Registered ReportsShort progressive muscle relaxation or motor coordination training does not increase performance in a brain-computer interface based on sensorimotor rhythms (SMR)

•Ability to concentrate and visuo-motor error duration predict SMR-BCI performance.•Interventions are progressive muscle relaxation PMR or visuo-motor coordination VMC.•Randomly performed PMR, VMC or control intervention prior to a SMR-BCI session.•Results indicate no causal effect of intervention on BCI accuracy.•Authors suggest intensifying training duration.

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) allow for controlling devices through modulation of sensorimotor rhythms (SMR), yet a profound number of users is unable to achieve sufficient accuracy. Here, we investigated if visuo-motor coordination (VMC) training or Jacobsen's progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) prior to BCI use would increase later performance compared to a control group who performed a reading task (CG). Running the study in two different BCI-labs, we achieved a joint sample size of N = 154 naïve participants. No significant effect of either intervention (VMC, PMR, control) was found on resulting BCI performance. Relaxation level and visuo-motor performance were associated with later BCI performance in one BCI-lab but not in the other. These mixed results do not indicate a strong potential of VMC or PMR for boosting performance. Yet further research with different training parameters or experimental designs is needed to complete the picture.