AVE-Neurofeedback for Academic Anxiety and Divergent Thinking

Academic anxiety is one of the most prevalent psychological challenges among adolescents and has been associated with impaired executive functioning, attentional control, autonomic dysregulation, and reduced creative performance. Although neurofeedback and audiovisual entrainment have independently demonstrated beneficial effects on neural self-regulation, evidence regarding their integration within an adaptive closed-loop intervention remains limited. This multicenter, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of an Audiovisual Entrainment Neurofeedback (AVE-NFB) system for improving neural self-regulation, reducing academic anxiety, enhancing autonomic regulation, and promoting divergent thinking among senior high school students. A total of 240 participants recruited from two school centers will be randomly allocated to one of four intervention groups: Combined AVE-Neurofeedback, Neurofeedback Only, Audiovisual Entrainment Only, or Sham Control. Each participant will complete 12 intervention sessions over a six-week intervention period (administered twice weekly). During every session, brain activity will be continuously acquired using the Emotiv Epoc X 14-channel research-grade electroencephalography (EEG) headset (256 Hz sampling rate). Following a standardized 5-minute resting calibration (3 minutes eyes closed and 2 minutes eyes open), the system will estimate each participant's individualized resting alpha activity (8-12 Hz). The neurofeedback engine continuously monitors alpha-band power from the multi-channel frontal (AF3, F7, F3, FC5, FC6, F4, F8, AF4) and temporoparietal (T7, P7, T8, P8) electrodes. Positive audiovisual reinforcement is automatically activated whenever the participant maintains alpha power above the individualized reinforcement threshold for at least 2 seconds while satisfying artifact-quality criteria. Reinforcement is automatically attenuated or suspended whenever alpha activity falls below the thresho