ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Parsaee   S. (1)
Alboghbish   S. (*)
Abdolahi   H. (2)
Rajabi   R.A. (3)
Anbari   A. (4)






(*) Sport Psychology Department, Physical Education Faculty, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
(1) Sport Psychology Department, Physical Education Faculty, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
(2) Political Science Department, Humanities Faculty, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
(3) Police Management Department, Basic Sciences Faculty, Amin of Police Sciences University, Tehran, Iran
(4) Sociology Department, Humanities Faculty, Dehaghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Department Sports Psychology, Physical Education & Sport Sciences Faculty, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Golestan Street, Ahvaz, Iran
Phone: +98 (61) 3332341
Fax: +98 (61) 3332341
albogbish@gmail.com

Article History

Received:  August  3, 2017
Accepted:  October 17, 2017
ePublished:  January 11, 2018

BRIEF TEXT


… [1-4]. One of the precise indicators for examining the speed and efficiency of decision making in different situations, especially athletic positions, is the reaction time which is the time elapsed between the presentation of sensory stimulus and subsequent behavioral response [5].

… [6-10].Several studies have been carried out in the literature on the effects of neurofeedback program on the treatment of diseases and improvement of cognitive performance and operation of the people [11]. Parsai et al. have conducted a study titled the effect of neurofeedback exercise on improving the reaction time of inactive elderly men. The results showed that neurofeedback exercises (beta-wave amplification and theta-wave reduction) has significantly improved the reaction time of the experimental group [12]. Al Agha et al., in another study aimed at influencing neurofeedback exercises on the performance and response time of people with sensitive occupation, showed that 20 sessions of neurofeedback exercises had a positive impact on performance and response time through increased sensory motor rhythm (SMR) [13]. … [14-17].

Considering the beneficial and diverse effects of the neurofeedback program on various conditions and aspects of life and the treatment of various disorders and diseases, and considering the research limitations of the effect of neurofeedback exercises on improving the life and cognitive processes of veterans and disabled people, and on the other hand due to the fact that cognitive processes such as reaction time play a very important role in the lives of veterans and disabled people, the necessity of conducting research into the effect of neurofeedback in the domain of veterans and disabled was felt. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of neurofeedback exercises on the visual and auditory response time of veterans and disabled athletes.

This applied research is a semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design.

This research was conducted among all veterans and disabled people of Shiraz city, in the Shiraz Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs during the period from May to June 2017.

Of these, 16 were selected by convenience sampling (those who were regularly engaged in Shiraz Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs to do various team and individual exercises) and they voluntarily participated in the research. Being athlete (at least three sessions of regular exercise during the week), lack of mental disorders, and lack of surgery in the head area were criteria for entering the research.

Research tools included: 1- Neurofeedback device: Neurofeedback exercises were performed using a neurofeedback device including four-channel neuro/biofeedback hardware (Vilistus Model, England) and software (BIOS; UK). This device was connected to a laptop (Lenova, Legen, China) with a screen of 15.6 inches, and appropriate programs and animations were selected and performed by neurofeedback specialist to perform the neurofeedback exercises. 2- Stroop stroke test device in psychological refractory period: This device was a researcher-made device capable of adjusting and selecting the sequence type of the first and second stimulus to measure the reaction time. This device has a hardware in form of keyboard with two yellow and green buttons for visual stimuli and a top and bottom button for answering audio prompts. The keyboard is connected to the HP laptop with 16.6-inch monitor screen via a USB port. To assess the reliability of this device, a guideline study was conducted on 20 subjects, and by test-retest method, its reliability was 0.82. To assess the validity of this tool, the concurrent validity was used simultaneously with the 1000-yg reaction time measurement device, that correlation coefficient of 0.80 was obtained between the reaction time obtained from these two devices [18]. In the pretest phase, the simple and selective reaction time test was performed in all the participants in form of visual and auditory using stroop effect test in psychological refractory period. After the pretest stage, the participants were randomly divided into equal groups of control and experimental. The experimental group received neurofeedback training including SMR wave amplification and theta wave suppression in the Cz region during 5 weeks and each week for 30 minutes under the supervision of a neurofeedback specialist [19]. The task of neurofeedback exercises included various games such as fishing animation, star wars, and moving pictures. Participants sat in front of the monitor while doing the neurofeedback exercises and were trying to advance games and animations through their brainwaves. First, the examiner, was cleaning the tulle of both ears and the point Cz i.e. the central point of the skull with a special gel. The reference electrode (yellow) was attached to the left ear and the grand electrode (black) was attached to the right ear by ten20 adhesive. At the beginning of each session, a baseline record was taken. The training sessions were conducted in accordance with the selected protocol based on theta wave suppression (4 to 6 Hz) and the SMR wavelength amplifier (12 to 15 Hz) in the area. During the neurofeedback training, no intervention was performed in the control group. At the end of neurofeedback exercises, simple and selective visual and auditory response tests were obtained from the both group. All participants were asked to participate in any pretest and posttest phase in any research program that was designed to improve the reaction time, and the participants were given the opportunity to exit the research at any time. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21 software. Before performing the main operation, the normal conditions of distribution of data were investigated using Shapiro-Wilk test and homogeneity of variance was examined by Levene test. After determining the existence of statistical assumptions, one-way ANOVA was used to ensure the homogeneity of the two experimental and control groups in the pretest. To determine the difference between the two groups after the neurofeedback exercises, the combined analysis of variance analysis 2(group) X 4(reaction time) was used. To determine the difference between the two groups, repeated measures of variance analysis and LSD post hoc test were used.

There was no significant difference between the two experimental and control groups in the pretest stage in all four modes of simple listening, selective auditory, simple visual and selective visual (p>0.05). After the intervention, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest in the control group (p>0.05). While in the experimental group, significant difference was observed (p=0.0001; F=12.76) that neurofeedback exercises in the experimental group significantly reduced visual simple reaction (p=0.007), simple auditory (p=0.001), selective visual (p=0.003) and selective auditory (p=0.0001; Table 1).

The results showed that neurofeedback exercises improved the visual and auditory response time. These results were in line with the results of studies by Parsai et al. [12] and Doplmeyer and Weber [14]. Al-agha et al. in a study entitled influence of neurofeedback exercises on cognitive function of beginner tennis players, concluded that neurofeedback exercises in the real group compared to the placebo and control group could improve the reaction time but did not affect the amount of attention [20]. Kizer et al. reported that neurofeedback exercises with gamma-enhancing protocols had a change in the gamma power of the participants, which was associated with a reduction in response time in the post-test [21]. In a study on the effect of neurofeedback exercises on reaction time as an indicator of short-term memory, Jahan seir et al. showed that during 8 sessions, neurofeedback exercises increased the relative power of the alpha band in the Qz region (single polarity), which reduced the reaction time and the increased the speed of information processing [22]. The results of the present study were also consistent with the results of the research by Hanslemeyer et al. [15] and Dershler et al. [23]. … [24-29].

It is suggested that more subjects be used in the future research so that the results can be generalized. It is also suggested that this protocol be used to explore other cognitive and motor processes in veterans and disabled. Also, given that the samples in this study included only men, generalization of results to women should be treated with caution, and it is suggested that such as study be done on female subjects.

Of the limitations of this study, small number of subjects can be mentioned that was due to the limitations in this field and the lack of access to the number of subjects.

Neurofeedback exercises in visual and auditory forms are effective in improving brain function during a simple and selective reactions in athletes' veterans and handicapped.

The authors of this article need to thank and appreciate the patience and collaboration of veterans and disabled people in Shiraz who participated in this research.

Non-declared

All participants participated in this research with full oral consent, and they were given the discretion to leave the research process at any stage of the research.

This study is based on research work and no financial support has been made from any institution or organization.

TABLES and CHARTS

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