NEUROSCIENCE

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93

Neurocognitive Enhancement Effects of Combined Mindfulness–

Neurofeedback Training in Sport
Davide Crivelli,ab* Giulia Frondaab and Michela Balconi ab
a
Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo A. Gemelli 1, 20123, Milano, Italy
b
Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo A. Gemelli 1, 20123, Milano, Italy

Abstract—To foster performance across all levels of sports practice, physical training has been integrated with various
mental training practices. Recently, an integrative approach to neurocognitive enhancement tried to combine the
strengths of mental practices (i.e. mindfulness) and of training with neurofeedback devices. Based on previous validation
studies showing the effect of a combined mindfulness–neurofeedback program on neurocognitive efficiency and stress/
anxiety levels, we aimed at testing the feasibility and potential of that intensive combined program for improving psycho-
logical well-being and attention regulation in sport contexts. 50 participants (sportspeople and volunteers not regularly
involved in sports) were divided into groups undergoing experimental and active control training programs. The experi-
mental one was based on breathing-awareness practices supported by a wearable neurofeedback, while the active con-
trol one included only breathing practices. Before and after training participants underwent standardized
neuropsychological and electrophysiological assessment. Data analysis highlighted a significant reduction of response
times and false alarms at computerized cognitive tasks in sportspeople who completed the training, as well as a consis-
tent improvement of the N2 event-related potential — a marker of attention regulation processes. We have also observed
a general reduction of perceived stress and increased ability to keep a non-evaluative stance. Findings extend available
observations on cognitive and neural effects of combined mindfulness–neurofeedback practice by showing that it is pos-
sible to observe training effects even after a limited period of practice among sportspeople. Such early training effects
might mirror optimized implicit learning curves due to peculiar sensitivity to bodily signals and awareness. © 2019 IBRO.
Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Key words: neuroenhancement, sport, mindfulness, neurofeedback, wearable devices, self-regulation.

INTRODUCTION acceptance and self-control (Gardner and Moore, 2004,

Both amateur and professional sport activities demand prac-
ticers' efforts and commitment and may exert pressure on
performance and challenges (Gustafsson et al., 2011; Arnold
and Fletcher, 2012; Sarkar and Fletcher, 2014). In order to
foster performance and to achieve optimal results across all
levels of sports practice, physical exercise and training of ath-
letic gestures are nowadays commonly integrated with var-
ious mental training, coaching and ‘psyching-up’ practices
(Williams and Straub, 2010; Macnamara et al., 2016; Bisio
and Bove, 2019; Balconi et al., 2019c). Specifically, the atten-
tion of recent mental training approaches aimed at promoting
optimal performance has increasingly focused on internal
processes, emotions and bodily sensations awareness,
*Corresponding author at: Research Unit in Affective and Social
Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the
Sacred Heart, Largo A. Gemelli 1, 20123, Milano, Italy.
E-mail address: davide.crivelli@unicatt.it (Davide Crivelli).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.05.066
0306-4522/© 2019 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2007). The possibility for athletes to improve performances
and to enter optimized mindsets during training and competi-
tion is, indeed, known to be critically influenced by various
factors such as clarity in goal setting, mental focus and
relaxation, intrinsic motivation, and positive thinking (Jackson
et al., 2001). Considering such influence of internal feelings
on performance success, self-awareness – one of the core
targets of mental training and, in particular, mindfulness med-
itation – has become a specific strategy to increase focus
and performance within sport contexts.
Recent studies have shown that an increase of self-aware-
ness is associated with decreased of burn-out levels in ath-
letes, greater ability to manage stress, and lower risk of
exhaustion, as well as greater self-regulation, better self-
and context-monitoring, and positive self-talk (Gardner and
Moore, 2007; Kee and Wang, 2008; Bernier et al., 2009; Bir-
rer et al., 2012; Walker, 2013). In addition, trained self-aware-
ness and self-regulation skills have been associated with
greater ability to enter a flow state and benefit from such

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84 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
peculiar optimized experience (Kee and Wang, 2008; Bernier
et al., 2009; Kaufman et al., 2009). Finally, attention regula-
tion skills and the capability to focus on athletic performance
during competition despite personal or contextual distracters
are known to increase even athletes' chance of achieving
career success in sports (Thelwell et al., 2010). Given the
benefits that better self-regulation and self-awareness may
entail in achieving optimal sports performance, several pro-
grams for different categories of athletes and degree of com-
mitment in sport activity have been developed to try and
improve performance (Gardner and Moore, 2004; Bernier et
al., 2009).
Some techniques and methods have been based mainly
on making sport practicers learn psychological strategies to
modify the quality of their inner experience (Birrer and Mor-
gan, 2010; Kudlackova et al., 2013). Other approaches, on
the contrary, work on basic but fundamental skills that
enhance athletic performance and profile, such as focusing
attention on the goal while avoiding irrelevant activities
(Locke and Latham, 2002). In particular, growing evidence
on the outcomes provided by mindfulness-based trainings
has led to the development of specific protocols that sustain
self-regulation and attention control by training open-monitor-
ing and focused attention skills, non-reactive emotion-regula-
tion, and present awareness (Birrer et al., 2012; Pineau et al.,
2014). Similarly, the ability to enter focused and relaxed
mindsets even under stress, to manage automatic affective
and physiological reactions, and to adaptively regulate and
reorient attention resources on task goals while actively inhi-
biting distracting stimuli has been targeted by different neuro-
feedback programs (Mirifar et al., 2017; Balconi et al., 2019c).
Neurofeedback, as applied psychophysiology technique,
aims at improving awareness of central physiological corre-
lates of inner experiences and at training adaptive regulation
of such correlates and of related mindsets. Depending on
specific needs of different sport specializations, different neu-
rofeedback-based training programs have been devised and
tested as empowerment tools for athletes — e.g. programs
devoted to enhance mental focus and concentration by mod-
ulating sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) and programs devoted to
train the ability to relax and decrease arousal and perfor-
mance anxiety by modulating alpha and theta EEG bands
(Mirifar et al., 2017; Balconi et al., 2019c). Nonetheless, it is
worth noting that available empirical reports concerning neu-
rofeedback-based programs to improve performance in
sports – though hinting at potentially interesting implications
for practice – still often present methodological inconsisten-
cies, with partly contrasting results.
More recently, an integrative approach to neurocognitive
enhancement tried to combine the strengths of traditional
mental training techniques and of training with neurofeed-
back devices. Reports of validation studies of such inte-
grated approach with a wide range of meditation-naïf
participants showed that carrying out mindfulness-based
practices (i.e. breathing awareness exercises) with the
support of a neurofeedback device able to provide real-
time feedbacks on physiological changes accompanying
practice and to signal the occurrence of mind-wandering
can lead to improved behavioral and physiological markers
of neurocognitive efficiency (i.e. reduced response times
under stressful conditions and optimized allocation of
attention resources on target stimuli), as well as improved
subjective reports and objective markers (i.e. vagal tone
as measured by heart rate variability) of stress, anxiety
and mental energy (Balconi et al., 2019a; Crivelli et al.,
2019a; Balconi et al., 2019b).
Extended testing of potential outcomes of integrated pro-
grams like the above-described one, even if not yet
focused on implications for athletic performance, has actu-
ally allowed to overcome some of the limitations observed
in investigations of the potential of more traditional training
protocols. Namely, notwithstanding the quantity of empiri-
cal reports suggesting that mental training by itself can
be a valuable tool for enhancement of athletic perfor-
mances and for promoting well-being, it should be
acknowledged that the vast majority of such reports take
into account behavioral or self-report outcome measures
alone, thus neglecting objective physiological markers of
the efficiency of attention control and regulation. By taking
into account the ample literature on physiological and
neural correlates of mindfulness practice, not strictly
related to its application with sportspeople, it is instead
generally and consistently suggested that such form of
mental training could be associated with significant modu-
lation of physiological markers of neurocognitive effi-
ciency. Indeed, positive effects of meditation practice –
mindfulness, in particular – have been reported with regard
to spectral and time-domain electrophysiological corre-
lates of optimized regulation of attention resources (Cahn
and Polich, 2006; Lutz et al., 2008; Tang et al., 2015).
Namely, the modulation of early endogenous event-related
potentials associated with mindfulness meditation (N2 and
P3; Lutz et al., 2008; Moore et al., 2012; Malinowski et al.,
2017) may mark the progressive modulation of attention
resources during practice and an increase in neural efficiency
and optimization of attention orienting processes. The N2
marker – an early anteriorly-distributed electrophysiological
component – in particular is considered a valuable tool to
assess the effects of meditation practice on attention and
executive control mechanisms, since it has been associated
with detection of attended stimuli, behavior inhibition and sti-
muli–response monitoring (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008).
Interestingly, the N2 component is also among the few elec-
trophysiological markers of cognitive processes that was
reported to be modulated by aerobic fitness and prolonged
training in sports. Indeed, for example, it was shown that both
professional athletes (Taddei et al., 2012; Bianco et al., 2017)
and people with high levels of physical activity (Winneke et
al., 2012) present enhanced N2 deflections during cognitive
tasks, which have been deemed as an evidence of optimized
allocation of attention resources and improved inhibitory
processes.
In addition it is worth underlining that, since traditional
mindfulness-based protocols applied to sports consis-
tently drew from available models and protocols devel-
oped in clinical practice, they have been also typically
structured as long-term programs that include weekly 2-
to 3-h sessions guided by the trainer (in group or
 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
individual) as well as quite demanding daily individual
practice (e.g. Gardner and Moore, 2007; Kaufman et al.,
2009). Besides valuable evidence on the efficacy of such
long-term programs in terms of both athletes' wellbeing and
performance, the commitment they require may act as a dis-
couraging factor for beginners and semi-professional sports-
people, as well as for smaller teams and sporting clubs
having access to sparse budget. It has been proposed that
integrating mindfulness-based practices with neurofeed-
back/biofeedback devices able to support mental training by
providing real-time information on the modulation of bodily
correlates of practice may help to optimize the training and
to reduce time requirements (Balconi et al., 2017; Sliwinski
et al., 2017).
Following previous proof-of-concept and testing in experi-
mental and applied settings (Balconi et al., 2017, 2019a; Bal-
coni and Crivelli, 2019a; Crivelli et al., 2019a; Crivelli et al.,
2019b), the present study was therefore designed to test
the feasibility and potential for improving psychological well-
being and for enhancing attention regulation in applied sport
contexts of a novel mental training protocol combining mind-
fulness-based practice with a supporting neurofeedback
device. In particular, training effects have been investigated
by comparing psychometric, cognitive and electrophysiologi-
cal measures collected before and after the training period
across sportspeople undergoing the combined mindful-
ness–neurofeedback training, a group of non-athletic partici-
pants undergoing the same training program and an
additional active control group. We expected that participants
who would have completed the mindfulness–neurofeedback
program would have showed improved psychometric, beha-
vioral, and physiological markers of attention control, as mir-
rored by: (i) greater performance outcomes at challenging
computerized tasks tapping on attention and executive con-
trol skills; and (ii) the enhancement of electrophysiological
markers of cognitive control and automatic attention orienta-
tion — namely, the N2 event-related potential, which is
thought to mirror the allocation of attention resources towards
relevant stimuli. In addition, based on available pieces of evi-
dence on the effect of mindfulness-based protocols on sub-
jective perception of well-being and at the light of empirical
observations from previous studies implementing the pro-
gram, we also expected that participants who would have
completed the mindfulness–neurofeedback program would
have showed reduced subjectively-perceived levels of
distress.
Table 1. Demographic and psychometric data for subgroups and for the whole sample. Means, standard deviations, and significance of between-group sta-
tistical comparisons.
Athletic participants
Mean (SD)
Age 22.00 (2.83)
PSS-10 15.43 (5.08)
STAI-trait 34.64 (6.48)
BDI 4.43 (2.90)
n.s.: not significant.
85
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Participants
50 subjects – 15 sportspeople who regularly train in sports
and practice physical activity and 35 young adults not regu-
larly involved in sports or physical activity – took part in the
study. The inclusion criterion to be classified as sportsmen/
sportswomen was to dedicate at least 12 h a week to indivi-
dual or group sessions of physical training or sports practice.
Participants in the sportspeople group were regularly practi-
cing football (N = 7), basketball (N = 4), volleyball (N = 2),
or martial arts (N = 2). All of them have trained for at least
10 years, though none of them has become a professional
athlete or profit from practicing sports. Table 1 summarizes
demographic details for each group and for the whole sam-
ple. History of psychiatric or neurological diseases, presence
of cognitive deficits, ongoing concurrent therapies based on
psychoactive drugs that could have altered central nervous
system functioning, clinically relevant stress level, and occur-
rence of significant stressful life events during the last
6 months were all reasons for exclusion from recruitment. In
particular, participants’ cognitive profile was screened for clin-
ical or subclinical signs of deficit based on a brief standar-
dized neuropsychological assessment battery including
tests tapping on attention, executive functions and cognitive
control, and short-term memory skills (Spinnler and Tognoni,
1987; Caffarra et al., 2002). At the same time, absence of
clinically-relevant signs of stress, anxiety or depression was
checked, respectively via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
(Cohen et al., 1983), the trait subscale of the State/Trait Anxi-
ety Inventory (STAI-trait) (Pedrabissi and Santinello, 1989),
and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (Ghisi et al.,
2006). All participants had normal hearing and normal or cor-
rected-to-normal vision. After recruitment, non-athletic partici-
pants have been randomly divided into an active control
(N = 18) and an experimental (N = 17) group to be com-
pared with the experimental group of sportspeople. Differ-
ences between such groups in terms of age, level of stress,
trait anxiety, and signs of depression have been checked
via statistics and excluded. One of the sportsmen had to be
excluded from data analysis due to technical problems during
recordings.
The study has been designed following the principles of the
Declaration of Helsinki. Procedures and methods were
approved by the Ethics Committee of the Department of Psy-
chology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.
Non-athletic participants Total sample Sig.
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
23.21 (1.85) 22.94 (2.22) n.s.
17.80 (3.62) 17.12 (4.17) n.s.
38.64 (5.94) 37.20 (6.24) n.s.
5.74 (3.14) 5.37 (3.10) n.s.
86 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
Written informed consent to participate in the study was
obtained from all participants.
Procedure
In order to assess potential effects of the combined mindful-
ness–neurofeedback training program in sports with regard
to levels of stress and anxiety, bodily- and self-awareness,
and behavioral and physiological markers of attention regula-
tion, we devised a three-branch pre–post experiment study
comparing three groups of participants before and at the
end of a training period. The three groups were constituted
by: people who regularly train in sports and physical activity,
undergoing the combined mindfulness–neurofeedback train-
ing program (Experimental Athletic group; EA); people not
regularly involved in sports or physical activity, undergoing
the combined mindfulness–neurofeedback program (Experi-
mental Non-Athletic group; ENA); people not regularly
involved in sports or physical activity, undergoing an alterna-
tive control program (Active Control group; AC).
As for the assessment of participants' information-proces-
sing efficiency and of their executive control abilities, we
opted for challenging computerized tasks tapping on atten-
tion, monitoring and behavioral inhibition skills instead of tra-
ditional paper-and-pencil tests to possibly record even fine-
grained training-induced modulation. Besides such beha-
vioral measures of performance and psychometric outcomes
measures, we also collected electrophysiological markers of
automatic attention regulation processes during a challen-
ging cognitive task.
As for the mental training program, the practices that have
been included in the experimental protocol derive from the
Vipaśyanā and mindfulness meditation tradition. In particular,
participants completed breathing awareness sessions, which
are a form of focused attention meditation (FAM) practice
where the practicer is asked to orient his/her attention focus
on breathing and related physical sensations (e.g. interocep-
tive and temperature changes accompanying the flow of air
though the nose and the throat). FAM practices proved to
be able to foster concentration, focusing, and self-regulation
skills (Lutz et al., 2008; Lippelt et al., 2014; Hommel and Col-
zato, 2017).
A peculiar aspect of the tested experimental protocol, how-
ever, is that such mental training practices were supported by
a dedicated wearable neurofeedback device (Muse™ head-
band, InteraXon Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada). By using five
dry electrodes (three of them, including the reference sensor,
placed in correspondence to the forehead and the other two
placed in correspondence to the ears), the wearable neuro-
feedback non-invasively collects practicer's EEG activity
and transfers it via Bluetooth to a smartphone app, which in
turn uses such source of information to deliver real-time
acoustic feedbacks on the modulation of physiological signa-
ture of practicer's mindset. Going down to specifics, a pro-
prietary algorithm processes and combines power density
data concerning standard EEG frequency bands to accord-
ingly manipulate the sound environment (sound environ-
ment) in which the practicer is immersed: the modulation of
EEG profile when moving from a focused mindset to an
agitated and distracted mindset is mirrored by the progres-
sive increase of the intensity of wind and rainstorm sounds.
The control training protocol had the same overall structure
and amount of commitment of the experimental one, in that
even control participants were asked to perform daily ses-
sions of breathing practices. Nonetheless, differently from
participants in the experimental groups, they completed such
practices without the neurofeedback device, while listening to
audio tracks with natural sounds that did not adapt to the
modulation of practicers' EEG activity and that, therefore,
could not provide them with real-time feedbacks on their
focused/inattentive mindsets. The use of such audio tracks
was included to make acoustic sensory experience during
practice similar between the groups.
Both the experimental and the active control protocols
included daily sessions of individual practice for 2 consecu-
tive weeks (total number of sessions: 14). The duration of
daily practices was gradually incremented starting from
10 min a day till 20 min a day (first to fifth session: 10 min;
sixth to 10th session: 15 min; 11th to 14th session: 20 min),
to introduce progressively increasing levels of commitment
and challenge. Daily practices were to be performed at home,
since we wanted to keep them as independent as possible
from other contextual factors and, for sportspeople, from daily
workout activities. Nonetheless, in order to grant homogene-
ity and comparability of the training across participants, dur-
ing the first session of the protocol participants individually
met an expert who introduced and guided them through the
breathing awareness practice. Participants included in the
experimental groups were also introduced to the use of the
wearable neurofeedback device, to the rewarding vs. punish-
ment connotation of the acoustic feedbacks provided by the
device, and to the way they could use such feedbacks to
guide their mental training.
In addition, participants were asked to systematically plan
practice sessions at the same time of the day to control for
potential influence of the physiological modulation of cogni-
tive and bodily processes due to circadian rhythms. Further-
more, participants in the sportspeople group were asked to
plan the neurofeedback-guided mental training sessions
away from workout and physical training sessions to keep
the combined neurofeedback–mindfulness program as inde-
pendent as possible from their sport-related practices and to
prevent potential biases due to uncontrolled systematic inte-
gration of the mental and physical training. All participants
fully completed the protocol.
Psychometric outcome measures
As for psychometric outcome measures, potential changes
perceived levels of stress, anxiety and bodily-/self-awareness
were respectively assessed via the Perceived Stress Scale
(PSS) (Cohen et al., 1983), the State subscale of the State/
trait Anxiety inventory (STAI-state) (Pedrabissi and Santi-
nello, 1989), and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire
(FFMQ) (Giovannini et al., 2014).
The PSS has a single scale structure constituted by 10
items. The responder has to rate on a 5-point Likert scale
the frequency of specific thoughts or feelings and such data
 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93 87

are used to obtain a situational measure of subjectively-per- stimuli appearing on the PC screen were congruent or not.
ceived level of stress. The STAI-state subscale of the STAI Stimuli were four color-related words – the Italian words for
inventory is constituted by 20 items, where the responder ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘green’, and ‘red’ – and could appear written
has to rate on a 4-point Likert scale how much each item in one of those four colors, thus defining congruent combina-
describes how he/she presently feels. The sum of such tions (i.e. matching word–color stimuli) and incongruent com-
scores provides a situational measure of the level of anxiety binations. Stimuli sequence was rapid and pressing. A total of
and related negative affectivity. Finally, the FFMQ is a 39- 160 stimuli were randomly presented. Stimuli duration was
item questionnaire in which responders are asked to rate, set to 300 ms. Performance was scored as a measure of
by using 5-point Likert scales, the frequency of specific beha- response times (RT), accuracy (ACC), and number of
vior or events that mirror different aspects of awareness of omitted responses (OR).
own thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The structure of the
questionnaire includes five main subscales related to specific Physiological markers of attention regulation
facets of being self-aware: ability to attend to external/internal
sensory stimuli and related thoughts and emotions During the execution of the Stroop-like task, participants’
(Observe); ability to label inner experiences with words electroencephalographic activity (EEG) was monitored and
(Describe); ongoing aware attention towards presents beha- recorded to extract event-related potentials and compute
viors, feelings, thoughts and inner experiences (Act with electrophysiological markers of attention regulation and effi-
Awareness); keeping an a-critical and non-evaluative stance ciency (Crivelli and Balconi, 2017). EEG was recorded with
when focusing on own thoughts, emotions, feelings and inner low invasivity by using a 15-channel montage (V-Amp record-
experiences (Non-Judge); and being able to perceive and ing system, Brain Products GmbH, Gilching, Germany). Ag/
focus on thoughts, feelings, emotions, and inner experiences AgCl electrodes were referenced to linked earlobes and
without feeling compelled to react or being overwhelmed by placed according to the 10–20 International System (Jasper,
their affective and stressful connotation (Non-React). 1958; see Fig. 1). Vertical EOG was also recorded in order to
keep track of ocular artifacts for subsequent correction and
rejection. EEG data were then filtered offline (bandpass filter,
Behavioral measures of cognitive performance range: 0.1–30 Hz, slope: 24 dB/OCT) and passed through
As for behavioral measures of cognitive performance, we an artifact correction ICA-based algorithm (Jung et al.,
asked participants to complete the MIDA battery (De Tanti 2000). Following automatized artifact correction, data were
et al., 1998) and a Stroop-like digitalized task (Stim2 soft- segmented with reference to the stimuli onset (epoch length:
ware, Compumedics Neuroscan, Charlotte, NC). MIDA is a 1000 ms; baseline: 200 ms) and visually inspected for resi-
standardized reaction-times battery based on a series of sub- dual ocular, muscle, or movement artifacts. Artifact-free seg-
tasks designed to assess different aspects of attention and ments (mean rejection rate: 9%) were then used to compute
executive control skills (Italian normative sample N = 354). condition-specific average waveforms. On average, 145 arti-
Subtasks focus on basic vigilance level (BasicRT subtask, fact-free segments have been included in the computations
in which participants have to react to a simple stimulus by of condition-specific waveforms. Morphological analysis of
pressing a button as quickly as possible), selective attention
(SimpleRT subtask, in which participants have to detect and
respond to a complex stimulus by pressing a button as
quickly as possible), extended spatial attention (SpatialRT
subtask, similar to the SimpleRT subtask though in this sub-
task the stimuli appear in different spatial locations), and per-
ceptual discrimination and inhibition skills (ComplexRT
subtask, in which participants have to detect and discriminate
two different stimuli and respond to only one of them by
pressing a button as quickly as possible while inhibiting the
response to the other one). Besides reaction times (RT),
scoring of performance during each subtask includes also
specific measures for omitted responses (OR; i.e. the num-
ber of missed responses, thus mirroring lack of attention),
early responses (ER; i.e. the number of responses that are
given before any stimulus appears, thus mirroring lack of
behavioral control), and false alarms (FA; i.e. the number of
time a response was given when it should have been
retained, thus mirroring impulsivity and lack of inhibition).
The digitalized Stroop-like task was introduced to further test
complex response selection skills and executive control
mechanisms under time pressure. Indeed, during such task
participants were asked to press one of two different Fig. 1. EEG montage according to the 10–20 International System. N:
response buttons as quickly as they could to signal whether nasion; I: inion; A1–A2: left and right pre-auricular points.
88 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
condition-specific waveforms consistently highlighted event-
related negative deflections peaking around 200 ms, which
have been classified as N2 ERP components. Finally, peak
latency and amplitude metrics at Fz, Cz, and Pz electrode
positions were extracted by using a semi-automatic weighted
peak detection algorithm.
Statistical analyses
Data collected during pre- and post-training assessment ses-
sions have been compared between groups trough linear
mixed-effects models (PASW Statistics 18, SPSS Inc.,
Quarry Bay, HK) including Time (pre vs. post) and Group
(Active Control [AC], Experimental Non-Athletic [ENA], and
Experimental Athletic [EA]) as fixed effects and subjects as
random effect. The inclusion of subjects as random effect
allowed us to better control for potential confounding effects
due to inter-individual differences. In addition, in order to
account for time-related confounds while exploring interven-
tion effects, we used a first-order autoregressive covariance
matrix to model autocorrelations between data from subse-
quent assessments. Conditional F-tests were used to deter-
mine the significance of terms in fixed effects. Main
contrasts and simple effects for statistically significant inter-
actions were further checked via pair-wise comparisons. In
such cases, the Cohen's d index has been computed to
obtain effect-size estimates of significant effects. Effect sizes
have been deemed as small when ≥0.2, medium when ≥0.5,
and large when ≥ 0.8, in agreement with Cohen's norms
(Cohen, 1988). Bonferroni correction was also applied to
probability values in order to account for potential biases
due to multiple comparisons. Normality of the distribution of
data was preliminarily checked by computing kurtosis and
asymmetry indices.
The tested outcome measures included: psychometric
data — i.e. PSS and STAI-state scores, subscale scores for
the five dimensions of the FFMQ questionnaire (Observe,
Describe, Act with Awareness, Non-Judge, and Non-React);
behavioral markers of cognitive performance — i.e. RTs,
omitted responses (OR), early responses (ER), and false
alarms (FA) at the four subtasks of the MIDA battery, as well
as RTs, accuracy (ACC), and omitted responses (OR) at the
Stroop-like digitalized task; and physiological markers of
attention regulation — i.e. amplitude and peak latency of
the N2 ERP component.
RESULTS
Psychometric measures
Statistical analysis applied to psychometric outcome mea-
sures highlighted a significant main effect of the Time factor
on PSS scores (F[1,46] = 7.054, p = .011) and on scores at
the Non-Judge subscale of the FFMQ (F[1,46] = 17.829,
p ≤ .001), with – respectively – a significant reduction of
PSS scores (Mpre = 17.94, SDpre = 5.42; Mpost = 16.01, SD-
post = 5.02; p = .011, d = 0.418) and a significant increase of
FFMQ Non-Judge scores (Mpre = 27.73, SDpre = 6.60;
Mpost = 31.29, SDpost = 7.71; p ≤ .001, d = 0.622) at the
end of the training.
No other psychometric outcome measure presented statis-
tically significant modulations.
Behavioral measures of cognitive performance
Inferential statistics applied to pre- and post-training mea-
sures of behavioral performance at the computerized
Stroop-like task highlighted a significant main effect of the
Time factor (F[1,46] = 11.586, p = .001) and of the Group fac-
tor (F[2,46] = 9.398, p ≤ .001) on RTs. Namely, reaction times
were generally lower after the training than before (Mpre =
622.01, SDpre = 91.10; Mpost = 604.07, SDpost = 96.24; p =
.001, d = 0.349) and were lower in the EA group than in the
AC (MAC = 652.34, SDAC = 85.09; MEA = 538.18, SDEA =
95.54; p ≤ .001, d = 1.262) and ENA (MENA = 633.09, SD-
ENA = 61.52; MEA = 538.18, SDEA = 95.54; p = .004, d =
1.181) groups. No statistically significant difference was
instead found between AC and ENA groups (p ≫ .05).
Furthermore, the interaction between Group and Time was
found to be significant (F[2,46] = 11.488, p ≤ .001). In particu-
lar, pair-wise comparisons highlighted a statistically-signifi-
cant reduction of response times between pre- and post-
training assessments only in the EA group (MEA-pre =
567.31, SDEA-pre = 107.09; MEA-post = 509.05, SDEA-post =
75.24; p ≤ .001, d = 1.006; see Fig. 2a). No other simple
effect was significant.
Again, analysis of behavioral data of the MIDA battery high-
lighted a significant main effect of the Group factor on RTs at
the ComplexRT subtask (F[2,46] = 6.554, p = .003), as well as
a significant Group × Time interaction effect on FA at the
ComplexRT subtask (F[2,46] = 6.205, p = .004). Going down
to specifics, RTs at the ComplexRT subtask were lower in
the EA group than in the AC (MAC = 465.75, SDAC = 50.53;
MEA = 415.18, SDEA = 46.06; p = .005, d = 1.046) and
ENA (MENA = 460.32, SDENA = 47.25; MEA = 415.18, SD-
EA = 46.06; p = .014, d = 0.967) groups. No statistically sig-
nificant difference was instead found between AC and ENA
groups (p ≫ .05). As for the interaction effect, pair-wise com-
parisons performed on FA data at the ComplexRT subtask
highlighted a statistically-significant reduction of false alarm
in the EA group following training (MEA-pre = 1.29, SDEA-pre =
1.64; MEA-post = 0.43, SDEA-post = 0.65; p = .001, d = 0.782;
see Fig. 2b). No other simple effect was significant.
No other behavioral measure of performance presented
statistically significant modulations.
Physiological markers of attention regulation
The analysis of physiological markers of attention regulation
during the challenging cognitive task highlighted a significant
Group × Time interaction effect modulating peak amplitudes
of the N2 ERP component at the Fz electrode position
(F[2,46] = 7.541, p = .001). In particular, pair-wise compari-
sons showed that N2 amplitude was significantly enhanced
following the training in the EA group (MEA-pre = − 5.93, SD-
EA-pre = 2.77; MEA-post = − 7.69, SDEA-post = 3.07; p = .011,
d = 0.791; see Fig. 3) and significantly reduced in the AC
group (MAC-pre = − 6.21, SDAC-pre = 2.12; MAC-post = − 4.78,
 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
Fig. 2. Pre- and post-training behavioral measures of cognitive perfor-
mance: (a) response times (RTs) at the digitalized Stroop-like task; (b)
false alarms (FAs) at the ComplexRT subtask of the MIDA battery. Bars
represent ± 1 SE. Stars mark statistically significant pair-wise compari-
sons (p ≪ .05) for significant interaction effects.
SDAC-post = 3.40; p = .018, d = 0.474). Finally, pair-wise
comparisons also revealed significantly greater N2 ampli-
tudes in the EA group than in the AC one at the end of the
training (MAC-post = − 4.78, SDAC-post = 3.40; MEA-post =
− 7.69, SDEA-post = 3.07; p = .010, d = 0.898). No other sim-
ple effect was significant.
No other physiological marker presented statistically signif-
icant modulations.
DISCUSSION
The present study aimed at investigating the potential for
improving for empowering attention control and psychological
well-being of a novel combine mindfulness–neurofeedback
training protocol, and at testing its feasibility in the applied
sport context. This work build on previous proof-of-concept
89
and applied investigations (Fronda et al., 2018; Balconi et
al., 2019a; Crivelli et al., 2019a; Balconi et al., 2019b), where
the combined protocol was tested in experimental settings
and with professionals exposed to work-related stressors,
and aimed at extending previous findings.
By comparing per-and post-training assessments between
experimental and active control groups we observed: (i) gen-
eralized reduction of perceived stress and increase of the
ability to keep a non-evaluative stance when focusing on feel-
ings and inner experiences across all participants; (ii) signifi-
cantly reduced response times and of false alarm responses
at challenging digitalized tasks tapping on attention and
executive control skills among sporty participants who com-
pleted the combined training program; and (iii) statistically
significant enhancement of an electrophysiological marker
of automatic attention orientation and regulation – i.e. the
N2 event-related potential – during a cognitively activating
task among the sporty participants who completed the
experimental training, while the active control group showed
reduced N2 amplitudes.
The generalized change of subjectively-perceived level of
stress and of the non-evaluative stance towards inner experi-
ences, feelings, and thoughts – even if negatively connoted –
suggests that both the experimental training program and the
active control one could ease participants' levels of distress,
even if mild, and improve their ability to accept their feelings,
emotions and thought, with a potentially-relevant effect on
subjective well-being. This might be due to the possibility that
both programs gave to participants the opportunity to
strengthen their self-awareness skills and their ability to get
close to inner experiences and related bodily sensations.
Indeed, participants in the Active Control group were actively
involved in an alternative structured protocol based on
breathing practices. An alternative explanation might take
into account the potential effect of those trainings on relaxa-
tion mechanisms, though this account seems to struggle with
justifying observed modulations of the FFMQ Non-Judge
scores. While those findings are in line with available litera-
ture on the effect of mental practices aimed at promoting
self-awareness and awareness of bodily sensations on emo-
tion regulation, self-acceptance and detachment skills (Vago
and Silbersweig, 2012; Creswell, 2017; Guendelman et al.,
2017; Subhani et al., 2018), the lack of measurable differ-
ences between groups opens interesting questions that are
worth further investigations.
Findings of improved behavioral measures of performance
during standardized cognitive tasks are consistent with the
set of empirical observations concerning the effect of mental
training and meditation on cognitive functions (Lutz et al.,
2008; Hommel and Colzato, 2017). Namely, sporty partici-
pants who completed the combined experimental training
became quicker in discriminating between conflicting stimuli
to correctly classify them and proved to aptly control beha-
vioral reactions to correctly inhibit impulsive responses. It is
worth noting that the tasks that allowed detecting such mod-
ulations of performance were actually the most effortful
among the ones included in the assessment procedure. Both
the Stroop-like task and the ComplexRT subtask of the MIDA
battery do indeed heavily rely on executive control and
90 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
Fig. 3. (a) Pre- and post-training physiological markers of attention regulation: peak amplitude for the N2 ERP component at Fz electrode position. Bars repre-
sent ±1SE. Stars mark statistically significant pair-wise comparisons (p ≪ .05) for significant interaction effects. (b) Scalp voltage maps related to the N2 ERP
component: grand average for groups and assessment steps.
response inhibition skills, both under time pressure and dur-
ing sustained performance. Since easier tasks tapping on
basic alertness and selective attention skills did not highlight
relevant modulations of accuracy or reaction times, we sug-
gest that observed improvement of performance at complex
tasks may plausibly follow the fine-tuning of participants'
higher attention regulation skills via technology-supported
practices included in the protocol, besides the already opti-
mal performance level of lower psychomotor abilities.
While globally lower response times at the most-effortful
computerized tasks of participants that regularly practice
sports may plausibly mirror their greater psychomotor skills
with respect to age-matched people who did not systemati-
cally undergo sports training, additional data exploration of
the statistically significant interaction between Group and
Time factors on RTs highlighted a second interesting point.
Indeed, though also participants not practicing sports who
completed the combined mindfulness–neurofeedback pro-
gram showed qualitatively reduced response times at the
Stroop-like task, only those who systematically undergo phy-
sical practice presented a statistically significant change of
performance after just 2 weeks of intensive training. This
empirical observation notably highlights the presence of early
enhancement effects among sporty participants and plausi-
bly mirrors some form of facilitation effect with regard to their
learning curves. Indeed, previous investigation of the effect of
combined mindfulness–neurofeedback training programs on
neurocognitive efficiency markers revealed significant perfor-
mance improvements after 4 weeks of practice in young
adults (Crivelli et al., 2019b). The observed trend in non-ath-
letic experimental group is globally consistent with those pre-
vious observations and may suggest that the implicit learning
process fostered by the technology-supported mental training
program (Balconi et al., 2017) might need more time to yield
substantial and statistically-robust changes of behavioral out-
come measures, thus being characterized by a progressively
growing learning curve. On the other hand, the significant
early improvement of sportspeople's behavioral performance
suggests that formal sport training might have fostered
responsivity and proneness to learning of their psychomotor
system, thus allowing them to optimize the implicit learning
curve sustained by practice with the neurofeedback device.
Athletes are indeed thought to present remarkable sensitivity
to bodily and physical signals and notable bodily awareness
skills (Toner and Moran, 2014). We suggest that those pecu-
liar skills could have helped sporty participants to make better
use of real-time feedbacks on implicit physiological modula-
tions accompanying mental practice, and could have then
led them to benefit from the combined mindfulness–neuro-
feedback training earlier and more effectively than their non-
athletic counterparts.
Such interpretations seem supported even by the observed
enhancement of an electrophysiological marker of automatic
attention orientation and regulation — namely, the N2 event-
related potential (ERP). When recorded over anterior sites,
the N2 ERP is indeed thought to mirror attention processes
subserving detection of novel and attended stimuli, cognitive
control, and stimuli–response monitoring (Folstein and Van
Petten, 2008). Moreover, such event-related potential was
shown to be enhanced in expert athletes practicing sports
that require notable attention regulation and orientation skills,
such as fencing (Taddei et al., 2012; Bianco et al., 2017). And
again, greater N2 deflections were even observed in associa-
tion to better cognitive performances following both
 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
systematic physical training and acute exercise (Winneke et
al., 2012; Ligeza et al., 2018).
Relevantly, such physiological marker was also found to be
enhanced by both mindfulness expertise (Atchley et al.,
2016) and trait mindfulness (Quaglia et al., 2016), mirroring
optimized attention regulation skills fine-tuned by mental
practice. Besides being consistent with limited available lit-
erature on task-related electrophysiological outcomes of
mindfulness practice (Cahn and Polich, 2006; Lutz et al.,
2008; Atchley et al., 2016; Balconi and Crivelli, 2019a; Crivelli
et al., 2019b), the remarkable increase of the N2 ERP com-
ponent that was observed even in the present group of sporty
participants adds to behavioral measures of improved perfor-
mance and strengthens the hypothesis that the intensive
combined mindfulness–neurofeedback training has led to
an improvement of participants' conflict monitoring and atten-
tion orientation mechanisms.
It is also worth noting that also post-hoc analyses of
electrophysiological markers of attention regulation
mechanisms revealed, as observed for behavioral mea-
sures of cognitive performance, a similar improvement
pattern among athletic and non-athletic participants,
though only the former presented statistically-significant
modulations of the N2 amplitude. We suggest that the
consistency of pictures sketched by the analysis of elec-
trophysiological and cognitive outcomes corroborates
above-discussed interpretation of training-induced
changes observed in our group of sportspeople. Namely,
the graded change of the physiological marker of atten-
tion regulation across sporty and non-sporty experimental
participants might mirror different implicit learning curves
between those categories of people in spite of the admin-
istration of the same experimental training protocol, and a
sort of bolstering effect induced by regular physical train-
ing in sports.
As a further point, we have also qualitatively observed
good compliance levels among participants. Even if the train-
ing protocol was mostly managed autonomously – daily ses-
sions were, indeed, performed by participants individually
and at their residence – all of participants completely followed
the protocol and kept constant with their mental training ses-
sions. The combined training protocol therefore seemed not
to interfere with their weekly schedule and with daily routine
and personal duties. We suggest that the integration of men-
tal training practices with the supporting wearable neurofeed-
back system, by reducing the daily commitment required by
the mental training protocol and by actively fostering implicit
learning mechanisms, made participants experience it as
not so invasive and sustained their engagement, as we pre-
viously observed also in other contexts. By making the
access to those mental training forms easier and less expen-
sive (both with respect to time and money), it might then be
possible to let even beginners, semi-professional athletes,
and smaller teams or sporting clubs benefit from such addi-
tional training opportunities. It is indeed worth noting that
mental practices and meditation are already perceived by
athletes as valuable and critical ways to enhance sport per-
formance thanks to the improvement of self-regulation and
focus, and that the importance attributed to such forms of
91
training grows with the level of sport proficiency (Kudlackova
et al., 2013).
CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, above-discussed findings hint at a quite con-
sistent scenario characterized by improved attention regula-
tion and cognitive control mechanisms following the
completion of a combined mindfulness–neurofeedback pro-
gram, in agreement with previous proof-of-concept and
experimental studies (Balconi et al., 2017, 2019a, 2019a;
Balconi and Crivelli, 2019a; Crivelli et al., 2019b, 2019a).
We therefore suggest that constant mental practice helped,
in particular, participants who regularly practice sports to fos-
ter their ability to focus and to intentionally reorient their atten-
tion resources, that the integration with the highly-usable
wearable neurofeedback system eased such implicit learning
course and helped them to obtain measurable outcomes
quicker than when such empowerment effects are typically
reported, and that such early training effects might be
explained at the light of their optimized learning skills and
sensitivity to bodily signals. Namely, the neurofeedback
device fostered empowerment effects by providing the practi-
cers with real-time feedbacks on physiological changes
induced by awareness practices. In other words, neurofeed-
back gave the practicers the opportunity to access an other-
wise hidden source of information and then use those
pieces of information to support implicit learning and training
of self-regulation mechanisms.
As an additional note, as underlined by Colzato and Kibele
(2017), extensive experience with mindfulness meditation
has been associated with enhanced experience of flow
(Kee and Wang, 2008; Bernier et al., 2009; Kaufman et al.,
2009), which is in turn known to influence athletic perfor-
mance by sustaining motivation and focus over time. Present
initial findings do not allow a better investigation of the rela-
tion between the intensive mindfulness–neurofeedback train-
ing and experience of flow among our participants;
nonetheless, we think that this would be a critical issue for
future investigation and would also help to better define tar-
gets for intervention in sport contexts.
The present research report is not, nonetheless, exempt
from limitations. Firstly, we acknowledge that further investi-
gations with larger samples of participants who regularly
practice sports and with professional athletes are needed to
strengthen empirical observations and related remarks on
the potential of the combined mindfulness–neurofeedback
protocol for supporting sport training. Secondly, implications
for research and practice would benefit from broader investi-
gations including a matched active control group composed
by sportspeople, as well as from critical comparisons with
other mental training protocols. For example, at the moment
of testing, the protocol was completely based on FAM prac-
tices. However, Colzato and Kibele (2017) recently sug-
gested that different kinds of athletes may specifically
benefit from different forms of meditation depending on the
type of sport they practice. In particular, performance in
closed-skills sports – i.e. sports where the action environment
92 Davide Crivelli et al. / Neuroscience 412 (2019) 83–93
remains relatively stable and predictable over time and ath-
letic gestures are pre-determined, serial and self-paced
(e.g. golf and swimming) – may be specifically enhanced by
focused attention meditation (FAM) practice. Conversely,
performance in open-skills sports – i.e. sports where the
action environment is constantly changing and in which ath-
letes have to adapt their actions by processing much informa-
tion in parallel and by promptly responding to unpredictable
events (e.g. basketball and martial arts) – may be specifically
enhanced by open monitoring meditation (OMM) practice. It
would then be interesting to compare the present version of
the technology-mediated training protocol with a modified
version based on OMM practices, to test the potential impact
of better targeted interventions depending on the kind of sport
specialization. Finally, while the present study already
includes a wide set of outcome measures that gave us the
opportunity to sketch a preliminary across-level picture of
early training effects in sportspeople, we acknowledge that
the assessment procedure could be made even more infor-
mative by including additional electrophysiological and/or
hemodynamic markers that showed an interesting potential
for the investigation of skilled sport behavior and peak perfor-
mance (Balconi and Crivelli, 2019b). And again, future stu-
dies on the efficacy of empowerment interventions in the
field of sport sciences could provide even richer research
reports by including also ecological outcome measures
based on participants' on-the-field performance.
FUNDING
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTEREST
Declarations of interest: none.
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