Emotion regulation with neurofeedback training as assessed by a pilot EEG and optical imaging study

Objective The effect of emotions on human neurophysiology is important for understanding human brain functioning and mental behavior. Frontal asymmetry has often been associated with psychological adjustment, with more left-sided frontal activity predicting approach motivation and lower levels of depression and anxiety. Neurofeedback is a promising tool for the modulation of cortical activity during emotion processing and regulation. Participants and methods The present study applied EEG and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) co-registration to evaluate: the initial (T0) electrocortical activity during an emotion induction paradigm involving affective stimuli taken from the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS) and a final assessment (T2) with the same criteria in a way to verify the efficacy of the NF intervention during a training protocol of five weeks (T1).10 healthy volunteers participated in the research. After the emotional task, subjects were also required to rate the affective pictures by means of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Results the preliminary results obtained in T0 were used to calibrate the NF protocol: delta band proved to be prevalent during the emotional task, in particular over the frontal and prefrontal sites. Thus, the training was set on this specific band with a frontal arrangement including a left (F3) or a right (F4) montage according to each participant’s hemispheric unbalance. After the training, a significant modulation of both EEG and fNIRS measures was found, showing a more balanced and enhanced cortical activity. Conclusion the present research provided new insights into the contribution of a neuroscientific approach to the study of emotion regulation by means of a multi-method approach involving subjective (SAM) and central (EEG; fNIRS) measures acquired before and after a NF intervention. The training was intended to restore the hemispheric unbalance found in relation to emotion processing, and could have clinical non-invasive applications in those pathologies that involve emotion disregulation