A Novel Neurofeedback Attentional Enhancement Approach Based on Virtual Reality

Attention enhancement can not only improve individual's study and work performance, but also help to improve such psychological problems as anxiety and depression. Traditional attention enhancement approaches have high requirements on the external environment, and thus have such limitations as long intervention periods, high costs, poor universality, and insignificant therapeutic effects. Virtual Reality (VR) can provide interactive and immersive environments, which can help to break through these limitations and effectively enhance users' attention. In this paper, we propose a novel neurofeedback attentional enhancement approach based on VR. The proposed approach utilizes the α band power in the parieto-occipital regions of the brain as an neurofeedback index of the users' attention, and prompts users by changing the attributes of the VR environment. Statistical results show that the α band power reduces significantly in neurofeedback group compared with that in control group. Accordingly, task performances in neruofeedback group are improved by 6.44% compared with those of control group. Our results provided evidence for the effectiveness of neurofeedback on VR training environment.