The autotelic involvement of attention induced by EEG neurofeedback training improves the performance of an athlete’s mind

Abstract

Summary immediate feedback concerning brain activity on autotelic engagement attention and the performance of athletes’ minds. Material and methods: the experimental group (25 subjects) underwent twenty neurofeedback-EEG training sessions (in the relaxation armchair) and athletic training for four months (every 7 days). The control group (25 subjects) underwent athletic training sessions. Before and after the four months of neurofeedback-EEG training sessions, the athletes were evaluated using an involvement questionnaire and Kraepelin’s work curve test. Results: the results of the analysis showed that changes in autotelic engagement were observed with an improvement in the performance of the mind (p < 0.01), which points to increased speed and mental work speed and efficiency. Among three measures of performance, we observed a significant correlation between the total number of addition operations in the test with autotelic experience (r = 0.769). Conclusions: neurofeedback-EEG training opens up new opportunities for improvement in the performance of athletes’ minds.