What is the main question?:
Historically, the general lack of double-blinded placebo controls in neurofeedback studies has always been a source of concern. This issue is regularly brought up in high profile reviews as a caveat for the method. And yet, it remains unclear if genuine double-blinded studies are feasible for most applications. Others may question whether placebo control may be truly necessary or just too conservative; one could argue if a treatment is better than passage of time or some other existing treatment, it does not have to be shown to be more effective than placebo-controlled sham treatments. On the other hand, it is the gold standard of modern medicine to implement double-blinded clinical trials. Should neurofeedback studies attempt meet this standard? What would be the best way for our community to establish common guidelines for future studies?
Why is this an important question to neurofeedback researchers?:
The issue of double-blinded control concerns not just acceptance for clinical trials. It is a matter of experimental rigor that can affect the broad image of the field as a legitimate scientific community of the highest standard. This can affect the publishability of our papers in top high-profile journals, funding, etc, and may have far reaching implications for the growth and prosperity of the field.
Is there extant literature to support different sides of the debate?:
The following are some example articles on the relevant controversies, which appeared recently in the literature and generated considerable impact:
Sitaram R, Ros T, Stoeckel L, Haller S, Scharnowski F, Lewis-Peacock J, Weiskopf N, Blefari ML, Rana M, Oblak E, Birbaumer N, Sulzer J. Closed-loop brain training: the science of neurofeedback. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017 Feb;18(2):86-100.
Lofthouse N, Arnold LE, Hurt E. Current status of neurofeedback for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2012 Oct;14(5):536-42.
Young KD, Siegle GJ, Zotev V, Phillips R, Misaki M, Yuan H, Drevets WC, Bodurka J. Randomized Clinical Trial of Real-Time fMRI Amygdala Neurofeedback for Major Depressive Disorder: Effects on Symptoms and Autobiographical Memory Recall. Am J Psychiatry. 2017 Apr 14:appiajp201716060637
Schabus M, Griessenberger H, Gnjezda MT, Heib DPJ, Wislowska M, Hoedlmoser K. Better than sham? A double-blind placebo-controlled neurofeedback study in primary insomnia. Brain. 2017 Apr 1;140(4):1041-1052.
Speakers:
1. Tor Wager (University of Colorado, Boulder)
2. Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel (UCLA)
3. Kimberly Young (University of Pittsburg)
Co-chair / Co-submitter:
Mitsuo Kawato (ATR, Kyoto)
Mitsuo Kawato, PhD
Nicholas Turk-Browne, PhD
David Linden, MD, DPhil
Surjo R. Soekadar, MD
Yoshinori Yamakawa, PhD