A wearable mindfulness meditation brain-computer interface (MM-BCI) system that provides real-time neurofeedback can reduce carsickness severity. In a 10-week randomized controlled trial, 60 carsickness-susceptible individuals practiced mindfulness meditation with either real MM-BCI neurofeedback or sham feedback during car rides and at home. Those receiving real feedback showed significantly reduced carsickness severity at post-intervention and at a one-month follow-up, assessed during regular car riding without any task or feedback. At baseline, susceptible participants had a reduced aperiodic exponent in occipito-parietal cortex compared to non-susceptible controls. MM-BCI training increased this exponent toward non-susceptible levels, and the degree of neural normalization correlated with symptom improvement.
A wearable mindfulness brain-computer interface (BCI) that uses electroencephalography (EEG) and artificial intelligence to assess a user's focus on breathing and provide real-time audiovisual feedback can reduce car sickness symptoms. In two real-world experiments with over 100 participants susceptible to car sickness, over 83% rated the BCI-based attention shifting as effective, with significant reductions in severity, especially for those with severe symptoms. EEG data analysis identified a neurobiological signature of car sickness, offering mechanistic insight into the intervention's efficacy. The authors propose this as a nonpharmacological alternative to pharmacological treatments with adverse side effects.
Long-term meditation experience produces detectable neurophysiological changes in brain activity, possibly enhancing functional segregation and specialization. Electroencephalogram data from 20 long-term meditators and 20 nonmeditators during cognitive tasks and a relaxed state showed that meditators had higher classification accuracy and calculation efficiency. During a calculation task, both the power and global phase synchronism of gamma response decreased in meditators compared to their relaxation state, while no such change occurred in nonmeditators. These findings suggest meditation improves brain flexibility through neural plastic mechanisms.