Objective: To examine the effect of mobile neurofeedback training on the clinical symptoms, attention abilities, and execution functions of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Methods: The participants were 74 children with ADHD aged 8–15 years who visited the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Seoul National University Children’s Hospital. The participants were randomly assigned to the mobile neurofeedback (N=35) or control (sham; N=39) group. Neurofeedback training was administered using a mobile app (equipped with a headset with a 2-channel EEG sensor) for 30 min/day, 3 days/week, for 3 months. Children with ADHD were individually administered various neuropsychological tests, including the continuous performance test, children’s color trails test-1 and 2, and Stroop color and word tests. The effects of mobile neurofeedback were evaluated at baseline and at 3 and 6 months after treatment initiation.
Results: Following treatment, both mobile neurofeedback-only and sham-only groups showed significant improvements in attention and response inhibition. In the visual continuous performance test, omission errors decreased to the normal range in the mobile neurofeedback-only group after training, suggesting that mobile neurofeedback effectively reduced inattention in children with ADHD. In the advanced test of attention, auditory response times decreased in the mobile neurofeedback+medication group after training, but increased in the sham+medication group. Overall, there were no significant between-group differences in other performance outcomes.
Conclusion: Mobile neurofeedback may have potential as an additional therapeutic option alongside medication for children with ADHD.