The effect of neurobiofeedback training on cognitive functions in elderly people with COVID-19
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2617-4723-2022-2-12Keywords:
COVID-19, neurobiofeedback training, P300, cognitive functions, MoSA, old age, EEGAbstract
The COVID-19 virus, which has infected millions of people worldwide, is causing a variety of problems,
including psychiatric, economic, educational, and medical. Many studies have reported that COVID-19 affects blood
vessels, mainly microvessels, damaging the microcirculatory system of organs. The brain is not an exception, and this is
manifested by the degradation of the latter's functions.
The most vulnerable group, with a higher risk of complications, for this infection are the elderly. That is why, in
particular, methods of cognitive rehabilitation for this category of persons are very relevant. Neurobiofeedback training
(NBT) can be one of these methods. NBT is a non-invasive, safe and effective method of regulating the functional state
of the brain. NBT is now widely used for prevention and rehabilitation of brain diseases and improvement of human
executive functions and has become an important area of research around the world.
From our previous experiment of using NBT for the category of elderly people, we obtained results demonstrating a
reduction in latency and an increase in the amplitude of P300, which was manifested in the improvement of executive
functions.
In this NBT study, we tested whether COVID-19 affects cognitive function. We collected P300-based
electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and Montreal Cognitive Test (MoCA) responses from 26 subjects between 2 and 6
months after infection with COVID-19. Based on the t-test analysis, it was observed that there is a significant difference
between the test groups before and after the application of the training, compared to the control group according to the
MoSA results.
On the other hand, the statistical significance of P300 does not reflect the difference for both groups, although the
difference is visually noticeable. The reason may be the small number of subjects.
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