Operant conditioning and discrimination of alpha: some methodological limitations inherent in response-discrimination...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Biofeedback Research

Background:

• Operant conditioning studies suggest internal CNS activity can be discriminated and controlled.
• Biofeedback assumes awareness of internal responses, facilitated by feedback, enables voluntary control.
• The link between response discrimination and voluntary control remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that discriminating a response automatically leads to control over it.
• To examine if discriminating occipital alpha electroencephalograph (EEG) activity can be learned.
• To determine if contingent stimuli establish stimulus control over alpha EEG activity.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using naive and sophisticated subjects.
• Experiment 1 explored learning curves and feedback enhancement with varied alpha/nonalpha trial probabilities.
• Experiment 2 assessed discrimination of alpha/nonalpha activity and stimulus control via contingent feedback.

Main Results:

• Near .50 probabilities of alpha and nonalpha trials showed no clear learning curves in naive subjects.
• Sophisticated subjects' ability to discriminate alpha/nonalpha activity was inconclusive.
• EEG-contingent stimulation allowed subjects to suppress alpha activity without feedback, often using learned strategies.

Conclusions:

• Direct discrimination of occipital alpha EEG activity may not be consistently achievable.
• Learned strategies, developed during biofeedback, can facilitate voluntary control over alpha EEG activity.
• The relationship between discrimination and control requires further investigation, particularly regarding strategy acquisition.