(The Effect of Neurofeedback (NFB) on children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD

Abstract

ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders of childhood with prevalence rates between 3% - 7% of school-aged children (Cormier, 2008). It is characterized by age inappropriate levels of inattention, and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity creating significant impairment in social relations, school and home environment (Kropotov, 2009). NFB science is attracting renewed interest as a method to self-regulate one’s own brain activity to directly alter the underlying neural mechanisms of both cognition and behavior. It does not only promises new avenues as a method for cognitive enhancement in healthy subjects, but also as a therapeutic tool. NFB is considered a comprehensive type of training therapy promoting growth and change at the brain's cellular level, taking science out of the laboratory into the hands of private health professionals (Demos, 2004). NFB can be used in at least three main ways: (i) as a therapeutic tool to normalize patients’ deviating brain activity in order to influence their symptoms (Pfurtscheller and Neuper, 2006) (ii) as so-called peak-performance training to enhance cognitive performance in healthy participants; and (iii) as an experimental method to investigate the causal role of specific neural events (such as brain oscillations) for cognition and