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Background/objective: Inhibition is crucial for controlling behavior and is impaired in various psychopathologies. Neurofeedback holds promise in addressing cognitive deficits, and experimental research is essential for identifying its functional benefits. This study aimed to investigate whether boosting sensorimotor activity (SMR) improves inhibitory control in a final sample of healthy individuals ( N = 53), while exploring the underlying neurophysiological mechanism., Method: Participants were randomly divided into two groups: one receiving SMR neurofeedback training to enhance sensorimotor activity within the 12-15 Hz frequency range, and the other receiving sham feedback. Inhibition performance and neural correlates were evaluated with a Go-NoGo task before (T0) and after (T1) 10 neurofeedback sessions using event-related potentials. Data were analyzed via ANOVAs and regression analyses., Results: Compared to placebo, the active group demonstrated higher absolute SMR power ( p = 0.040) and improvements in inhibitory control, including faster response times and fewer inhibition errors ( p < 0.001, d = 6.06), associated with a larger NoGoP3d amplitude ( p < 0.001, d = 3.35). A positive correlation between the increase in SMR power and the rise in NoGoP3d amplitude (β=0.46, p = 0.015) explains 21 % of the observed variance., Conclusions: Uptraining SMR power is linked to heightened utilization of neural resources for executing optimal inhibition responses. These results uphold its effectiveness in cognitive rehabilitation., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The authors declare that they do not practice clinically with neurofeedback but have received blueprint certification training and supervision in preparation for the neurofeedback entry-level certification from the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA)., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Recent global data indicates a worldwide increase in polydrug use associated with a shift from recreational to productive habits of consumption. Such non-responsible abuse of substances (alcohol, cocaine, heroin, etc.) is likely to lead to addictive disorders that are characterized by various neuropsychopharmacological effects. A main cognitive function involved in the onset and long-term maintenance of addiction is reactive inhibition, i.e., the ability to withhold a prepotent motor dominant response. In the present study, 63 (poly)drug user patients who were undergoing a detoxification program, in addition to 19 healthy controls matched for gender, age, and education, were subjected to a "contextual Go/No-Go task" with concomitant electroencephalography. Stimuli were superimposed on three contextual backgrounds: control (black screen), drug-unrelated (neutral pictures), or drug-related (pictures related to drug consumption). Of these patients, 23 were cocaine users (CU), 21 were heroin users (HU), and 19 were polydrug users (PDU). The main results showed that (1) at the behavioral level, more commission errors occurred with the PDU patients compared to the healthy controls; (2) at the neurophysiological level, specific alterations were found on classical event-related potentials that index reactive inhibition. Indeed, the higher rate of errors in the PDU group was subtended by both reduced amplitude and latency on the ∆N2 component and increased ∆P3 latency compared to controls. These data clearly suggest a more deleterious impact of polydrug use on inhibitory functions. In addition, our results provide evidence of reduced ERN amplitude in cocaine users, suggesting that impaired performance monitoring and error-processing may support impaired awareness, thereby preventing these patients from changing their behaviors.

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) has a disconcertingly high relapse rate (70-80% within a year following withdrawal). Preventing relapse or minimizing its extent is hence a challenging goal for long-term successful management of AUD. New perspectives that rely on diverse neuromodulation tools have been developed in this regard as care supports. This paper focuses on electroencephalogram-neurofeedback (EEG-NF), which is a tool that has experienced renewed interest in both clinical and research areas. We review the literature on EEG-based neurofeedback studies investigating the efficacy in AUD and including at least 10 neurofeedback training sessions. As neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback in which a measure of brain activity is provided as feedback in real-time to a subject, the high degree of temporal resolution of the EEG interface supports optimal learning. By offering a wide range of brain oscillation targets (alpha, beta, theta, delta, gamma, and SMR) the EEG-NF procedure increases the scope of possible investigations through a multitude of experimental protocols that can be considered to reinforce or inhibit specific forms of EEG activity associated with AUD-related cognitive impairments. The present review provides an overview of the EEG-NF protocols that have been used in AUD and it highlights the current paucity of robust evidence. Within this framework, this review presents the arguments in favor of the application of EEG-NF as an add-on tool in the management of alcohol disorders to enhance the cognitive abilities required to maintain abstinence more specifically, with a focus on inhibition and attentional skills., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Finding new tools for conventional management of alcohol disorders is a challenge for psychiatrists. Brain indications related to cognitive functioning could represent such an add-on tool., Methods: Forty alcohol-dependent inpatients undertook two cognitive event-related potential (ERP) tasks at the beginning and at the end of a 4-week detoxification program. These comprised a visual oddball task investigating cue reactivity and a Go/No-go task tagging inhibition using oddball P3d and No-go P3d ERP components. Three months after discharge, the patient group (N = 40) was split into two subgroups: patients who remained abstinent during this post-treatment period (90 days; n = 15), and patients who relapsed (mean time: 28.5 ± 26.2 days; n = 25). Pattern changes of both ERP markers (oddball P3d and No-go P3d) during the detoxification were compared to differentiate these populations., Results: Abstinent patients exhibited similar P3d responses devoted to alcohol cues in Sessions 1 and 2, but an increased No-go P3d devoted to No-go trials in alcohol-related contexts in Session 2 compared to Session 1., Conclusions: Specific cue-reactivity and inhibitory neurophysiological markers subtend a further three-months of complete abstinence., Significance: Monitoring these ERP changes during detoxification may provide important clues regarding patients' future abstinence vs. relapse., (Copyright © 2019 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Alcohol dependence is currently one of the most serious public health problems. Indeed, 3-8% of all deaths worldwide are attributable to effects of alcohol consumption. Although the first step in alcohol dependence treatment is straightforward, the main problem for clinicians lies with the prevention of relapse, as 40-70% of patients who only undergo psychosocial therapy resume alcohol use within a year following treatment. This review of the literature regarding event-related potentials (ERPs) is focused on two major neurocognitive factors that partially account for the inability of many alcoholics to remain abstinent: attentional biases towards alcohol-related stimuli that increase the urge to drink, and impaired response inhibition towards these cues that makes it more difficult for alcoholics to resist the temptation to drink. On this basis, we propose new research avenues to better implement ERPs in the management of alcohol disorders, according to four main directions that relate to (1) the development of ERP serial recordings; (2) the promotion of a multi-component ERP approach; (3) the definition of multi-site guidelines; and (4) the use of more representative laboratory situations through the use of more compelling environments., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Cognitive impairment is a major component in addiction. However, research has been inconclusive as to whether this is also the case for smokers. The present study aims at providing electrophysiological clue for altered inhibitory control in smokers and at investigating whether reduced inhibition was more pronounced during exposure to a smoking cue., Methods: ERPs were recorded during a visual Go-NoGo task performed by 18 smokers and 23 controls, in which either a frequent Go signal (letter "M") or a rare No-Go signal ("letter W") were superimposed on three different long-lasting background contexts: black-neutral, smoking-related and non smoking-related., Results: (1) Smokers performed worse and had an earlier NoGo-N2 latency as compared to controls and independently of context, suggesting a general inhibition impairment; (2) with smoking-related backgrounds specifically, smokers made fewer mistakes than they did in other contexts and displayed a larger NoGo P3 amplitude., Conclusion: These data might suggest that background cues related to addiction may help smokers to be more accurate in an inhibition task., Significance: Our results show the classical inhibitory impairment in smokers as compared to non-smokers. However, our data also suggest that a smoking-related background may bolster the inhibitory ability of smokers specifically., (Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We found previously that use of a bimodal oddball design with synchronized pairs of audio-visual stimuli increased the sensitivity of the P300 wave to detect subclinical anxiety-depression in otherwise healthy subjects. Here, we wished to determine whether these P300 modulations would also be encountered when a clinical population comprised of patients with an adjustment disorder (AJD) was compared to healthy controls., Method: Two groups, each comprised of twenty-five participants (AJD patients, and controls; N=50) had to detect deviant stimuli among frequent stimuli in an oddball task by clicking on a button. Separate blocks involving audio (A), visual (V) or bimodal congruent (AV) stimuli were used and compared., Results: P300 amplitudes of the control group were higher than those displayed by AJD patients, but only in the bimodal AV oddball task, while unimodal (visual or auditory) oddball tasks did not reveal any significant differences., Conclusions: The increased sensitivity of the bimodal P300 that we observed previously in subclinical anxiety-depression was also observed in AJD patients., Significance: The impaired "bimodal congruence effect" in AJD suggests that these patients have altered integrative processes, which has potential implications for cognitive therapy., (Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Event-related potentials (ERPs) bimodal oddball task has disclosed increased sensitivity to show P300 modulations to subclinical symptoms. Even if the utility of such a procedure has still to be confirmed at a clinical level, gathering normative values of this new oddball variant may be of the greatest interest. We specifically addressed the challenge of defining the best location for the recording of P3a and P3b components and selecting the best reference to use by investigating the effect of an offline re-reference procedure on recorded bimodal P3a and P3b. Forty young and healthy subjects were submitted to a bimodal (synchronized and always congruent visual and auditory stimuli) three-stimulus oddball task in which 140 frequent bimodal stimuli, 30 deviant "target" stimuli and 30 distractors were presented. Task consisted in clicking as soon as possible on the targets, and not paying attention to frequent stimuli and distractors. This procedure allowed us to record, for each individual, the P3a component, referring to the novelty process related to distractors processing, and the P3b component, linked to the processing of the target stimuli. Results showed that both P3a and P3b showed maximal amplitude in Pz. However, P3a displayed a more central distribution. Nose reference was also shown to give maximal amplitudes compared with average and linked mastoids references. These data were discussed in light of the necessity to develop multi-site recording guidelines to furnish sets of ERPs data comparable across laboratories.

Although relating to very different concepts, sleepiness and fatigue are often confounded. However, both fatigue-associated conditions such as the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and sleepiness-associated conditions such as the sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) are associated with cognitive impairment with impaired attention, concentration and memory performances. Fifteen pure CFS patients, without primary sleep disorders or clinically relevant sleepiness, were compared to 15 untreated SAHS patients, without clinically relevant fatigue, and to 16 healthy controls of similar age. The auditory verbal learning test (AVLT), digit span, digit symbol and finger tapping test (FTT) were used as cognitive and behavioural measures. In addition we assessed daytime EEG spectral power and P300 evoked potentials. With exception for the digit span, all tests showed lower performances in patient groups. Recall on the AVLT did not differ between the two patient groups, but the digit and symbol spans showed more severe impairment in SAHS patients. Psychomotor performance on the FTT presented with slower hit rates in SAHS than in CFS. EEG theta power was highest in CFS patients. P300 latencies and amplitudes did not differ between groups. Fatigue- and sleepiness-associated conditions can both present with significant and objective impairment of cognitive functioning and behavioural motor performance. In our sample cognitive impairment and psychomotor performance were worse when associated to sleepiness in SAHS than with fatigue in CFS., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A 34-year-old woman presented with complex symptoms of unknown origin. Because she suffered from a co-existing learning disability (mental retardation) and dysmorphic disorders a genetic examination was carried out. This revealed a submicroscopic terminal deletion of the long arm of chromosome 3. The contribution that clinical genetics make to the diagnosis of mental retardation is discussed on the basis of a review of the recent literature.