An investigation of the effectiveness of neurofeedback training on motor performance in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Neurofeedback training (NFT) refers to a training where the participants voluntarily aim to manipulate their own brain activity using the sensory feedback abstracted from their brain activity. NFT has attracted attention in the field of motor learning due to its potential as an alternative or additional training method for general physical training. In this study, a systematic review of NFT studies for motor performance improvements in healthy adults and a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of NFT were conducted. A computerized search was performed using the databases Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, JDreamIII, and Ichushi-Web to identify relevant studies published between January 1st, 1990, and August 3rd, 2021. Thirty-three studies were identified for the qualitative synthesis and 16 randomized controlled trials (374 subjects) for the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis, including all trials found in the search, revealed significant effects of NFT for motor performance improvement examined at the timing after the last NFT session (standardized mean difference = 0.85, 95% CI [0.18-1.51]), but with the existence of publication biases and substantial heterogeneity among the trials. Subsequent meta-regression analysis demonstrated the dose-response gradient between NFTs and motor performance improvements; more than 125 min of cumulative training time may benefit for the subsequent motor performance. For each motor performance measure (e.g., speed, accuracy, and hand dexterity), the effectiveness of NFT remains inconclusive, mainly due to its small sample sizes. More empirical NFT studies for motor performance improvement may be needed to show beneficial effects on motor performance and to safely incorporate NFT into real-world scenarios.

Keywords: Athletic performance; Electroencephalogram (EEG); Motor performance; Neurofeedback training.