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Neurofeedback for ADHD: a Critical Review and Suggested Future Directions

  • ADHD (C Colomer Diago, Section Editor)
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Current Developmental Disorders Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 12 August 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Here, we review the recent literature on the use of neurofeedback in ADHD. We also discuss the progress and challenges in this field and offer future directions.

Recent Findings

There is promising and suggestive, but not conclusive, evidence suggesting that neurofeedback is an effective treatment for ADHD. Nonetheless, no firm conclusion about its clinical utility can be made because only a few neurofeedback trainings have been assessed.

Summary

Novel approaches to acquiring and analyzing brain data have expanded the possibilities of neurofeedback for understanding and treating ADHD. At the basic level, neurofeedback represents an exciting new approach to complement descriptive neuroimaging ADHD research by providing evidence of specific causal brain-(dys)function relationships. At the clinical level, it represents a promising non-invasive intervention to normalize or compensate for neuropsychological/behavioral dsyfunctions associated with ADHD. Further, well-controlled studies are needed to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of traditional and new potentially useful neurofeedback trainings.

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Change history

  • 12 August 2017

    An erratum to this article has been published.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the grant H2015/HUM-3327 from the Comunidad de Madrid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Jacobo Albert

  2. Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Jacobo Albert

  3. Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Alberto J. Sánchez-Carmona

  4. Centro Neuromottiva, Madrid, Spain

    Alberto J. Sánchez-Carmona & Sara López-Martín

  5. Hospital Universitario Quirón, Madrid, Spain

    Alberto Fernández-Jaén

  6. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

    Sara López-Martín

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  1. Jacobo Albert
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  2. Alberto J. Sánchez-Carmona
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  3. Alberto Fernández-Jaén
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  4. Sara López-Martín
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Correspondence to Jacobo Albert.

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The original version of this article was revised: a modification has been made to the name of the third author. The correct name of the third author can also be found in the erratum for this article.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on ADHD

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Albert, J., Sánchez-Carmona, A.J., Fernández-Jaén, A. et al. Neurofeedback for ADHD: a Critical Review and Suggested Future Directions. Curr Dev Disord Rep 4, 86–93 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-017-0117-y

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