Distinct effects of different neurofeedback protocols on the neural mechanisms of response inhibition in ADHD

Abstract

Objective: In attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), impaired response inhibition is frequently observed. A promising non-pharmacological treatment is electroencephalography (EEG)-neurofeedback (NF) training. However, the widely used theta-down/beta-up regulation (↓θ↑β) NF protocol may not be optimal for targeting these deficits. We examined how neurofeedback protocols training the upregulation of theta and/or beta power affect inhibitory control in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Methods: 64 patients with ADHD took part in the three NF trainings. Aside from parent-reported ADHD symptoms and behavioural performance data, neurophysiological parameters collected via a Go/Nogo task and corrected to account for intraindividual variability were compared in a pre-post design and to an ADHD (n = 20) as well as a typically developing control group (n = 24).

Results: The examined NF protocols resulted in similar improvements in response inhibition with the neurophysiological mechanisms differing substantially. The upregulation of theta led to a specific Nogo-P3 increase, while training beta upregulation as well as the combined protocol resulted in less specific effects.

Conclusions: This study shows distinct effects of different theta/beta-neurofeedback protocols on the neural mechanisms underlying improvements in response inhibition in patients with ADHD.

Significance: These effects shed further light on the oscillatory dynamics underlying cognitive control in ADHD and how these may be targeted in neurofeedback treatments.

Keywords: ADHD; Beta oscillations; Cognitive control; Neurofeedback training; Response inhibition; Theta oscillations.