Potenziamento della memoria col Neurofeedback

Tutti i processi cognitivi superiori come il ragionamento e i processi creativi si poggiano su due funzioni neurocognitive di base: l'attenzione e la memoria. 

Per "memorie" o "tracce mnemoniche" indentiamo i nostri ricordi; le memorie si possono suddividere, in base al contenuto, in memorie episodiche (episodi di vita reali o immaginati), memorie autobiografiche e memorie enciclopediche. A prescindere dal contenuto rappresentativo delle nostre memorie esse sono il risultato di processi di apprendimento, ossia processi neurocognitivi che portano alla formazione delle tracce mnemoniche (ciò che ricordiamo). Un'altra componente dei processi mnemonici è il recupero delle memorie, ossia l'attivazione nella nostra mente dei nostri ricordi; ricordi che possono riguardare la nostra vita o concetti teorici che abbiamo appreso nel corso della vita. 

Le memorie che formiamo tramite i processi di apprendimento possono divenire più o meno consolidate e stabili nel nostro sistema neurocognitivo: per tale ragione in psicologia e nelle neuroscienze siamo soliti distinguere tra memorie a brevissimo, breve, medio e lungo termine, ciascuna sottesa da specifici meccanismi neurobiologici.

Un altro tipo di memoria oggetto di studio è la cosiddetta memoria di lavoro (working memory); la working memory possiamo immaginarla come uno spazio in cui manteniamo temporaneamente attive le rappresentazioni mentali che ci servono per attuare processi cognitivi come il ragionamento: questo è quel che solitamente facciamo, ad esempio, quando dobbiamo trovare una soluzione ad un problema; in questo processo di ragionamento teniamo attive nella nostra working memory tutte le informazioni che dobbiamo confrontare e integrare per trovare la  soluzione. 

Potenziare la memoria significa migliorare tutte le abilità di apprendimento (acquisizione e consolidamento), recupero e mantenimento (working memory) delle tracce mnemoniche, delle informazioni, siano esse di tipo autobiografico, episodico o enciclopedico. 

Numerosi studi hanno dimostrato l'efficacia di diversi protocolli di neurofeedback per il potenziamento dei vari aspetti della memoria su descritti. Il potenziamento della memoria è attuabile tanto nelle persone con carenze in tali abilità, quanto in persone che non presentano carenze ma trovano utile se non necessario potenziarle ulteriormente, solitamente per ragioni professionali o scolastiche.

 Quante sedute occorrono?

Il neurofeedback per il potenziamento della memoria può richiedere 20 sedute o più; il numero delle sedute dipende da numerosi fattori che devono esser esaminati in sede di valutazione. 

Quanto dura una seduta di Neurofeedback?

 Una seduta di neurofeedback per il potenziamento della memoria dura mediamente 20 o 30 minuti. Il tempo può essere aumentato per ridurre il numero delle sedute solo se il/la paziente è in grado di sostenere training prolungati.

Quanto costa una seduta di Neurofeedback?

Una seduta di Neurofeedback di 20-30 minuti ha un costo di €70,00

Studi scientifici

Numerosi studi condotti negli ultimi decenni hanno dimostrato l'efficacia del neurofeedback nel potenziamento della memoria. In questa sezione riportiamo solo alcuni degli studi più recenti; per una rassegna completa e sempre aggiornata degli studi condotti suggeriamo sempre di consultare Pubmed, la piattaforma web usata da tutto il mondo scientifico per la consultazione delle ricerche scientifiche.

Jackson LE, Han YJ, Evans LH. The efficacy of electroencephalography neurofeedback for enhancing episodic memory in healthy and clinical Dobrakowski P, Łebecka G. Individualized Neurofeedback Training May Help Achieve Long-Term Improvement of Working Memory in Children With ADHD. Clin EEG Neurosci. 2020 Mar;51(2):94-101. doi: 10.1177/1550059419879020. Epub 2019 Oct 3. 

Lin YR, Hsu TW, Hsu CW, Chen PY, Tseng PT, Liang CS. Effectiveness of Electroencephalography Neurofeedback for Improving Working Memory and Episodic Memory in the Elderly: A Meta-Analysis. Medicina (Kaunas). 2024 Feb 22;60(3):369. doi: 10.3390/medicina60030369. PMID: 38541096; PMCID: PMC10972127.

Koizumi K, Kunii N, Ueda K, Nagata K, Fujitani S, Shimada S, Nakao M. Paving the Way for Memory Enhancement: Development and Examination of a Neurofeedback System Targeting the Medial Temporal Lobe. Biomedicines. 2023 Aug 13;11(8):2262. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11082262. PMID: 37626758; PMCID: PMC10452721.

Jiang Y, Jessee W, Hoyng S, Borhani S, Liu Z, Zhao X, Price LK, High W, Suhl J, Cerel-Suhl S. Sharpening Working Memory With Real-Time Electrophysiological Brain Signals: Which Neurofeedback Paradigms Work? Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Mar 28;14:780817. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.780817. PMID: 35418848; PMCID: PMC8995767.

Rozengurt R, Kuznietsov I, Kachynska T, Kozachuk N, Abramchuk O, Zhuravlov O, Mendelsohn A, Levy DA. Theta EEG neurofeedback promotes early consolidation of real life-like episodic memory. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2023 Dec;23(6):1473-1481. doi: 10.3758/s13415-023-01125-0. Epub 2023 Sep 26. PMID: 37752389.

Eschmann KCJ, Bader R, Mecklinger A. Improving episodic memory: Frontal-midline theta neurofeedback training increases source memory performance. Neuroimage. 2020 Nov 15;222:117219. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117219. Epub 2020 Aug 1. PMID: 32750499.

Nazer M, Mirzaei H, Mokhtaree M. Effectiveness of neurofeedback training on verbal memory, visual memory and self-efficacy in students. Electron Physician. 2018 Sep 9;10(9):7259-7265. doi: 10.19082/7259. PMID: 30258558; PMCID: PMC6140992. NFB is effective in improving verbal memory and some dimensions of visual memory (at 1 year).

Vilou I, Varka A, Parisis D, Afrantou T, Ioannidis P. EEG-Neurofeedback as a Potential Therapeutic Approach for Cognitive Deficits in Patients with Dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury. Life (Basel). 2023 Jan 29;13(2):365. doi: 10.3390/life13020365. PMID: 36836721; PMCID: PMC9966294.

Tseng YH, Tamura K, Okamoto T. Neurofeedback training improves episodic and semantic long-term memory performance. Sci Rep. 2021 Aug 26;11(1):17274. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-96726-5. PMID: 34446791; PMCID: PMC8390655.

Gruzelier JH. EEG-neurofeedback for optimising performance. I: a review of cognitive and affective outcome in healthy participants. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014 Jul;44:124-41. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.09.015. Epub 2013 Oct 12. PMID: 24125857.

Reis J, Portugal AM, Fernandes L, Afonso N, Pereira M, Sousa N, Dias NS. An Alpha and Theta Intensive and Short Neurofeedback Protocol for Healthy Aging Working-Memory Training. Front Aging Neurosci. 2016 Jul 7;8:157. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00157. PMID: 27458369; PMCID: PMC4936375.

Shtoots L, Dagan T, Levine J, Rothstein A, Shati L, Levy DA. The Effects of Theta EEG Neurofeedback on the Consolidation of Spatial Memory. Clin EEG Neurosci. 2021 Sep;52(5):338-344. doi: 10.1177/1550059420973107. Epub 2020 Nov 18. PMID: 33207955.

Lavy Y, Dwolatzky T, Kaplan Z, Guez J, Todder D. Neurofeedback Improves Memory and Peak Alpha Frequency in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2019 Mar;44(1):41-49. doi: 10.1007/s10484-018-9418-0. PMID: 30284663.

Reiner M, Rozengurt R, Barnea A. Better than sleep: theta neurofeedback training accelerates memory consolidation. Biol Psychol. 2014 Jan;95:45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.10.010. Epub 2013 Nov 7. PMID: 24211625.

Yeh WH, Ju YJ, Liu YT, Wang TY. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Neurofeedback Training of Theta Activity on Working Memory and Episodic Memory in Healthy Population. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 3;19(17):11037. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191711037. PMID: 36078752; PMCID: PMC9517899.

Fotuhi M, Khorrami ND, Raji CA. Benefits of a 12-Week Non-Drug "Brain Fitness Program" for Patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder, Post-Concussion Syndrome, or Memory Loss. J Alzheimers Dis Rep. 2023 Jun 29;7(1):675-697. doi: 10.3233/ADR-220091. PMID: 37483322; PMCID: PMC10357116.

Nawaz R, Wood G, Nisar H, Yap VV. Exploring the Effects of EEG-Based Alpha Neurofeedback on Working Memory Capacity in Healthy Participants. Bioengineering (Basel). 2023 Feb 3;10(2):200. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10020200. PMID: 36829694; PMCID: PMC9952280.

Gillespie AK, Astudillo Maya D, Denovellis EL, Desse S, Frank LM. Neurofeedback training can modulate task-relevant memory replay rate in rats. Elife. 2024 Jul 3;12:RP90944. doi: 10.7554/eLife.90944. PMID: 38958562; PMCID: PMC11221834.

Hsueh JJ, Chen TS, Chen JJ, Shaw FZ. Neurofeedback training of EEG alpha rhythm enhances episodic and working memory. Hum Brain Mapp. 2016 Jul;37(7):2662-75. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23201. Epub 2016 Apr 1. Erratum in: Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 Jun;38(6):3315. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23625. PMID: 27038114; PMCID: PMC6867560.

Tetsuka M, Sakurada T, Matsumoto M, Nakajima T, Morita M, Fujimoto S, Kawai K. Higher prefrontal activity based on short-term neurofeedback training can prevent working memory decline in acute stroke. Front Syst Neurosci. 2023 Jun 14;17:1130272. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2023.1130272. PMID: 37388942; PMCID: PMC10300420.

Rozengurt R, Shtoots L, Sheriff A, Sadka O, Levy DA. Enhancing early consolidation of human episodic memory by theta EEG neurofeedback. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2017 Nov;145:165-171. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2017.10.005. Epub 2017 Oct 10. PMID: 29030299.

Dobrakowski P, Łebecka G. Individualized Neurofeedback Training May Help Achieve Long-Term Improvement of Working Memory in Children With ADHD. Clin EEG Neurosci. 2020 Mar;51(2):94-101. doi: 10.1177/1550059419879020. Epub 2019 Oct 3. PMID: 31578889. This study found a statistically significant improvement in a measure of working memory in children who did 10 to 12 sessions of neurofeedback training with training frequency ranges for theta and beta defined according to each child's PAF. The beneficial effects were still present a year after training.

Zhou W, Nan W, Xiong K, Ku Y. Alpha neurofeedback training improves visual working memory in healthy individuals. NPJ Sci Learn. 2024 Apr 18;9(1):32. doi: 10.1038/s41539-024-00242-w. PMID: 38637595; PMCID: PMC11026515. Both groups received NF training (about 30 min daily) for five consecutive days. The NF group received alpha (8-12 Hz) training, while the sham control group received sham NF training. We found a significant alpha increase within sessions but no significant difference across sessions. However, the behavioral performance and neural activity in the modified Sternberg task did not show significant change after alpha NF training. On the contrary, the alpha NF training group significantly increased visual working memory capacity measured by the Corsi-block tapping task and improved visual working memory precision in the interference condition in a color-recall task. These results suggest that alpha NF training influences performance in working memory tasks involved in the visuospatial sketchpad. Notably, we demonstrated that alpha NF training improves the quantity and quality of visual working memory.

Xiong S, Cheng C, Wu X, Guo X, Yao L, Zhang J. Working memory training using EEG neurofeedback in normal young adults. Biomed Mater Eng. 2014;24(6):3637-44. doi: 10.3233/BME-141191. PMID: 25227078. Our results demonstrated that these normal young adults succeeded in improving their WM performance with EEG NF, and the pre- and post-test evaluations also indicated that WM performance increase in experimental group was significantly greater than control groups. In summary, our findings provided preliminarily evidence that WM performance can be improved through learned regulation of the EEG power ratio using EEG NF.

Kober SE, Schweiger D, Witte M, Reichert JL, Grieshofer P, Neuper C, Wood G. Specific effects of EEG based neurofeedback training on memory functions in post-stroke victims. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2015 Dec 1;12:107. doi: 10.1186/s12984-015-0105-6. PMID: 26625906; PMCID: PMC4666277. About 70 % of both patients and controls achieved distinct gains in NF performance leading to improvements in verbal short- and long-term memory, independent of the used NF protocol. The SMR patient group showed specific improvements in visuo-spatial short-term memory performance, whereas the Upper Alpha patient group specifically improved their working memory performance. NF training effects were even stronger than effects of traditional cognitive training methods in stroke patients. Post-stroke victims with memory deficits could benefit from NF training as much as healthy controls. The used NF training protocols (SMR, Upper Alpha) had specific as well as unspecific effects on memory. Hence, NF might offer an effective cognitive rehabilitation tool improving memory deficits of stroke survivors.

Lavy Y, Dwolatzky T, Kaplan Z, Guez J, Todder D. Mild Cognitive Impairment and Neurofeedback: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Jun 14;13:657646. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.657646. PMID: 34194315; PMCID: PMC8236892. Results: We witnessed a significant improvement in memory performance in subjects in the experimental group compared to those in the sham group. This improvement was maintained for at least 1 month. Conclusions: Neurofeedback may be a promising and affordable novel approach for treating the decline in memory witnessed in patients with MCI.

Tazaki M. A review: effects of neurofeedback on patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Front Hum Neurosci. 2024 Feb 14;17:1331436. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1331436. PMID: 38420112; PMCID: PMC10899454. 13 articles were identified regarding the effectiveness of NFT in patients with MCI and AD. Although each study differed in study design, training protocol, electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode placement, and reward and inhibition frequency bands, all were shown to enhance memory, attention, and other cognitive abilities.

Escolano C, Aguilar M, Minguez J. EEG-based upper alpha neurofeedback training improves working memory performance. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2011;2011:2327-30. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2011.6090651. PMID: 22254807.

Nan W, Rodrigues JP, Ma J, Qu X, Wan F, Mak PI, Mak PU, Vai MI, Rosa A. Individual alpha neurofeedback training effect on short term memory. Int J Psychophysiol. 2012 Oct;86(1):83-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.182. Epub 2012 Aug 1. PMID: 22864258. Short term memory performance was significantly enhanced by 20 sessions of NFT. More importantly, further analysis revealed that the improvement of short term memory was positively correlated with the increase of the relative amplitude in the individual upper alpha band during training.