meditation. Several neural processes, such as activity of the posterior cingulate cortex, frontal-midline theta oscillations and combinations of alpha and theta oscillations have been investigated as candidate measures for neurofeedback. While studies employing meditation neurofeedback find improvements across measures such as heart rate variability, resting-state EEG band power, cognitive assessments and self-report questionnaires, these improvements do not systematically exceed improvements resulting from regular meditation control conditions. We conclude that more standardization in regards to the measured neural correlates and employed outcome variables, as well as more transparency concerning neurofeedback implementations are needed to accurately assess the benefits of meditation neurofeedback.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay)
Supervisor name:	Vugt, M.K. van
Degree programme:	Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences
Thesis type:	Master's Thesis / Essay
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2023 11:41
Last Modified:	31 Mar 2023 11:41
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/29155

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