Neurofeedback Training With an Electroencephalogram-Based Brain-Computer Interface Enhances Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation plays a vital role in human beings daily lives by helping them deal with social problems and protects mental and physical health. However, objective evaluation of the efficacy of emotion regulation and assessment of the improvement in emotion regulation ability at the individual level remain challenging. In this study, we leveraged neurofeedback training to design a real-time EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI) system for users to effectively regulate their emotions. Twenty healthy subjects performed 10 BCI-based neurofeedback training sessions to regulate their emotion towards a specific emotional state (positive, negative, or neutral), while their EEG signals were analyzed in real time via machine learning to predict their emotional states. The prediction results were presented as feedback on the screen to inform the subjects of their immediate emotional state, based on which the subjects could update their strategies for emotion regulation. The experimental results indicated that the subjects improved their ability to regulate these emotions through our BCI neurofeedback training. Further EEG-based spectrum analysis revealed how each emotional state was related to specific EEG patterns, which were progressively enhanced through long-term training. These results together suggested that long-term EEG-based neurofeedback training could be a promising tool for helping people with emotional or mental disorders.