Improving Cognitive Workload in Radiation Therapists: A Pilot EEG Neurofeedback Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Alana M. Campbell¹  Matthew Mattoni²  Mae Nicopolis Yefimov¹  Karthik Adapa²  Lukasz M. Mazur² 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States;Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

关键词: neurofeedback;    EEG;    microstates;    cognitive workload;    radiation oncology;    burnout;    NASA-TLX;    alpha/theta;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.571739

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Radiation therapy therapists (RTTs) face challenging daily tasks that leave them prone to high attrition and burnout and subsequent deficits in performance. Here, we employed an accelerated alpha-theta neurofeedback (NF) protocol that is implementable in a busy medical workplace to test if 12 RTTs could learn the protocol and exhibit behavior and brain performance-related benefits. Following the 3-week protocol, participants showed a decrease in subjective cognitive workload and a decrease in response time during a performance task, as well as a decrease in desynchrony of the alpha electroencephalogram (EEG) band. Additionally, novel microstate analysis for neurofeedback showed a significant decrease in global field power (GFP) following neurofeedback. These results suggest that the RTTs successfully learned the protocol and improved in perceived cognitive workload following 3 weeks of neurofeedback. In sum, this study presents promising behavioral improvements as well as brain performance-related evidence of neurophysiological changes following neurofeedback, supporting the feasibility of implementing neurofeedback in a busy workplace and encouraging the further study of neurofeedback as a tool to mitigate burnout.

【 授权许可】

CC BY