The Effects of Theta EEG Neurofeedback on the Consolidation of Spatial Memory.

How can the stability of a recently acquired memory be improved? Recent findings regarding the importance of theta frequency EEG activity in the hippocampus suggest that entraining neural activity in that frequency band might increase post-encoding waking replay, reinforcing learning-related plasticity. Our previous studies revealed that upregulating postlearning theta power using EEG neurofeedback (NFB) significantly benefitted procedural and episodic memory performance (both immediate and delayed), and may provide optimal conditions for stabilization of new memories. We have now explored whether memory benefits of theta NFB generalize to delayed spatial memory, an additional hippocampus-dependent process.