Alpha Amplitude Research Articles

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Children with Trauma Exposure.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate differences in frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) between children (5-17 years) with or without histories of trauma exposure. EEG data were obtained from 165 children who participated in the Healthy Brain Network Initiative during rest with eyes open and closed. FAA during resting-state electroencephalography was significantly more negative in the trauma-exposed group, suggesting greater left lateralized FAA and avoidance-oriented motivation. Moreover, alpha suppression (difference in alpha amplitude between eyes open and eyes closed conditions) was marginally greater in the trauma-exposed group. The results suggest that early exposure to trauma may be associated with trait-level avoidance of environmental stimuli, which ultimately may be predictive of psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Study findings thus provide preliminary evidence of brain-based mechanisms that may confer risk for PTSD in the wake of early trauma exposure.

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Volatile Organic Compounds from Dried Common Rush (Juncus effusus L. var. decipiens Buchen.) on Humans.

This study compared the participants’ physiological responses and subjective evaluations of air scented with different concentrations of common rush (Juncus effusus L. var. decipiens Buchen.) (30 g and 15 g, with fresh air as a control). We asked 20 participants to complete a series of visual discrimination tasks while inhaling two different air samples. We evaluated (1) brain activity, (2) autonomic nervous activity, and (3) blood pressure and pulse rate, (4) in combination with self-evaluation. In addition, we quantified the concentrations of volatile organic compounds. The participants reported the scent to be sour, pungent, and smelly; this impression was likely caused by hexanal and acetic acid. Although the self-evaluations showed that participants did not enjoy the scent, their alpha amplitudes of electroencephalogram and parasympathetic nervous activity were increased, suggesting that participants were relaxed in this atmosphere. Moreover, a lower concentration resulted in a greater induction of relaxation. While the air was not pleasant-smelling, the volatile organic compounds present had a positive psychophysiological impact.

Tuning alpha rhythms to shape conscious visual perception

It is commonly held that what we see and what we believe we see are overlapping phenomena. However, dissociations between sensory events and their subjective interpretation occur in the general population and in clinical disorders, raising the question as to whether perceptual accuracy and its subjective interpretation represent mechanistically dissociable events. Here, we uncover the role that alpha oscillations play in shaping these two indices of human conscious experience. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure occipital alpha oscillations during a visual detection task, which were then entrained using rhythmic-TMS. We found that controlling prestimulus alpha frequency by rhythmic-TMS modulated perceptual accuracy, but not subjective confidence in it, whereas controlling poststimulus (but not prestimulus) alpha amplitude modulated how well subjective confidence judgments can distinguish between correct and incorrect decision, but not accuracy. These findings provide the first causal evidence of a double dissociation between alpha speed and alpha amplitude, linking alpha frequency to spatiotemporal sampling resources and alpha amplitude to the internal, subjective representation and interpretation of sensory events.

Reliability of Neural Entrainment in the Human Auditory System.

Auditory stimuli are often rhythmic in nature. Brain activity synchronizes with auditory rhythms via neural entrainment, and entrainment seems to be beneficial for auditory perception. However, it is not clear to what extent neural entrainment in the auditory system is reliable over time, which is a necessary prerequisite for targeted intervention. The current study aimed to establish the reliability of neural entrainment over time and to predict individual differences in auditory perception from associated neural activity. Across two different sessions, human listeners (21 females, 17 males) detected silent gaps presented at different phase locations of a 2 Hz frequency-modulated (FM) noise while EEG activity was recorded. As expected, neural activity was entrained by the 2 Hz FM noise. Moreover, gap detection was sinusoidally modulated by the phase of the 2 Hz FM into which the gap fell. Critically, both the strength of neural entrainment as well as the modulation of performance by the stimulus rhythm were highly reliable over sessions. Moreover, gap detection was predictable from pregap neural 2 Hz phase and alpha amplitude. Our results demonstrate that neural entrainment in the auditory system and the resulting behavioral modulation are reliable over time, and both entrained delta and nonentrained alpha oscillatory activity contribute to near-threshold stimulus perception. The latter suggests that improving auditory perception might require simultaneously targeting entrained brain rhythms as well as the alpha rhythm.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neural activity synchronizes to the rhythms in sounds via neural entrainment, which seems to be important for successful auditory perception. A natural hypothesis is that improving neural entrainment, for example, via brain stimulation, should benefit perception. However, the extent to which neural entrainment is reliable over time, a necessary prerequisite for targeted intervention, has not been established. Using electroencephalogram recordings, we demonstrate that both neural entrainment to FM sounds and stimulus-induced behavioral modulation are reliable over time. Moreover, moment-by-moment fluctuations in perception are best predicted by entrained delta phase and nonentrained alpha amplitude. This work suggests that improving auditory perception might require simultaneously targeting entrained brain rhythms as well as the alpha rhythm.

In Memoriam: Joe Kamiya, 1926–2021

In Memoriam: Joe Kamiya, 1926–2021

Evaluation of visual-induced motion sickness from head-mounted display using heartbeat evoked potential: a cognitive load-focused approach

Based on sensory conflict theory, motion sickness is strongly related to the information processing capacity or resources of the brain to cope with the multi-sensory stimuli experienced by watching virtual reality (VR) content. The purpose of this research was to develop a method of measuring motion sickness using the heart-evoked potential (HEP) phenomenon and propose new indicators for evaluating motion sickness. Twenty-eight undergraduate volunteers of both genders (14 females) participated in this study by watching VR content on both 2D and head-mounted devices (HMD) for 15 min. The responses of HEP measures such as alpha power, latency, and amplitude of first and second HEP components were compared using paired t-tests and ANCOVA. This study confirmed that motion sickness leads to a decline in cognitive processing, as demonstrated by increasing in alpha power of HEP. Also, the proposed indicators such as latency and amplitude of the HEP waveform showed significant differences during the experience of motion sickness and exhibited high correlations with alpha power measures. Latencies of the first HEP component, in particular, are recommended as better quantitative evaluators of motion sickness than other measures, following the multitrait-multimethod matrix. The proposed model for motion sickness was implemented in a support vector machine with a radial basis function kernel, and validated on twenty new participants. The accuracy, F1 score, precision, recall, and area under the curve (AUC) of the motion-sickness classification results were 0.875, 0.865, 0.941, 0.8, and 0.962, respectively.

Behavioural effects of task-relevant neuromodulation by rTMS on giving-up

Recent studies suggest that online repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can induce local entrainment of ongoing endogenous oscillatory activity during a task. This effect may impact cognitive performance, depending on the function of the oscillation. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of stimulation frequency and target location that are relevant to the cognitive processes of giving-up. We first investigated the correlations between the EEG oscillations and cognitive giving-up processes during problem-solving tasks (Experiment 1). We then conducted online rTMS to examine the frequency-dependent stimulation effects of rTMS on the performance of problem-solving tasks and ongoing oscillations (Experiment 2). The results of Experiment 1 suggested that the frontal theta rhythm is associated with the giving-up processes and that the frontal alpha rhythm is associated with problem-solving behaviour. Accordingly, we hypothesised that rTMS at the theta frequency would induce ongoing theta activity and accelerate the giving-up behaviour, while rTMS at the alpha frequency would induce ongoing alpha activity and slow down the giving-up behaviour in Experiment 2. The results showed that theta-frequency rTMS application induced an increase in theta amplitudes and shortened the giving-up response. Alpha-frequency rTMS application induced an increase in alpha amplitudes, but did not change giving-up responses. Considering the close resemblance between giving-up behaviour and rumination in depression, neuromodulation of cognitive giving-up processes may lead to a new intervention to treat depression by rTMS. Furthermore, this study strengthens the hypothesis that modulating task-relevant oscillations by rTMS could induce behavioural changes related to cognitive performance.

Characterization of electrocorticographic, electromyographic and electrocardiographic recordings after the use of caffeine in Wistar rats.

ABSTRACTObjective:To describe electrocorticographic, electromyographic and electrocardiographic profiles to report the electrophysiological effects of caffeine in Wistar rats.Methods:Male adult Wistar rats weighing 230g to 250g were used. Rats were allocated to one of two groups, as follows: Group 1, Control, intraperitoneal injection of 0.9% saline solution (n=27); and Group 2, treated with intraperitoneal injection of caffeine (50mg/kg; n=27). The rats were submitted to electrocorticographic, electromyographic and electrocardiographic assessment.Results:Brain oscillations (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma) in the frequency range up to 40Hz varied after caffeine administration to rats. Powers in delta and theta oscillations ranges were preponderant. The contractile force of the skeletal striated and cardiac muscles increased. Electrocardiogram analysis revealed shorter RR, QRS and QT intervals under the effect of caffeine.Conclusion:In the central nervous system, there was an increase in the delta, theta and alpha amplitude spectrum, which are related to memory encoding and enhanced learning. With regard to skeletal muscle, increased contraction of the gastrocnemius muscle was demonstrated, a clear indication of how caffeine can be used to enhance performance of some physical activities. Electrocardiographic changes observed after caffeine administration are primarily related to increased heart rate and energy consumption.

Modelling risk perception using a dynamic hybrid choice model and brain-imaging data: An application to virtual reality cycling

Road risk analysis is one of the key research areas in transport, where the impact of perceived risk on choices, especially in a dynamic setting, has been long recognised. However, due to the lack of dynamic data and the difficulty in capturing risk perception, existing studies typically resort to static and stated approaches to infer the experienced level of risk of individuals. In this paper, we aimed to address this research gap through developing a hybrid choice model that jointly employed dynamic data on cycling behaviour in virtual reality and neural data to evaluate how the fluctuations in momentary risk perception influence the behaviour of cyclists. The results of the developed model confirm our hypotheses, demonstrating that cyclists reduce their speed when approaching a junction as the potential for a collision with passing cars increases. Moreover, the latent component allowed us to establish a link between the neural data, the amplitude of alpha brainwaves, and objective risk measures. In line with our hypothesis, we found that decreased alpha amplitude is associated with higher perceived risk, which in turn increases the likelihood of braking. The implications of our study are manifold. On the one hand, it shows the ability of virtual reality to elicit complex cyclists’ behaviour and the feasibility of a joint collection of dynamic neural and choice data. On the other hand, we demonstrated the potential of the employment of neural data in a hybrid model framework as an indicator of risk that allowed us to gain a better understanding of cycling behaviour and associated neural processing. These promising findings pave the way for future studies that aim to explore the advantages of neuroscientific inputs in the choice models.

The EEG spectral properties of meditation and mind wandering differ between experienced meditators and novices

Previous literature suggests that individuals with meditation training become less distracted during meditation practice. In this study, we assess whether putative differences in the subjective experience of meditation between meditators and non-meditators are reflected in EEG spectral modulations. For this purpose, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) during rest and two breath focus meditations (with and without experience sampling) in a group of 29 adult participants with more than 3 years of meditation experience and a control group of 29 participants without any meditation experience. Experience sampling in one of the meditation conditions allowed us to disentangle periods of breath focus from mind wandering (i.e. moments of distraction driven by task-irrelevant thoughts) during meditation practice. Overall, meditators reported a greater level of focus and reduced mind wandering during meditation practice than controls. In line with these reports, EEG spectral modulations associated with meditation and mind wandering also differed significantly between meditators and controls. While meditators (but not controls) showed a significant decrease in individual alpha frequency / amplitude and a steeper 1/f slope during meditation relative to rest, controls (but not meditators) showed a relative increase in individual alpha amplitude during mind wandering relative to breath focus periods. Together, our results show that the subjective experience of meditation and mind wandering differs between meditators and novices and that this is reflected in oscillatory and non-oscillatory properties of EEG.

Functional state of the brain bioelectric activity in treatment of diaphyseal lesions of the radius using the transosseous osteosynthesis of the wire and rod arrangement

Radial fracture is the most common trauma to the musculoskeletal system and accounts for 50 % of traumatic injuries to the bones of the upper limb. Disability in patients with fractures of the forearm bones ranges from 6 to 8 months, so the choice of the most effective method of treatment is very relevant. Currently, an important point is the tendency of optimizing the transosseous method by eliminating the disadvantages and looking for new advantages of external fixation. Bone fracture and associated surgical intervention are always accompanied by varying degrees of changes in the links of the central nervous system, hemodynamics and metabolism. In order to study the bioelectrical activity of the brain in 47 patients with a fracture of the radial diaphysis treated in the Traumatology Department of the Irkutsk Scientific Centre of Surgery and Traumatology, in the pre- and postoperative period we compared EEG indicators of two variants of the layout of the external fixation apparatus (EF): wire and rod. Analysis of the rhythms of bioelectrical activity of the brain in both groups in the preoperative period revealed a normal zonal distribution with the dominance of the alpha rhythm on the EEG, which generally reflects a rather high degree of organization of neuroactivity and indicates the stability of cerebral homeostasis. At the same time, in the group of patients with a wire-mounted EF device in the postoperative period, EEG indices significantly differed from the values of the norm and ndicators in the group with a rod-shaped arrangement. A decrease in the amplitude of alpha and beta rhythms was noted, as well as a shift in the frequency of bioelectric activity towards slow waves, which is a sign characteristic of discirculatory encephalopathy. An EEG study using the method of transosseous osteosynthesis with EF devise of a rod assembly showed its greater efficiency compared to the use of an EF device of a wire assembly during treatment and rehabilitation. Thus, the study of the bioelectric activity of the brain is a reliable method for assessing its functional state after an injury, as well as the effectiveness of the treatment.

Validation of eyes-closed resting alpha amplitude predicting neurofeedback learning of upregulation alpha activity

Neurofeedback training (NFT) enables users to learn self-control of EEG activity of interest and then to create many benefits on cognitive function. A considerable number of nonresponders who fail to achieve successful NFT have often been reported in the within-session prediction. This study aimed to investigate successful EEG NFT of upregulation alpha activity in terms of trainability, independence, and between-session predictability validation. Forty-six participants completed 12 training sessions. Spectrotemporal analysis revealed the upregulation success on brain activity of 8–12 Hz exclusively to demonstrate trainability and independence of alpha NFT. Three learning indices of between-session changes exhibited significant correlations with eyes-closed resting state (ECRS) alpha amplitude before the training exclusively. Through a stepwise linear discriminant analysis, the prediction model of ECRS’s alpha frequency band amplitude exhibited the best accuracy (89.1%) validation regarding the learning index of increased alpha amplitude on average. This study performed a systematic analysis on NFT success, the performance of the 3 between-session learning indices, and the validation of ECRS alpha activity for responder prediction. The findings would assist researchers in obtaining insight into the training efficacy of individuals and then attempting to adapt an efficient strategy in NFT success.

Delta-modulated cortical alpha oscillations support new knowledge generation through memory integration

The ability to generate new knowledge depends on integration of separate information. For example, in one episode an individual may learn that apple seeds are called pips. In a separate episode, the individual may then learn that pips contain cyanide. Integration of the related facts in memory may then support derivation of the new knowledge that apple seeds contain cyanide. Past studies show that adults form relational memories that represent the commonalities among discrete events, and that such integrated representation supports the ability to infer new knowledge. Although these integrated representations are thought to result from linking separate memories to the same neuronal ensemble, the neural mechanisms that underlie formation of such linkages are not well understood. Here we examined whether self-derivation of new, integrated knowledge was supported by oscillatory coherence, a means of linking discrete neuronal ensembles. Cortical alpha coherence was greater when adults encoded new facts that could be integrated with existing knowledge, relative to encoding unrelated facts, particularly in participants who showed better performance on the subsequent test of knowledge generation via fact integration. In high performers, posterior alpha amplitude was also modulated by delta phase, a form of cross-frequency coupling previously implicated in coordinating information stored widely throughout the cortex. Examination of the timing and topography of these respective signatures suggested that these oscillatory dynamics work in concert to encode and represent new knowledge with respect to prior knowledge that is reactivated, thus revealing fundamental mechanisms through which related memories are linked into integrated knowledge structures.

Quantitative Electroencephalogram and Event Related Potential of Gifted Children

Background: The relation of Quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) and event related potential (ERP) to intelligence as measured by the Wisc-r. Methods: was examined in six gifted and talented children (Mean IQ of 145 ). The children were in 5th and 6th grades at the Istanbul Atasehir Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi (BILSEM) for gifted and talented students. The EEG of the participants were recorded in both eyes-open and eyes-closed ‘resting’ conditions and during an ‘active’ visual go-no-go computer ERP task. Results: The amplitudes, frequencies and peak latencies were examined as well as approximate entropy. The findings indicate that gifted and talented students display more regular ERP waveforms and an increased alpha amplitude. Conclusions: These findings support the neural efficiency hypothesis, where gifted and talented individuals show lower neural activation in a task, which could be seen as sign of more efficient brain processing. This finding also shows that gifted people have differences in brain function and that these differences can be identified by brain imaging.

Alpha and high gamma phase amplitude coupling during motor imagery and weighted cross-frequency coupling to extract discriminative cross-frequency patterns

Motor imagery modulates specific neural oscillations like actual movement does. Representatively, suppression of the alpha power (e.g., event-related desynchronization [ERD]) is the typical pattern of motor imagery in the motor cortex. However, in addition to this amplitude-based feature, the coupling across frequencies includes important information about the brain functions and the existence of such complex information has been reported in various invasive studies. Yet, the interaction across multiple frequencies during motor imagery processing is still unclear and has not been widely studied, particularly concerning the non-invasive signals. In this study, we provide empirical evidence of the comodulation between the phase of alpha rhythm and the amplitude of high gamma rhythm during the motor imagery process. We used electroencephalography (EEG) in our investigation during the imagination of left- or right-hand movement recorded from 52 healthy subjects, and quantified the ERD of alpha and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) which is a relative change of modulation index to the base line period (before the cue). As a result, we found that the coupling between the phase of alpha (8–12 Hz) and the amplitude of high gamma (70–120 Hz) and this PAC decreases during motor imagery and then rebounds to the baseline like alpha ERD (r = 0.29 to 0.42). This correlation between PAC and ERD was particularly stronger in the ipsilateral area. In addition, trials that demonstrated higher alpha power during the ready period (before the cue) showed a larger ERD during motor imagery and similarly, trials with higher modulation index during the ready period yielded a greater decrease in PAC during imagery. In the classification analysis, we found that the effective phase frequency that showed better decoding accuracy in left and right-hand imagery, varied across subjects. Motivated by result, we proposed a weighted cross-frequency coupling (WCFC) method that extracts the maximal discriminative feature by combining band power and CFC. In the evaluation, WCFC with only two electrodes yielded a performance comparable to the conventional algorithm with 64 electrodes in classifying left and right-hand motor imagery. These results indicate that the phase-amplitude frequency plays an important role in motor imagery, and that optimizing this frequency ranges is crucial for extracting information features to decode the motor imagery types.

Yogic postures and brain wave activation

Background: Yoga is a practice to control and develop the mental function. Scientists are trying to establish the effect of yoga on the various systems and organs in the human body by using different scientific methods and research techniques. The brain is one of the main targeted organs in yoga research. Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the electrical responses of the brain after immediate yogasana practices. Materials and Methods: Ten male (n=10) yoga practitioners having more than 8 years of experience in yogasana practice were selected as participants. Before and after immediate practices of six specific yoga postures were assessed on three different consecutive days for 15, 22.5, and 30 min. Delta, theta, alpha, sensory-motor rhythm (SMR), beta, and gamma amplitudes were assessed under the circumstance of electrical activity of the brain and measured using NeXus-10 device. Results: The outcome of the brain wave components showed that there was a decrease in delta (9.12%, 12.3%, and 19.52%), theta (12.32%, 15.9%, and 16.09%), alpha (11.99%, 17.49%, and 13.21%), SMR (6.89%, 17.27%, and 13.5%), beta (0.29%, 13.95%, and 14.4%) amplitude immediately after 15, 22.5, and 30 min practice of yoga postures, respectively. In the case of gamma amplitude, initially, it increased 8.58% in 15 min practice, there after decreasing trend was observed in 22.5 min (11.47%) and 30 min practice (15.9%). Conclusions: Immediate yogasana practices may enhance the functions of brain wave activity which increases motor activity, autonomic flexibility, and associates with a better cognitive state.

Reduced alpha amplitudes predict perceptual suppression

The amplitude of prestimulus alpha oscillations over parieto-occipital cortex has been shown to predict visual detection of masked and threshold-level stimuli. Whether alpha activity similarly predicts target visibility in perceptual suppression paradigms, another type of illusion commonly used to investigate visual awareness, is presently unclear. Here, we examined prestimulus alpha activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy participants in the context of a generalized flash suppression (GFS) task during which salient target stimuli are rendered subjectively invisible in a subset of trials following the onset of a full-field motion stimulus. Unlike for masking or threshold paradigms, alpha (8–12 Hz) amplitude prior to motion onset was significantly higher when targets remained subjectively visible compared to trials during which the targets became perceptually suppressed. Furthermore, individual prestimulus alpha amplitudes strongly correlated with the individual trial-to-trial variability quenching following motion stimulus onset, indicating that variability quenching in visual cortex is closely linked to prestimulus alpha activity. We conclude that predictive correlates of conscious perception derived from perceptual suppression paradigms differ substantially from those obtained with “near threshold paradigms”, possibly reflecting the effectiveness of the suppressor stimulus.

EEG in motion: Using an oddball task to explore motor interference in active skateboarding.

Recent advancements in portable computer devices have opened new avenues in the study of human cognition outside research laboratories. This flexibility in methodology has led to the publication of several electroencephalography studies recording brain responses in real-world scenarios such as cycling and walking outside. In the present study, we tested the classic auditory oddball task while participants moved around an indoor running track using an electricskateboard. This novel approach allows for the study of attention in motion while virtually removing body movement. Using the skateboard auditory oddball paradigm, we found reliable and expected standard-target differences in the P3 and MMN/N2b event-related potentials. We also recorded baseline electroencephalography activity and found that, compared to this baseline, alpha power is attenuated in frontal and parietal regions during skateboarding. In order to explore the influence of motor interference in cognitive resources during skateboarding, we compared participants' preferred riding stance (baseline level of riding difficulty) versus their non-preferred stance (increased level of riding difficulty). We found that an increase in riding difficulty did not modulate the P3 and tonic alpha amplitude during skateboard motion. These results suggest that increases in motor demands might not lead to reductions in cognitive resources as shown in previous literature.

Alpha and theta oscillations are inversely related to progressive levels of meditation depth.

Meditation training is proposed to enhance mental well-being by modulating neural activity, particularly alpha and theta brain oscillations, and autonomic activity. Although such enhancement also depends on the quality of meditation, little is known about how these neural and physiological changes relate to meditation quality. One model characterizes meditation quality as five increasing levels of ‘depth’: hindrances, relaxation, concentration, transpersonal qualities and nonduality. We investigated the neural oscillatory (theta, alpha, beta and gamma) and physiological (respiration rate, heart rate and heart rate variability) correlates of the self-reported meditation depth in long-term meditators (LTMs) and meditation-naïve controls (CTLs). To determine the neural and physiological correlates of meditation depth, we modelled the change in the slope of the relationship between self-reported experiential degree at each of the five depth levels and the multiple neural and physiological measures. CTLs reported experiencing more ‘hindrances’ than LTMs, while LTMs reported more ‘transpersonal qualities’ and ‘nonduality’ compared to CTLs, confirming the experiential manipulation of meditation depth. We found that in both groups, theta (4–6 Hz) and alpha (7–13 Hz) oscillations were related to meditation depth in a precisely opposite manner. The theta amplitude positively correlated with ‘hindrances’ and increasingly negatively correlated with increasing meditation depth levels. Alpha amplitude negatively correlated with ‘hindrances’ and increasingly positively with increasing depth levels. The increase in the inverse association between theta and meditation depth occurred over different scalp locations in the two groups—frontal midline in LTMs and frontal lateral in CTLs—possibly reflecting the downregulation of two different aspects of executive processing—monitoring and attention regulation, respectively—during deep meditation. These results suggest a functional dissociation of the two classical neural signatures of meditation training, namely, alpha and theta oscillations. Moreover, while essential for overcoming ‘hindrances’, executive neural processing appears to be downregulated during deeper meditation experiences.

Session Frequency Matters in Neurofeedback Training of Athletes.

Neurofeedback training has been an increasingly used technique and is taking its first steps in sport. Being at an embryonic stage, it is difficult to find consensus regarding the applied methodology to achieve the best results. This study focused on understanding one of the major methodological issues-the training session frequency. The aim of the investigation was to understand if there are differences between performing two sessions or three sessions per week in enhancement of alpha activity and improvement of cognition; and in case there are differences, infer the best protocol. Forty-five athletes were randomly assigned to the three-session-training-per-week group, the two-session-training-per-week group and a control group. The results showed that neurofeedback training with three sessions per week was more effective in increase of alpha amplitude during neurofeedback training than two sessions per week. Furthermore, only the three-session-per-week group showed significant enhancement in N-back and oddball performance after training. The findings suggested more condensed training protocol lead to better outcomes, providing guidance on neurofeedback protocol design in order to optimize training efficacy.