Consensus on the reporting and experimental design of clinical and cognitive-behavioural neurofeedback studies (CRED-nf checklist)

Tomas Ros, Stefanie Enriquez-Geppert, Vadim Zotev, Kymberly D Young, Guilherme Wood, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Feng Wan, Patrik Vuilleumier, François Vialatte, Dimitri Van De Ville, Doron Todder, Tanju Surmeli, James S Sulzer, Ute Strehl, Maurice Barry Sterman, Naomi J Steiner, Bettina Sorger, Surjo R Soekadar, Ranganatha Sitaram, Leslie H Sherlin, Michael Schönenberg, Frank Scharnowski, Manuel Schabus, Katya Rubia, Agostinho Rosa, Miriam Reiner, Jaime A Pineda, Christian Paret, Alexei Ossadtchi, Andrew A Nicholson, Wenya Nan, Javier Minguez, Jean-Arthur Micoulaud-Franchi, David M A Mehler, Michael Lührs, Joel Lubar, Fabien Lotte, David E J Linden, Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock, Mikhail A Lebedev, Ruth A Lanius, Andrea Kübler, Cornelia Kranczioch, Yury Koush, Lilian Konicar, Simon H Kohl, Silivia E Kober, Manousos A Klados, Camille Jeunet, T W P Janssen, Rene J Huster, Kerstin Hoedlmoser, Laurence M Hirshberg, Stephan Heunis, Talma Hendler, Michelle Hampson, Adrian G Guggisberg, Robert Guggenberger, John H Gruzelier, Rainer W Göbel, Nicolas Gninenko, Alireza Gharabaghi, Paul Frewen, Thomas Fovet, Thalía Fernández, Carlos Escolano, Ann-Christine Ehlis, Renate Drechsler, R Christopher deCharms, Stefan Debener, Dirk De Ridder, Eddy J Davelaar, Marco Congedo, Marc Cavazza, Marinus H M Breteler, Daniel Brandeis, Jerzy Bodurka, Niels Birbaumer, Olga M Bazanova, Beatrix Barth, Panagiotis D Bamidis, Tibor Auer, Martijn Arns, Robert T Thibault, Tomas Ros, Stefanie Enriquez-Geppert, Vadim Zotev, Kymberly D Young, Guilherme Wood, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Feng Wan, Patrik Vuilleumier, François Vialatte, Dimitri Van De Ville, Doron Todder, Tanju Surmeli, James S Sulzer, Ute Strehl, Maurice Barry Sterman, Naomi J Steiner, Bettina Sorger, Surjo R Soekadar, Ranganatha Sitaram, Leslie H Sherlin, Michael Schönenberg, Frank Scharnowski, Manuel Schabus, Katya Rubia, Agostinho Rosa, Miriam Reiner, Jaime A Pineda, Christian Paret, Alexei Ossadtchi, Andrew A Nicholson, Wenya Nan, Javier Minguez, Jean-Arthur Micoulaud-Franchi, David M A Mehler, Michael Lührs, Joel Lubar, Fabien Lotte, David E J Linden, Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock, Mikhail A Lebedev, Ruth A Lanius, Andrea Kübler, Cornelia Kranczioch, Yury Koush, Lilian Konicar, Simon H Kohl, Silivia E Kober, Manousos A Klados, Camille Jeunet, T W P Janssen, Rene J Huster, Kerstin Hoedlmoser, Laurence M Hirshberg, Stephan Heunis, Talma Hendler, Michelle Hampson, Adrian G Guggisberg, Robert Guggenberger, John H Gruzelier, Rainer W Göbel, Nicolas Gninenko, Alireza Gharabaghi, Paul Frewen, Thomas Fovet, Thalía Fernández, Carlos Escolano, Ann-Christine Ehlis, Renate Drechsler, R Christopher deCharms, Stefan Debener, Dirk De Ridder, Eddy J Davelaar, Marco Congedo, Marc Cavazza, Marinus H M Breteler, Daniel Brandeis, Jerzy Bodurka, Niels Birbaumer, Olga M Bazanova, Beatrix Barth, Panagiotis D Bamidis, Tibor Auer, Martijn Arns, Robert T Thibault

Abstract

Neurofeedback has begun to attract the attention and scrutiny of the scientific and medical mainstream. Here, neurofeedback researchers present a consensus-derived checklist that aims to improve the reporting and experimental design standards in the field.

Keywords: checklist; consensus; guidelines; neurofeedback; regulation.

© The Author(s) (2020). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Multiple mechanisms drive the effects of neurofeedback training. Neurofeedback participants may benefit from: (i) the specific neurophysiological process of training a particular brain signal (green). Non-specific factors, including (ii) those unique to the neurofeedback environment (e.g. trainer-participant interaction in a neurotechnology context) (dark blue); and (iii) those that are common across interventions (e.g. all other benefits from engaging in a form of cognitive training as well as the psychosocial and placebo mechanisms related to participating in an experiment) (light blue). (iv) Repetition-related effects (purple). (v) Natural effects, which can be positive (e.g. cognitive development in childhood) or negative (e.g. cognitive decline in older age) (orange). These mechanisms may interact synergistically to create a greater overall effect, interact antagonistically to lessen the total benefit, or combine additively (for a discussion of this topic, see Rothman, 1974; Finnerup et al., 2010). By including control groups, carefully designing experiments, and measuring both brain activity and behaviour, researchers can better estimate the contribution from each of these mechanisms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Consensus on the reporting and experimental design of clinical and cognitive-behavioural neurofeedback studies (CRED-nf) best practices checklist 2020. An online tool to complete this checklist is available at rtfin.org/CREDnf. Darker shaded boxes represent ‘essential’ checklist items; lightly shaded boxes represent ‘encouraged’ checklist items. We recommend using this checklist in conjunction with the standardized CRED-nf online tool (rtfin.org/CREDnf) and the CRED-nf article, which explains the motivation behind this checklist and provides details regarding many of the checklist items.

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