ADHD double blind placebo controlled neurofeedback studies
There has been an abundance of ADHD neurofeedback (NF) studies in the past decade in an effort to show NF’s efficacy on reducing the cardinal symptoms of ADHD. A recent meta-analysis concluded that NF was an efficacious treatment of ADHD, with a large effect size for inattention and impulsivity and a medium effect size for hyperactivity. Most studies, including the ones in the meta-analysis, have used a wait-list or active control as comparison groups. More recently, there have been a few NF studies using a blinded placebo-controlled design. These studies have shown equivocal results, indicating NF and placebo NF produced similar outcomes.
In our randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study we found no significant differences between conditions on parent and teacher ratings, and children’s IVA scores. However, when EEG learning was used as a moderating variable there were significant differences between groups for the teacher ratings and IVA scores. This presentation will review the ADHD NF research highlighting studies using placebo as a comparison, and how learning to change EEG can impact results in a NF placebo-controlled study of ADHD children.
