{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T06:12:47Z","timestamp":1788502367067,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"2024 Sports Science and Technology Project of the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau","award":["24J005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["24J005"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Hum. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) neurofeedback has attracted growing interest for improving performance in precision sports; however, inter-individual variability in responsiveness remains poorly understood, and its associations with autonomic regulation and shooting performance have not been examined within a single-session paradigm. Because a substantial proportion of trainees show limited ability to self-regulate EEG activity (\u201cnon-responders\u201d), characterizing responsiveness is important for developing personalized protocols. This exploratory study aimed to characterize individual differences in SMR neurofeedback responsiveness during a single session and examine their associations with post-training autonomic regulation and shooting performance in elite air rifle athletes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Thirteen elite air rifle shooters completed a single 10-min SMR (12\u201315\u202fHz) neurofeedback session at electrode site Cz. Heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded at four timepoints spanning pre- and post-shooting and pre- and post-training rest. Shooting performance was assessed via the SCATT system across two 30-shot blocks. Individual SMR regulation trajectories were indexed as linear amplitude slopes across five training blocks. Athletes were classified as Responders (slope &amp;gt; 0;\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f9) or Non-Responders (slope \u22640;\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f4) reflecting whether SMR amplitude showed a net increase or decrease across training.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      SMR slope showed the strongest associations with changes in shooting score (r\u202f=\u202f0.623) and logLF (r\u202f=\u202f\u22120.636), though neither survived Benjamini\u2013Hochberg FDR correction (both q\u202f=\u202f0.248). Responders exhibited larger post-training increases in DFA \u03b12 (a long-term scaling exponent derived from detrended fluctuation analysis reflecting autonomic regulatory complexity; d\u202f=\u202f1.688,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.017) and larger decreases in logLF (d\u202f=\u202f1.654,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.019) than Non-Responders, though neither survived FDR correction. No baseline HRV (all\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;gt;\u202f0.09) or subjective engagement (all\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;gt;\u202f0.21) differences were observed between groups.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      These preliminary, exploratory findings suggest that individual SMR regulatory capacity may relate to post-training autonomic modulation and shooting performance, and that SMR amplitude slope may represent a promising index of neurofeedback learning. Given the small and unequal responder groups (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f9 vs. 4) and the absence of a sham or control condition, these associations should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating rather than confirmatory, warranting replication in larger, controlled samples.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2026.1922593","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T05:29:44Z","timestamp":1788499784000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Individual SMR neurofeedback responsiveness during a single session and its associations with autonomic regulation and shooting performance in elite rifle athletes"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Yan","family":"An","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science (Shanghai Anti-Doping Agency)","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhengning","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science (Shanghai Anti-Doping Agency)","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiaojiao","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science (Shanghai Anti-Doping Agency)","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1186\/s13102-023-00706-3","article-title":"Neurofeedback training and motor learning: the enhanced sensorimotor rhythm protocol is better or the suppressed alpha or the suppressed mu?","volume":"15","author":"Afrash","year":"2023","journal-title":"BMC Sports Sci. 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