CASE REPORT
Neurofeedback training for peak performance
 
More details
Hide details
1
Gdansk University of Physical Education & Sport, Poland
 
2
Chair of Neuropsychology, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, Krakow, Poland
 
3
Institute of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
 
4
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
 
5
Laboratory of the Institute of the Human Brain of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
 
6
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
 
 
Corresponding author
Grzegorz Mańko   

Institute of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
 
 
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2014;21(4):871-875
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Aim:
One of the applications of the Neurofeedback methodology is peak performance in sport. The protocols of the neurofeedback are usually based on an assessment of the spectral parameters of spontaneous EEG in resting state conditions. The aim of the paper was to study whether the intensive neurofeedback training of a well-functioning Olympic athlete who has lost his performance confidence after injury in sport, could change the brain functioning reflected in changes in spontaneous EEG and event related potentials (ERPs).

Case study:
The case is presented of an Olympic athlete who has lost his performance confidence after injury in sport. He wanted to resume his activities by means of neurofeedback training. His QEEG/ERP parameters were assessed before and after 4 intensive sessions of neurotherapy. Dramatic and statistically significant changes that could not be explained by error measurement were observed in the patient.

Conclusion:
Neurofeedback training in the subject under study increased the amplitude of the monitoring component of ERPs generated in the anterior cingulate cortex, accompanied by an increase in beta activity over the medial prefrontal cortex. Taking these changes together, it can be concluded that that even a few sessions of neurofeedback in a high performance brain can significantly activate the prefrontal cortical areas associated with increasing confidence in sport performance.

 
REFERENCES (24)
1.
Hammond DC. Neurofeedback for the Enhancement of Athletic Performance and Physical Balance. The Journal of the American Board of Sport Psychology 2007; 1: 1.
 
2.
Kropotov JD. Quantitative EEG, event related potentials and neurotherapy. San Diego: Academic Press, Elsevier, 2009.
 
3.
Ziółkowski A, Graczyk M, Strzałkowska A, Wilczyńska D, Włodarczyk P, Zarańska B. Neuronal, cognitive and social indicators for the control of aggressive behaviors in sport. Acta Neuropsychologica 2012; 10(4): 537–546.
 
4.
Kropotov JD, Ponomarev VA, Hollup S, Mueller A. Dissociating action inhibition, conflict monitoring and sensory mismatch into independent components of event related potentials in GO/NOGO task. NeuroImage 2011; 57(2): 565–575.
 
5.
Kropotov JD, Ponomarev VA. Decomposing N2 NOGO wave of event-related potentials into independent components. Neuroreport. 2009; 20(18): 1592–1596.
 
6.
Pachalska M. Rehabilitacja neuropsychologiczna. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, 2008 (in Polish).
 
7.
Chiereghin A, Martins MR, Mori FGC, Ferreira Rosa R, Alvarenga Anti Loduca SM, Chahade WH. Posterior ankle impingement syndrome: a diagnosis rheumatologists should not forget. Two case reports. Rev Bras Reumatol. 2011; 51(3): 283–288.
 
8.
Pachalska M, Kaczmarek BLJ, Kropotov JD. Neuropsychologia kliniczna: od teorii do praktyki. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2009 (in Polish).
 
9.
Vigário R, Särelä J, Jousmäki V, Hämäläinen M, Oja E. Independent Component Approach to the Analysis of EEG and MEG Recordings, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2000; 47(5): 589–593.
 
10.
Jung T-P, Makeiga S, Westerfield M, Townsend J, Courchesne E, Sejnowski TJ. Removal of eye activity artifacts from visual event-related potentials in normal and clinical subjects. Clinical Neurophysiology 2000; 111: 1745–1758.
 
11.
Kropotov JD, Mueller A. What can Event Related Potentials contribute to neuropsychology? Acta Neuropsychologica 2009; 7(3): 169–181.
 
12.
Makeig S, Bell AJ, Jung T-P, and Sejnowski T. Independent component analysis of electroencephalographic data. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 1996; 8: 145–151.
 
13.
Onton J, Makeig S. Information-based modeling of event-related brain dynamics. Prog Brain Res. 2006; 159: 99–120.
 
14.
Kropotov JD, Ponomarev VA, Hollup S, Mueller A. Dissociating action inhibition, conflict monitoring and sensory mismatch into independent components of event related potentials in GO/NOGO task. NeuroImage 2011; 57: 565–575.
 
15.
Kropotov JD, Ponomarev VA. Decomposing N2 NOGO wave of event-related potentials into independent components. Neuroreport 2009; 20: 1592–1596.
 
16.
Cook IA, O’Hara R, Uijtdehaage SH, et al. Assessing the accuracy of topographic EEG mapping for determining local brain function. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1998; 107: 408–414.
 
17.
Brunner JF, Hansen TI, Olsen A, Skandsen T, Håberg A, Kropotov J. Long-term test-retest reliability of the P3 No Go wave and two independent components decomposed from the P3 No Go wave in a visual Go/NoGo task. International Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 89: 1.
 
18.
Brunner JF, Olsen A, Aasen I, Løhaugen G, Håberg A, Kropotov ID. Mapping neuropsychological domains of attentional control to Independent Components of Event Related Potentials [in press].
 
19.
Stuss DT, Levine B, Alexander MP, Hong J, Palumbo C, Hamer L, Murphy KJ, Izukawa D. Wisconsin card sorting test performance in patients with focal frontal and posterior brain damage: effects of lesion location and test structure on separable cognitive processes. Neuropsychologia 38: 388– 402.
 
20.
Pąchalska M, Kropotov ID, Mańko G, Lipowska M, Rasmus A, Łukaszewska B, Bogdanowicz M, Mirski A: Evaluation of a neurotherapy program for a child with ADHD with Benign Partial Epilepsy with Rolandic Spikes (BPERS) using event-related potentials. Medical Science Monitor 2012; 18:(11): 94–104.
 
21.
Tomaszewski W, Mańko G, Ziółkowski A, Pąchalska M. An evaluation of health-related quality of life of patients aroused from prolonged coma when treated by physiotherapists with or without training in the ‘Academy of Life’ programme. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2013; 20(2): 319–323.
 
22.
Pąchalska M, Kropotov ID, Mańko G, Lipowska M, Rasmus A, Łukaszewska B, Bogdanowicz M, Mirski A. Evaluation of a neurotherapy program for a child with ADHD with Benign Partial Epilepsy with Rolandic Spikes (BPERS) using event-related potentials. Medical Science Monitor 2012; 18(11): 94–104.
 
23.
Pachalska M, Mańko G, Kropotov ID, Mirski A, Łukowicz M, Jedwabińska A, Talar J. Evaluation of neurotherapy for a patient with chronic impaired self-awareness and secondary ADHD after severe TBI and long term coma using event-related potentials. Acta Neuropsychologica 2012; 10(3): 399–417.
 
24.
Kropotov JD, Pronina MV, Ponomarev VA, Murashev PV. In search of new protocols of neurofeedback: Independent components of event-related potentials. Journal of Neurotherapy 2011; 15:151–159.
 
eISSN:1898-2263
ISSN:1232-1966
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top