Table 2 Classification of the intervention models of EEG-NFT in the included studies

A. Control group

1. SC

involving with only maintaining activities of daily living, not receiving any intervention, or just receiving pre and post assessments.

(Campos, 2018; Chen, 2023; Domingos, 2020; Domingos, 2021a; Domingos, 2021b; Farraj, 2024; Gordon, 2019; Lecomte, 2011; Nan, 2012; Nawaz, 2023; Nazer, 2018; Parsons, 2021; Shen, 2023; Shtoots, 2021; Van Eijk, 2017; Vekety, 2022; Vernon, 2003; Xiong, 2014; Zoefel, 2011) [10, 13, 34, 42, 52, 71,72,73,74,75,76,77, 79, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97, 98]

2. Sham

involving with a fake or inert EEG activity stimulation, either from other participants or replaying a BA video from previous training, without actual brain activity modulation during the training.

(Alekseeva, 2012; Andrade, 2024; Becerra, 2012; Berner, 2006; Brandmeyer, 2020; Campos da Paz, 2018; Enriquez-Geppert, 2014; Escolano, 2014; Escolano, 2012; Farnia, 2017; Fritson, 2007; Guez, 2014; Kober, 2015; Li, 2023; Naas, 2019; Salari, 2014; Smit, 2023; Uslu, 2023; Xiong, 2014; Zhou, 2024) [9, 10, 13,14,15, 41, 43, 44, 65,66,67,68,69, 78, 84,85,86,87, 90, 94]

3. AC

involving with real-time feedback based on the active self-modulation of participant’s brain activity, and without any targeted modulation or training of specific brain regions.

(Chikhi, 2024; Eschmann, 2020; Eschmann, 2021; Hanslmayr, 2005; Hsueh, 2016; Hsueh, 2012; Keizer, 2010b; Khodakarami, 2020; Kober, 2020; Marcos-Martínez, 2023; Paban, 2024; Pei, 2018; Salari, 2012; Wang, 2013; Wei, 2017) [11, 16,17,18,19, 24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32, 92]

4. PC

involving with just looking at the something, listening on the something, or audio-visual combined stimulation.

(Chikhi, 2023; Diotaiuti, 2024; Gordon, 2019; Rozengurt, 2023; Rozengurt, 2017; Tseng, 2021) [12, 33,34,35,36,37]

B. BA (Hz)

1. Theta (3–8)

involving 3.6–7.5 Hz, 3–7 Hz, 4–7 Hz, 4–8 Hz

(Becerra, 2012) [9], (Brandmeyer, 2020; Shtoots, 2021) [41, 95], (Vernon, 2003; Wang, 2013) [30, 98], (Chikhi, 2024; Eschmann, 2020; Eschmann, 2021; Enriquez-Geppert, 2014; Marcos-Martínez, 2023; Rozengurt, 2017; Smit, 2023) [11, 25,26,27, 33, 67, 69]

2. Alpha (7–13)

involving 7–13 Hz, 8–12 Hz, 8–13 Hz

(Diotaiuti, 2024; Li, 2023; Paban, 2024) [36, 90, 92], (Chen, 2023; Domingos, 2020; Domingos, 2021a; Domingos, 2021b; Hsueh, 2016; Hsueh, 2012; Nan, 2012; Pei, 2018; Shen, 2023; Wei, 2017; Zhou, 2024) [16, 17, 28, 29, 44, 52, 74,75,76,77, 79], (Nawaz, 2023) [42]

●UA (10-13.5)

involving IAF to IAF + 2 Hz, 10–12 Hz, 10.2–12.2 Hz, 10–13.5 Hz

(Escolano, 2014; Escolano, 2012; Gordon, 2019; Hanslmayr, 2005; Uslu, 2023; Zoefel, 2011) [18, 34, 43, 72, 85, 86], (Chikhi, 2024; Chikhi, 2023; Farraj, 2024; Guez, 2014; Lecomte, 2011) [26, 37, 65, 73, 89], (Alekseeva, 2012) [84], (Naas, 2019) [68]

3. Beta (12–22)

involving 12–20 Hz, 15–22 Hz

(Farnia, 2017; Keizer, 2010a; Staufenbiel, 2014) [87, 88, 96], (Rozengurt, 2017) [33]

●SMR (11.6–16)

involving 11.6–16, 12–15 Hz, 13–15 Hz

(Berner, 2006) [14], (Campos da Paz, 2018; Fritson, 2007; Hsueh, 2012; Kober, 2020; Kober, 2017; Kober, 2015; Nazer, 2018; Van Eijk, 2017; Vernon, 2003) [10, 15, 19, 28, 66, 71, 80, 91, 98], (Guez, 2014) [65]

●LB (15–18)

involving 15–18 Hz

(Shtoots, 2021) [95]

4. Gamma (30–45)

involving 30–45 Hz, 35–45 Hz, 36–44 Hz, 40–43 Hz

(Salari, 2012, 2014) [32, 94], (Andrade, 2024) [78], (Keizer, 2010a; Keizer, 2010b; Khodakarami, 2020; Staufenbiel, 2014) [24, 31, 88, 96], (Kober, 2017) [80]

C. BA mixed training

1. Training of BAR

involving LA (7–9.5 Hz)/UA (9.5–12 Hz), Theta (4–7 Hz)/Alpha (8–12 Hz), Theta (4–8 Hz)/LB (14–18 Hz), Beta (15–22 Hz)/Theta (4–8 Hz)

(Farnia, 2017) [87], (Xiong, 2014) [13], (Rozengurt, 2023; Tseng, 2021) [12, 35], (Rozengurt, 2023) [35]

2. BA + the others

involving sham + WMT, Alpha (8–13 Hz) + WMT, Alpha (8–12 Hz) + Theta (4–8 Hz), UA (10–12 Hz) + WMT, UA (10–12 Hz) + PC

(Parsons, 2021) [93], (Parsons, 2021) [93], (Vekety, 2022) [97], (Gordon, 2019) [34], (Gordon, 2019) [34]