Why how you respond matters as much as what you hear
Many people notice that the moment they hear the Attune feedback, a critical voice appears: “I’m bad at this,” or “I can’t stay focused.” In fact, this reaction is one of the most common and most misunderstood parts of neurofeedback-based meditation.
The feedback is not judging you. But your mind might be.
Why feedback can trigger self-criticism
The human brain is wired to interpret signals as evaluations. A beep, a sound, or a change in music easily becomes “good” or “bad” in our mind. When you are doing the Focused Attention protocol and a sound appears, it is very tempting to translate it into a story: “I failed.” “I lost focus again.” “I’m bad at meditating.”
But none of those are what the signal actually means. In Attune, the feedback is a mirror, not a scorecard. It reflects a change in alpha activity in your visual cortex nothing more and nothing less.
The real training is not avoiding feedback
Every time your mind wanders and you hear the sound, you are being given a precise moment of awareness. That moment is where the training happens. How you respond to that moment determines whether attention strengthens or collapses.
If you respond with self-criticism, emotional reactivity increases and attentional control decreases. If you respond with a neutral or kind attitude, you keep the nervous system calm and make it easier for alpha to drop again.
CEVAM and gentle correction
CEVAM is built around one simple loop: engage, drift, notice, return. The feedback supports the noticing step. It is not there to evaluate you. When you treat the sound as information rather than judgment, you stop fighting the feedback and start working with it.
The takeaway
The sound is not saying, “You failed.” It is saying, “Your attention shifted.” What turns that moment into progress is how you respond.
