Free/open source neurofeedback protocols?

I’m curious if there are any free neurofeedback protocols that I could use with an OpenBCI or Emotiv headset and some of the open source neurofeedback software that’s currently available. Thanks for your help!

2 Likes

Hi NeuroNut! Thanks for joining the forum. I don’t know much about this topic, but I can give you a couple of starting points. First I should say that if you’re looking for neurofeedback to treat a medical condition, you should definitely consult with qualified professionals and follow their advice. Experimenting with neurofeedback should be done with care and knowledge of the risks especially for those with any diagnosed neurological or psychological condition.

That said, if you’re looking for protocols for meditation and the like, check out William Croft’s BrainBay/OpenBCI alpha training tutorial at https://sites.google.com/site/biofeedbackpages/brainbay-openbci/brainbay2 . BrainBay configuration file is included.

There are several example neurofeedback designs that come with BrainBay (they’re in the CONFIGURATIONS/EEG folder). BrainBay is open source, and now has an OpenBCI driver built in. Documentation for some of these designs can be found at the end of the BrainBay user manual at http://www.shifz.org/brainbay/manuals/BrainBay-user_manual.pdf

There is also some information and links related to protocols on this thread in the OpenBCI forum: http://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/1544/

Good luck, and do let us know what you find!

@AdamM

William Croft commented on another thread in the OpenBCI forum that “The designs in the EEG/alpha folder that I glanced at are not typical neurofeedback alpha training designs. But again, were created more as just demos.”

Of course, they may be useful starting points even if they’re not plug-and-play.

Here is an interesting development on the open source NFB front from Jonathan Sieber: https://github.com/strfry/OpenNFB

From the readme, it sounds like a lightweight standalone neurofeedback system written in Python and aimed at programmers. It’s pretty new, but looks like a promising development.