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Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis

Learning disorders (LDs) are diagnosed in children impaired in the academic skills of reading, writing and/or mathematics. Children with LDs usually exhibit a slower resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG), corresponding to a neurodevelopmental lag. Frequently, children with LDs show working memory...

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Autores principales: Martínez-Briones, Benito J., Bosch-Bayard, Jorge, Biscay-Lirio, Rolando J., Silva-Pereyra, Juan, Albarrán-Cárdenas, Lucero, Fernández, Thalía
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303215/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34356191
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11070957
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author Martínez-Briones, Benito J.
Bosch-Bayard, Jorge
Biscay-Lirio, Rolando J.
Silva-Pereyra, Juan
Albarrán-Cárdenas, Lucero
Fernández, Thalía
author_facet Martínez-Briones, Benito J.
Bosch-Bayard, Jorge
Biscay-Lirio, Rolando J.
Silva-Pereyra, Juan
Albarrán-Cárdenas, Lucero
Fernández, Thalía
author_sort Martínez-Briones, Benito J.
collection PubMed
description Learning disorders (LDs) are diagnosed in children impaired in the academic skills of reading, writing and/or mathematics. Children with LDs usually exhibit a slower resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG), corresponding to a neurodevelopmental lag. Frequently, children with LDs show working memory (WM) impairment, associated with an abnormal task-related EEG with overall slower EEG activity (more delta and theta power, and less gamma activity in posterior sites). These EEG patterns indicate inefficient neural resource management. Neurofeedback (NFB) treatments aimed at normalizing the resting-state EEG of LD children have shown improvements in cognitive-behavioral indices and diminished EEG abnormalities. Given the typical findings of WM impairment in children with LDs, we aimed to explore the effects of an NFB treatment on the WM of children with LDs by analyzing the WM-related EEG power spectrum. EEGs of 18 children (8–11 y.o.) with LDs were recorded, pre- and post-treatment, during performance of a Sternberg-type WM task. Thirty sessions of an NFB treatment (NFB-group, n = 10) or 30 sessions of a placebo-sham treatment (sham-group, n = 8) were administered. We analyzed the before and after treatment group differences for the behavioral performance and the WM-related EEG power spectrum. The NFB group showed faster response times in the WM task post-treatment. They also exhibited a decreased theta power and increased beta and gamma power at the frontal and posterior sites post-treatment. We explain these findings in terms of NFB improving the efficiency of neural resource management, maintenance of memory representations, and improved subvocal memory rehearsal.
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spelling pubmed-83032152021-07-25 Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis Martínez-Briones, Benito J. Bosch-Bayard, Jorge Biscay-Lirio, Rolando J. Silva-Pereyra, Juan Albarrán-Cárdenas, Lucero Fernández, Thalía Brain Sci Article Learning disorders (LDs) are diagnosed in children impaired in the academic skills of reading, writing and/or mathematics. Children with LDs usually exhibit a slower resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG), corresponding to a neurodevelopmental lag. Frequently, children with LDs show working memory (WM) impairment, associated with an abnormal task-related EEG with overall slower EEG activity (more delta and theta power, and less gamma activity in posterior sites). These EEG patterns indicate inefficient neural resource management. Neurofeedback (NFB) treatments aimed at normalizing the resting-state EEG of LD children have shown improvements in cognitive-behavioral indices and diminished EEG abnormalities. Given the typical findings of WM impairment in children with LDs, we aimed to explore the effects of an NFB treatment on the WM of children with LDs by analyzing the WM-related EEG power spectrum. EEGs of 18 children (8–11 y.o.) with LDs were recorded, pre- and post-treatment, during performance of a Sternberg-type WM task. Thirty sessions of an NFB treatment (NFB-group, n = 10) or 30 sessions of a placebo-sham treatment (sham-group, n = 8) were administered. We analyzed the before and after treatment group differences for the behavioral performance and the WM-related EEG power spectrum. The NFB group showed faster response times in the WM task post-treatment. They also exhibited a decreased theta power and increased beta and gamma power at the frontal and posterior sites post-treatment. We explain these findings in terms of NFB improving the efficiency of neural resource management, maintenance of memory representations, and improved subvocal memory rehearsal. MDPI 2021-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8303215/ /pubmed/34356191 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11070957 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Martínez-Briones, Benito J.
Bosch-Bayard, Jorge
Biscay-Lirio, Rolando J.
Silva-Pereyra, Juan
Albarrán-Cárdenas, Lucero
Fernández, Thalía
Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis
title Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis
title_full Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis
title_fullStr Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis
title_short Effects of Neurofeedback on the Working Memory of Children with Learning Disorders—An EEG Power-Spectrum Analysis
title_sort effects of neurofeedback on the working memory of children with learning disorders—an eeg power-spectrum analysis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303215/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34356191
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11070957
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