J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2012 Sep;51(5):326-334.

Effects of Neurofeedback in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder : A Preliminary Study

• Kim HL
• Kim JW
• Hong SB
• Cho JH
• Kim BN
• Shin MS
• Cho SC

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The slow cortical potential (SCP) training is one of the methods of neurofeedback which is considered as an adjunctive treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the SCP training in children with ADHD.
METHODS
Subjects were consisted of 12 children aged between 7 and 13 years and all of the subjects have completed neuropsychological tests to assess their cognitive and executive functioning, before and after their neurofeedback training. Their parents have completed the Korean-ADHD Rating Scale (ARS). Each subject was given 30 sessions of SCP training.
RESULTS
The inattention scores and total ARS scores of the subjects have decreased (Z=-2.54, p<0.05, Z=-2.26, p<0.05, respectively) after training, but the hyperactivity/impulsivity scores did not show significant improvement. The commission error scores for both the visual and auditory ADHD diagnostic system (ADS) showed a trend toward improvement after training (p=0.053, p=0.092, respectively). The larger improvement of positive task of feedback trial, which is one of the methods of SCP training, was associated with the larger reduction of ARS total scores (p<0.05) and the larger improvement of negative task of transfer trial was associated with a larger reduction of omission error scores of auditory ADS (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that the SCP neurofeedback program may improve ADHD symptoms and assumes that SCP training is a viable treatment option for ADHD treatment.

Keyword

Neurofeedback; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Slow cortical potentials

MeSH Terms

Aged
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
Child
Humans
Neurofeedback
Neuropsychological Tests
Parents

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of Slow Cortical Potential (SCP) neurofeedback training.

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  Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of procedures.

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  Fig. 3 Mean amplitudes in positive and negative trials with transfer during the early, the middle, and the latter sessions. * : p<0.05.

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  Fig. 4 Mean amplitudes in positive and negative trials with feedback during the early, middle, and latter sessions.

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