Design of a Neurofeedback Training System for Meditation Based on EEG Technology

Visual feedback from an EEG neurofeedback system increased attention levels by 11.8% in 78% of nine participants during meditation, compared to a session without any stimuli. Sound feedback increased relaxation levels by 16% in 44.4% of participants. The system, designed with user-centered methodology, provided real-time performance feedback through visual, sound, and smell stimuli to help meditators improve attention and relaxation. These results suggest potential for neurofeedback interface design, though further research with more participants is needed to validate the findings.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Meditation is a form of mental training that has therapeutic potential and cognitive benefits that may enhance attention, mental well-being, and neuroplasticity. However, the learning process is not easy because meditators do not receive immediate feedback that lets them know if they are correctly doing the activity. EEG Neurofeedback training is one of the techniques to train brain self-regulation and it has the potential to increase the effectiveness of meditation. However, the benefits greatly differ between subjects with a high percentage of inefficacy. In this work, an EEG Neurofeedback Training System is proposed based on user-centered design methodology to provide real-time performance feedback to meditators to increase levels of attention and relaxation through a visual, sound and smell stimuli interface. Levels of attention and relaxation of nine participants were measured with a mobile Neurosky EEG headset biosensor during meditation practice to analyze the incidence of each type of stimuli during activity. Visual stimuli feedback was able to increase attention levels of 78% of the participants by 11.8% compared to a 1 M. Sc. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá-Distrito Capital, Colombia). nieto-andres@javeriana.edu.co. ORCID: 0000-0003-1934-8552 2 M. Sc. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá-Distrito Capital, Colombia). omar.ramirez@javeriana.edu.co. ORCID: 0000-0003-1492-7010 3 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá-Distrito Capital, Colombia). luis.ballesteros@javeriana.edu.co. ORCID: 0000-0003-4660-2739 4 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá-Distrito Capital, Colombia). angela.aragon@javeriana.edu.co. ORCID: 0000-0003-2968-244X Design of a Neurofeedback Training System for Meditation Based on EEG Technology Revista Facultad de Ingeniería (Rev. Fac. Ing.) Vol. 30 (55), e12489. January-March 2021. Tunja-Boyacá, Colombia. L-ISSN: 0121-1129, e-ISSN: 2357-5328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19053/01211129.v30.n55.2021.12489 meditation session without any stimuli. The sound stimuli feedback was able to increase the relaxation levels of 44.4% of the participants by 16% compared to a session without any stimuli. These results might bring new insights for the design of a neurofeedback system interface for meditation. Further research on neurofeedback training interfaces for meditators is suggested to validate these results with more participants.