Modulation of attention in healthy children using a course of EEG-feedback sessions

We studied changes in the power spectra of EEG in the course of sessions of feedback by EEG characteristics (neurofeedback sessions) and estimated the effects of neurofeedback on psychological and EEG correlates of voluntary attention. Indices of the latter were estimated using Bourdon’s test (a correcture test) and Schulte’s tables. Twenty-nine reasonably healthy 10-to 13-year-old children took part in the study; they were divided into two groups, an experimental group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 15). The results obtained support the statement on noticeable changes in the functional state of the brain both immediately in the course of a neurofeedback session and after a course of such trainings. Changes in the ratios of the spectral powers of the beta₁ vs theta rhythms and the low-frequency beta vs theta rhythms were found in EEG recorded from the sensorimotor zone of the right hemisphere (C4). The observed changes in the spectral characteristics of EEG induced by the course of neurofeedback sessions were accompanied by the improvement of a few indices of voluntary attention. Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 38, Nos. 5/6, pp. 458–465, September–December, 2006.