Cognitive Performance Enhancement: Do Biofeedback and Neurofeedback Work?

Biofeedback (BFB) and neurofeedback (NFB) training are two promising approaches for the non-invasive modulation of human physiological activity paired with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning. In this article, we summarize the state of the art with regard to the efficiency of BFB and NFB studies for the optimization of cognitive performance within a non-clinical context. We review the different training protocols with their underlying theoretical perspectives and the different outcomes regarding cognitive performance. This review showed that BFB and NFB are promising training techniques. However, the use of varying terminology to refer to similar concepts, diverse methodological designs, and cognitive assessments along with apparent differences in NFB frequency ranges makes it difficult to compare the outcomes over different studies and to draw general conclusions. Furthermore, a question largely ignored until now remains about the long-term effects of both training and thus the sustainability of the achieved cognitive enhancement. Despite promising results of both techniques, this overview summarizes the encountered issues and formulates suggestions to solve them in order to be able to provide a definitive answer to the title question: “do biofeedback and neurofeedback work as a cognitive performance enhancement method?”SCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe