Psychological Predictors of Arbitrary Regulation in Neurofeedback Session
The article investigates psychological predictors of effectiveness of arbitrary regulation in neurofeedback training. The method of neurofeedback is based on the principle that it is given the opportunity to a person to control bioelectrical activity of the brain. The subject can arbitrarily control his EEG-activity by means of instructions and sensory feedback. Such feedback allows him to evaluate changes in the EEG. However, there are reliable data that up to 30 % of healthy people experience difficulties in neurofeedback training, and there are individuals completely unable to control the parameters of the EEG arbitrarily. This fact taken into account, we encounter a problem of estimation of the influence of individual psychological and psychophysiological characteristics on the possibility and efficiency of the neuro feedback. In this study, 17 volunteers participated in a neurofeedback session, the aim of which was to investigate the ability to control reduction of alpha rhythm index in the parietal areas P3 and P4 electrode locations. The neurofeedback session includes 12 trainings for each person. The neurofeedback training was preceded with a psychological testing. The testing includes H. Eysenck, J. Strelau, Ch. Spielberger-Y. L. Khanin test questionnaires and B. Bourdon test. The evaluation of psychological testing data by means of cluster analysis allows us to divide the subjects into two groups. The experimental results showed both groups of the subjects learned to control alpha rhythm with different dynamics and efficiency. The acquired results allowed to distinguish a number of psychological predictors affecting the arbitrary regulation during the training to reduce the alpha rhythm index in the parietal region. The study shows that the efficiency of the neurofeedback training is influenced by such personality characteristics, as extraversion, strength and mobility of the nervous system, level of personal anxiety.