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Abstract
Neurofeedback (NF) is an electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback technique for training individuals to alter their brain activity via operant conditioning. Research has shown that NF helps reduce symptoms of several neurological and psychiatric disorders, with ongoing research currently investigating applications to other disorders and to the enhancement of non-disordered cognition. The present article briefly reviews the fundamentals and current status of NF therapy and research and illustrates the basic approach with an interim report on a pilot study aimed at developing a new NF protocol for improving cognitive function in the elderly. EEG peak alpha frequency (PAF) has been shown to correlate positively with cognitive performance and to correlate negatively with age after childhood. The present pilot study used a double-blind controlled design to investigate whether training older individuals to increase PAF would result in improved cognitive performance. The results suggested that PAF NF improved cognitive processing speed and executive function, but that it had no clear effect on memory. In sum, the results suggest that the PAF NF protocol is a promising technique for improving selected cognitive functions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Benjamin Alterman for helping with neurofeedback protocol development, Chris Ochner for administering and scoring psychometric tests, and Allen Osman for contributing lab resources and helpful insights. This study was supported by grant DC-04818 to John Kounios from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
Notes
“ + ”: improvement, “–”: worsening.