Frontal-midline (FM) theta activity (4–8 Hz) is proposed to reflect a mechanism for cognitive control that is needed for working memory retention, manipulation, and interference resolution. Modulation of FM theta activity via neurofeedback training (NFT) demonstrated transfer to some but not all types of cognitive control. Therefore, the present study investigated whether FM theta NFT enhances performance and modulates underlying EEG characteristics in a delayed match to sample (DMTS) task requiring mainly proactive control and a color Stroop task requiring mainly reactive control. Moreover, temporal characteristics of transfer were explored over two posttests. Across seven 30-min NFT sessions, an FM theta training group exhibited a larger FM theta increase compared to an active control group who upregulated randomly chosen frequency bands. In a posttest performed 13 days after the last training session, the training group showed better retention performance in the DMTS task. Furthermore, manipulation performance was associated with NFT theta increase for the training but not the control group. Contrarily, behavioral group differences and their relation to FM theta change were not significant in the Stroop task, suggesting that NFT is associated with proactive but not reactive control enhancement. Transfer to both tasks at a posttest one day after training was not significant. Behavioral improvements were not accompanied by changes in FM theta activity, indicating no training-induced modulation of EEG characteristics. Together, these findings suggest that NFT supports transfer to cognitive control that manifests late after training but that other training-unspecific factors may also contribute to performance enhancement.

中文翻译：

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改善认知控制：theta 神经反馈训练与主动而非被动控制增强相关吗？

额中线 (FM) theta 活动 (4-8 Hz) 被提出来反映工作记忆保留、操作和干扰解决所需的认知控制机制。通过神经反馈训练 (NFT) 调节 FM θ 活动证明了转移到某些但不是所有类型的认知控制。因此，本研究调查了 FM theta NFT 是否在主要需要主动控制的延迟匹配样本 (DMTS) 任务和主要需要被动控制的颜色 Stroop 任务中增强性能并调节潜在的 EEG 特征。此外，在两个后测中探索了迁移的时间特征。在 7 个 30 分钟的 NFT 会话中，与上调随机选择的频段的活跃对照组相比，FM theta 训练组表现出更大的 FM theta 增加。在最后一次培训课程后 13 天进行的后测中，培训组在 DMTS 任务中表现出更好的保留表现。此外，操作性能与训练的 NFT theta 增加有关，但与对照组无关。相反，行为组差异及其与 FM θ 变化的关系在 Stroop 任务中并不显着，这表明 NFT 与主动控制增强相关但与被动控制增强无关。在培训后一天的后测中转移到这两项任务并不重要。行为改善并未伴随 FM θ 活动的变化，表明没有训练诱导的 EEG 特征调制。一起，