Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Brain-Computer Interface Performance

Electroencephalogram based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) enable stroke and motor
neuron disease patients to communicate and control devices. Mindfulness meditation has
been claimed to enhance metacognitive regulation. The current study explores whether
mindfulness meditation training can thus improve the performance of BCI users. To eliminate
the possibility of expectation of improvement influencing the results, we introduced a music
training condition. A norming study found that both meditation and music interventions
elicited clear expectations for improvement on the BCI task, with the strength of expectation
being closely matched. In the main 12 week intervention study, seventy-six healthy
volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups: a meditation training group; a music
training group; and a no treatment control group. The mindfulness meditation training group
obtained a significantly higher BCI accuracy compared to both the music training and no-
treatment control groups after the intervention, indicating effects of meditation above and
beyond expectancy effects.