title: Effect of mindfulness meditation on brain-computer interface performance.
abstract: Electroencephalogram based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable stroke and motor neuron disease patients to communicate and control devices. Mindfulness meditation has been claimed to enhance metacognitive regulation. The current study explores whether mindfulness meditation training can thus improve the performance of BCI users. To eliminate the possibility of expectation of improvement influencing the results, we introduced a music training condition. A norming study found that both meditation and music interventions elicited clear expectations for improvement on the BCI task, with the strength of expectation being closely matched. In the main 12 week intervention study, seventy-six healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups: a meditation training group; a music training group; and a no treatment control group. The mindfulness meditation training group obtained a significantly higher BCI accuracy compared to both the music training and no-treatment control groups after the intervention, indicating effects of meditation above and beyond expectancy effects.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: tanlf@utar.edu.my.
authors.forename: Lee-Fan
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK.
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dienes
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jansari
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sing-Yau
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Goh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D062207:Brain-Computer Interfaces / Q000523:psychology*; D002681:China; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000523:psychology*; D064866:Mindfulness / Q000379:methods*; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: BCI performance; Brain–computer interface; Expectation; Meditation; Mindfulness; Music