Neurofeedback trains a superordinate system relevant for seemingly opposing behavioral control deficits depending on ADHD subtype

• Published in: Developmental science Vol. 23; no. 6; pp. e12956 - n/a
• Main Authors: Bluschke, Annet, Schreiter, Marie L., Friedrich, Julia, Adelhöfer, Nico, Roessner, Veit, Beste, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.11.2020
• Subjects: ADHD; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - therapy; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Behavior Control; Biofeedback; Child; Children; Cognition; EEG; Electroencephalography; executive function; Feedback; Go/no-go discrimination learning; Humans; Mental disorders; Neural networks; Neurofeedback; Oscillations; response inhibition; subtypes; ADHD; response inhibition; executive function; neurofeedback; subtypes
• ISSN: 1363-755X; 1467-7687
• DOI: 10.1111/desc.12956

ADHD is one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood, but symptoms vary considerably between individuals. Therefore, different ADHD subtypes can be distinguished. Yet, it is widely elusive whether the specific subtype is critical to consider when examining treatment effects. Based on theoretical considerations, this could be the case for EEG theta/beta neurofeedback. We examine the effects of such an intervention on rapid response execution and inhibition processes using a Go/Nogo task in the inattentive (ADD) and the combined (ADHD‐C) subtype. We show that a single neurofeedback protocol affects opposing deficits depending on the ADHD subtype – namely the execution (in ADD) and inhibition of action (in ADHD‐C). No changes occurred in the healthy controls. These findings are discussed in relation to overarching principles of neural oscillations, particularly in the beta frequency band. The data suggest that theta/beta neurofeedback trains a superordinate system strongly related to the function of neural beta frequency oscillations to tune neural networks important for the sampling of sensory information used for behavioral control. This study shows that neurofeedback effects on inhibitory control in AD(H)D depends on the clinical subtype. Neurofeedback effects differ between ADHD and ADD subtypes.