Assessing the effects of audio-visual stimulation on the prefrontal EEG of good & poor sleepers

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to investigate the response of good and poor sleepers toward audio-visual stimulation via prefrontal theta EEG measurement. Design/methodology/approach – The experiment included ten healthy subjects that were chosen after going through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). They were divided into two groups that include five good and five poor sleepers. Next, in order to clarify the effects of audio-visual biofeedback during daytime, each subject was asked to go through six two-minute tasks that include: pre-baseline, eyes open at rest, eyes closed at rest, audio biofeedback with eyes open, video biofeedback also with eyes open, and post-baseline. Findings – In Task 4, the audio stimulation task, both types of sleepers elicited higher theta waves due to demand in mental activity and also a meditation state. It was significantly higher in poor sleeper that demonstrated a peak difference of 25 percent compared to its good sleeper counterpart. In Task 5, the visual stimulation task, through the use of random numbers having blue and red color background, the theta amplitudes of good and poor sleepers drop together, due to beta waves becoming dominant, as the task required attention and focussed accounting for reduced theta amplitudes. The study was able to prove the use of prefrontal EEG in measuring and evaluating sleep quality by examining theta variation. Originality/value – This paper proposed a novel and convenient method for evaluating sleep quality by utilizing only a single channel prefrontal EEG measurement.