Benefits of Neurofeedback
During neurofeedback, neuroelectrical activity is detected via electrodes attached to your scalp. This activity is then amplified and processed by software programs that provide auditory, tactile, and/or visual feedback to you via a game simulation or computer monitor.
When someone without adult ADHD does something that requires a lot of focus, concentration, and attention, they activate beta waves in certain parts of the brain. But ADHD adults doing the same task activate theta waves (the daydream brain wave) instead of focused beta waves. While they may have trouble paying attention to things that bore them, these same individuals may excel at things that capture their interest, such as creating new worlds for movies (Steven Spielberg), inventing a completely new way of painting (Pablo Picasso), or developing the principles behind rocket science (Isaac Newton).
Proponents of neurofeedback believe it helps ADHD adults by teaching them how to adjust their brain waves so they more closely resemble the brain waves of “normal” people.
Fact
In essence, neurofeedback is a workout for your brain. It helps strengthen the attentive, or beta wave, muscles of your brain that you'd use to do things like concentrate on your tax return, pay attention to what your wife is saying, or focus on your project at work.
How Neurofeedback Shifts Your Brain Waves
Let's say your computer “brain training” is a Pac-Man computer game. Before starting the game, your therapist establishes “amplitude thresholds” designed to help you optimize motivation and learning.
As you play the game, a Pac-Man figure advances and sounds a tone whenever you maintain waves in the 15 to 18 Hz range above a certain amplitude threshold, while keeping waves in the 4 to 7 Hz range below a certain threshold. You're rewarded whenever you maintain 15 to 18 Hz above your predetermined threshold 70 percent of the time, while keeping the 4 to 7 Hz frequency above your predetermined threshold 20 percent of the time.
To sum up, during neurofeedback, you get a visual representation of what your brain waves are up to when you're doing any given task. The more you positively reinforce your brain waves for shifting to the correct mode — beta mode — the more you retrain them to stop going into the wrong mode — theta mode. It will become easier for you to stop daydreaming and fantasizing when you really should be focusing and paying attention.
