Research
Published studies, and what they do not establish
A published study is a written report of a research procedure that has passed journal review and appeared in the literature. Publication says the report was reviewed and printed. It does not say the finding is large, durable, or repeatable.
This page describes the kinds of studies that exist in this space and gives their limits equal weight with their findings.
How much published work exists on microcurrent neurofeedback?
Not much. Compared with traditional operant EEG neurofeedback, which has decades of literature behind it, microcurrent approaches have a thin record. Most of what exists is small, single site, and often uncontrolled.
Anyone describing this literature as extensive is overstating it. We will not, and we would treat that overstatement as a reason to be careful about the rest of a provider's claims.
What kinds of studies make up this literature?
Broadly four kinds, and they carry different weight. The order below runs from weakest to strongest inference.
- Case reports describe one person. They are useful for generating a question and cannot support a general claim.
- Case series describe a handful of people with no comparison group. Change over time cannot be separated from ordinary variation.
- Open label pre and post studies measure everyone before and after with nobody blinded. Expectation effects are fully in play.
- Randomized controlled studies compare against a control condition. In this niche they are rare, usually small, and rarely replicated independently.
| Design | What it can suggest | What it cannot establish |
|---|---|---|
| Case report | That something worth studying may have occurred once | Anything about people in general |
| Case series | A pattern worth testing properly | That the pattern was caused by the session |
| Open label pre and post | Direction of self-reported change | That expectation and attention were not the cause |
| Small randomized controlled | A difference between two groups in one setting | That the difference generalizes or replicates |
Why does sample size matter so much here?
Small samples produce unstable results. With a dozen people per group, ordinary noise can look like a real difference in either direction, and the same study run again can point the other way.
Small samples also tend to overstate the size of any difference they do find. So a striking number from a small study is weaker evidence than an unremarkable number from a large one.
Why will you not quote an outcome percentage from any study?
Because a rate stripped from its design is a marketing number, not a research finding. It hides the sample, the control condition, the measure, and the follow-up window.
We publish no percentages about our own sessions either. We have not run a study, so we have nothing honest to report.
How should you read a study a provider sends you?
Check four things before the conclusion. What was the comparison group. How many people were in it. Who knew which group they were in. How long after the last session was the measurement taken.
If any of those four is missing, the conclusion is thinner than it sounds. That check works on every claim in this category, ours included.
Where does this leave the reader who wants a straight answer?
The straight answer is that the evidence base for microcurrent approaches is early and cannot support strong claims. That is a reason for modest language, not a reason to pretend otherwise.
We describe the session, the device indication, and the limits, and we let you decide from there.
Please read this
Momentous Neurofeedback is a wellness practice. We use an FDA-cleared biofeedback device indicated for relaxation training and muscle reeducation.
We do not provide medical care and we do not assess or identify health conditions. We make no promise about any outcome, and nothing on this site should be read as one.
Sessions are not a substitute for care from a licensed clinician. If you have a health concern, speak with your own provider. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.
Ask us what the literature does not cover
A consultation is a fair place to test whether our language matches what the research can carry.