IntroductionIndividuals who have suffered a stroke may experience long-lasting cognitive impairments that can worsen if left untreated. We investigated whether voluntary control of slow cortical potentials (SCP) through neurofeedback would help alleviate chronic post-stroke symptoms of impaired attention.MethodsThe study initially enrolled twenty-eight participants, but due to a high drop-out rate, only sixteen participants completed eight SCP neurofeedback training sessions within three to four weeks. During these sessions, we gave feedback to the participants on their ability to regulate SCPs on a computer screen.ResultsOur findings showed a non-significant increase in SCP regulation towards cortical negativity. On the behavioral level, we found improved test values in the divided attention and attentional flexibility subtests of the test battery for attention performance. However, we cannot eliminate the possibility that nonspecific effects influenced or caused our results. We have not observed any improvement regarding the effects of attention deficits on participants’ daily lives. We identified five individuals who could gain SCP control successfully and consistently towards negativity. In this group of responders, we observed an improvement in the test results related to divided attention but no other attention-related improvements.DiscussionBased on our observations, results of SCP neurofeedback training for the treatment of attention deficits after a stroke are inconclusive. More research is necessary to determine the effectiveness of SCP neurofeedback in helping stroke survivors cope with attention-related challenges in their daily lives.

中文翻译：

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缓慢皮质电位神经反馈治疗慢性中风后注意力缺陷的不确定结果

简介中风患者可能会出现长期的认知障碍，如果不及时治疗，情况可能会恶化。我们调查了通过神经反馈自愿控制慢皮层电位 (SCP) 是否有助于缓解注意力受损的慢性中风后症状。方法该研究最初招募了 28 名参与者，但由于退出率很高，只有 16 名参与者完成了 8 项研究。三到四个星期内进行 SCP 神经反馈培训课程。在这些会议期间，我们向参与者提供了关于他们在电脑屏幕上调节 SCP 的能力的反馈。结果我们的发现表明 SCP 对皮质负性的调节没有显着增加。在行为层面上，我们发现注意力表现测试组的分散注意力和注意力灵活性子测试的测试值有所提高。然而，我们无法消除非特异性效应影响或导致我们结果的可能性。我们没有观察到注意力缺陷对参与者日常生活的影响有任何改善。我们确定了五个能够成功控制 SCP 并持续走向消极的人。在这组响应者中，我们观察到与注意力分散相关的测试结果有所改善，但没有其他与注意力相关的改善。讨论根据我们的观察，用于治疗中风后注意力缺陷的 SCP 神经反馈训练的结果尚无定论。需要更多的研究来确定 SCP 神经反馈在帮助中风幸存者应对日常生活中与注意力相关的挑战方面的有效性。