A Scoping Review of the Effect of EEG Neurofeedback on Pain Complaints in Adults with Chronic Pain.

Non-pharmacological treatments such as electroencephalogram (EEG) neurofeedback have become more important in multidisciplinary approaches to treat chronic pain. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the literature on the effects of EEG neurofeedback in reducing pain complaints in adult chronic-pain patients and to elaborate on the neurophysiological rationale for using specific frequency bands as targets for EEG neurofeedback. A pre-registered scoping review was set up and reported following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).

Time Effect on Acute Postoperative Pain After Total Knee Replacement Surgery: An Exploratory Study Using the Experience Sampling Method.

Objectives: Acute postoperative pain (APP) is the main cause of postoperative dissatisfaction; however, traditional methods of pain assessment provide limited insights into the dynamics and development of APP. This study used the experience sampling method to understand the dynamics of APP over time in relation to various patient factors.

Materials And Methods: Forty patients scheduled to undergo total knee replacement surgery were recruited in this study.

The relationship between the use of Touch Screen Devices and interference suppression in children aged 5-11.

Objective: To investigate the relation between the use of Touch Screen Devices (TSDs), such as smartphones and tablets, and interference suppression as assessed by the Bivalent Shape Task (BST) in 5-11-year-old children.

Methods: Thirty-eight children from a Dutch primary school were included. Interference suppression was measured in the incongruent level of the BST.

Does baseline EEG activity differ in the transition to or from a chronic pain state? A longitudinal study.

Background And Aim: Identifying EEG brain markers might yield better mechanistic insights into how chronic pain develops and could be treated. An existing longitudinal EEG study gave us the opportunity to determine whether the development of pain is accompanied by less alpha power-ie, a "relaxed" brain state-and vice versa.

Methods: Five-minute resting EEG with the eyes open was measured 2 times in 95 subjects at T0 (baseline) and T1 (6 months later).

The Bivalent Shape Task in a Dutch primary school population: A pilot study for a first psychometric assessment.

Objective: The Bivalent Shape Task (BST) tests the ability to suppress interfering information. The purpose of this study was to assess some psychometric properties of the BST in 5-11-year-old children, using multilevel analysis.

Methods: The present study was initiated in a Dutch primary school in October 2019.

Do Men and Women Have a Different Association between Fear-Avoidance and Pain Intensity in Chronic Pain? An Experience Sampling Method Cohort-Study.

Background: Fear-avoidance is one of the factors associated with chronic pain. However, it remains unclear whether the association between fear-avoidance and pain depends on sex. The present study aimed to investigate whether the association between fear-avoidance and pain intensity differed between men and women in chronic pain patients.

Introducing the DizzyQuest: an app-based diary for vestibular disorders.

Background: Most questionnaires currently used for assessing symptomatology of vestibular disorders are retrospective, inducing recall bias and lowering ecological validity. An app-based diary, administered multiple times in daily life, could increase the accuracy and ecological validity of symptom measurement. The objective of this study was to introduce a new experience sampling method (ESM) based vestibular diary app (DizzyQuest), evaluate response rates, and to provide examples of DizzyQuest outcome measures which can be used in future research.

White Noise Speech Illusions: A Trait-Dependent Risk Marker for Psychotic Disorder?

White noise speech illusions index liability for psychotic disorder in case-control comparisons. In the current study, we examined i) the rate of white noise speech illusions in siblings of patients with psychotic disorder and ii) to what degree this rate would be contingent on exposure to known environmental risk factors (childhood adversity and recent life events) and level of known endophenotypic dimensions of psychotic disorder [psychotic experiences assessed with the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) scale and cognitive ability]. The white noise task was used as an experimental paradigm to elicit and measure speech illusions in 1,014 patients with psychotic disorders, 1,157 siblings, and 1,507 healthy participants.

The impact of adverse childhood experiences on EMG reactivity: A proof of concept study.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE), such as emotional or physical abuse, can produce a lasting effect on the individual. The aim of this study was to investigate how ACE may impact electromyography (EMG) activity of the trapezius muscle in a novel experimental stress paradigm, in a sample of 120 healthy participants. The stress paradigm consisted of a memory task, in which participants were asked to memorize and recall as many words as possible, displayed on a screen.

White noise speech illusions in the general population: The association with psychosis expression and risk factors for psychosis.

Introduction: Positive psychotic experiences are associated with increased rate of white noise speech illusions in patients and their relatives. However, findings have been conflicting to what degree speech illusions are associated with subclinical expression of psychosis in the general population. The aim of this study was to investigate the link between speech illusions and positive psychotic experiences in a general population sample.

Investigating Associations Between Changes in Mobile Phone Use and Emotions Using the Experience Sampling Method: Pilot Study.

Background: The use of mobile phones has become, especially for young people, an integrated part of everyday life. Using the experience sampling method (ESM) may provide further insight on the association between mobile phone use and mental health.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine associations between mobile phone use and subtle changes in mental state.

Does pain hypervigilance further impact the lack of habituation to pain in individuals with chronic pain? A cross-sectional pain ERP study.

Aim: In chronic pain, habituation is believed to be impaired, and pain hypervigilance can enhance the pain experience. The goal of this study was to determine whether pain hypervigilance further worsens habituation of event-related potentials, measured in a pain-rating protocol of 25 painful somatosensory electrical stimuli, in patients with chronic pain.

Methods: Pain hypervigilance was assessed with the Pain Vigilance Awareness Questionnaire and analyzed using the event-related fixed interval areas multilevel technique, which enables one to study within-session habituation.

Demonstrating the reliability of transdiagnostic mHealth Routine Outcome Monitoring in mental health services using experience sampling technology.

Background: Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) should provide a dynamic, within-treatment forward feedback loop to guide individual treatment decisions across diagnostic categories. It has been suggested that the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), capturing the film of daily life adaptive processes, offers a flexible, personalised and transdiagnostic feedback system for monitoring and adapting treatment strategies. This is the first study that uses an ESM application (the PsyMate™) as a routine mobile-ROM (mROM) tool in an ambulatory mental health setting.

The experience sampling method as an mHealth tool to support self-monitoring, self-insight, and personalized health care in clinical practice.

Background: The experience sampling method (ESM) builds an intensive time series of experiences and contexts in the flow of daily life, typically consisting of around 70 reports, collected at 8-10 random time points per day over a period of up to 10 days.

Methods: With the advent of widespread smartphone use, ESM can be used in routine clinical practice. Multiple examples of ESM data collections across different patient groups and settings are shown and discussed, varying from an ESM evaluation of a 6-week randomized trial of mindfulness, to a twin study on emotion dynamics in daily life.

An exploratory study on the impact of daily activities on the pleasure and physical activity of older adults.

Background: Pleasure is one determinant of intrinsic motivation and yet a dimension often forgotten when promoting physical activity among the older population. In this study we investigate the relation between daily activities and physical activity, experience of pleasure, and the interaction between pleasure and physical activity in the daily lives of community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: Participants carried a hip-worn accelerometer during 30 consecutive days resulting in a total of 320 days of data collection.

Cortical processes of speech illusions in the general population.

Background: There is evidence that experimentally elicited auditory illusions in the general population index risk for psychotic symptoms. As little is known about underlying cortical mechanisms of auditory illusions, an experiment was conducted to analyze processing of auditory illusions in a general population sample. In a follow-up design with two measurement moments (baseline and 6 months), participants (n = 83) underwent the White Noise task under simultaneous recording with a 14-lead EEG.

Impact of early life adversity on EMG stress reactivity of the trapezius muscle.

Human and animal research indicates that exposure to early life adversity increases stress sensitivity later in life. While behavioral markers of adversity-induced stress sensitivity have been suggested, physiological markers remain to be elucidated. It is known that trapezius muscle activity increases during stressful situations.

The Experience Sampling Method--a new digital tool for momentary symptom assessment in IBS: an exploratory study.

Background: Retrospective questionnaires are frequently used for symptom assessment in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients, but are influenced by recall bias and circumstantial and psychological factors. These limitations may be overcome by random, repeated, momentary assessment during the day, using electronic Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM). Therefore, we compared symptom assessment by ESM to retrospective paper questionnaires in IBS patients.

The Influence of Perceived Stress on Cortical Reactivity: A Proof-Of-Principle Study.

The aim of this study was to investigate how perceived stress may affect electroencephalographical (EEG) activity in a stress paradigm in a sample of 76 healthy participants. EEG activity was analyzed using multilevel modeling, allowing estimation of nested effects (EEG time segments within subjects). The stress paradigm consisted of a 3-minute pre-stimulus stress period and a 2-minute post-stimulus phase.

EEG Changes Due to Experimentally Induced 3G Mobile Phone Radiation.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a 15-minute placement of a 3G dialing mobile phone causes direct changes in EEG activity compared to the placement of a sham phone. Furthermore, it was investigated whether placement of the mobile phone on the ear or the heart would result in different outcomes. Thirty-one healthy females participated.

Does habituation differ in chronic low back pain subjects compared to pain-free controls? A cross-sectional pain rating ERP study reanalyzed with the ERFIA multilevel method.

The objective of the present study was to investigate cortical differences between chronic low back pain (CLBP) subjects and pain-free controls with respect to habituation and processing of stimulus intensity. The use of a novel event-related fixed-interval areas (ERFIA) multilevel technique enables the analysis of event-related electroencephalogram (EEG) of the whole post stimulus range at a single trial level. This technique makes it possible to disentangle the cortical processes of habituation and stimulus intensity.

Does the Brain Detect 3G Mobile Phone Radiation Peaks? An Explorative In-Depth Analysis of an Experimental Study.

This study aimed to investigate whether third generation mobile phone radiation peaks result in event related potentials. Thirty-one healthy females participated. In this single-blind, cross-over design, a 15 minute mobile phone exposure was compared to two 15 minute sham phone conditions, one preceding and one following the exposure condition.

Experimentally induced stress validated by EMG activity.

Experience of stress may lead to increased electromyography (EMG) activity in specific muscles compared to a non-stressful situation. The main aim of this study was to develop and validate a stress-EMG paradigm in which a single uncontrollable and unpredictable nociceptive stimulus was presented. EMG activity of the trapezius muscles was the response of interest.

Neurofeedback as a treatment for major depressive disorder--a pilot study.

Background: There is growing interest in neurofeedback as a treatment for major depressive disorder. Reduction of asymmetry of alpha-activity between left and right prefrontal areas with neurofeedback has been postulated as effective in earlier studies. Unfortunately, methodological shortcomings limit conclusions that can be drawn from these studies.