Successful closed-loop neurofeedback alpha frequency modulation enhances the temporal dynamics of attention

Efficient attention depends on the temporal alignment between ongoing neural activity and task-relevant sensory events. Alpha-band dynamics, and particularly individual alpha frequency (IAF), have been proposed to regulate this alignment, yet direct causal evidence linking IAF to attentional timing remains limited. Here, we used neurofeedback (NF) to test whether experimentally induced changes in parieto-occipital IAF alter the neural and behavioral dynamics of visual attention. 108 healthy adults completed five sessions of EEG-based IAF neurofeedback or an active placebo control and performed the Attention Network Test (ANT) after each session. Participants were classified as learners or non-learners based on their ability to voluntarily increase IAF. Attentional performance was assessed using response times, efficiency scores, and cue-related facilitation. Neural measures included resting IAF and task-related alpha event-related desynchronization (α-ERD) amplitude and latency as an index of the timing of cortical engagement. Compared with non-learners and placebo participants, NF learners showed faster responses, higher attentional efficiency, and stronger facilitation effects following informative cues. At the neural level, learners exhibited shorter α-ERD latencies, indicating earlier task-related recruitment of visual-parietal networks. Crucially, repeated-measures mediation analyses revealed a partial sequential pathway whereby NF-related increases in IAF predicted faster response times through reductions in α-ERD latency. These findings provide causal evidence that IAF constrains the temporal dynamics of attentional deployment by regulating the speed of alpha-band desynchronization following task-relevant cues and identifying IAF as a key functional parameter governing attentional readiness and the temporal deployment of attention by shaping the dynamics of alpha-band desynchronization.