Objective: Developmental trauma or chronic early childhood exposure to abuse and neglect by caregivers has been shown to have a long-lasting pervasive impact on mental and neural development, including problems with attention, impulse control, self-regulation, and executive functioning. Its long-term effects are arguably the costliest public health challenge in the United States. Children with developmental trauma rarely have a satisfactory response to currently available evidence-based psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments. Neurofeedback training (NFT) is a clinical application of brain computer interface technology, aiming to alter electrical brain activity associated with various mental dysfunctions. NFT has shown promise to improve posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Method: This randomized controlled study examined the effects of NFT on 37 children, aged 6 -13 years with developmental trauma. Participants were randomly divided into active NFT (n ϭ 20) or treatment-asusual control (n ϭ 17). Both groups underwent 4 assessments during equivalent timelines. The active group received 24 NFT sessions twice a week. Results: This pilot study demonstrated that 24 sessions of NFT significantly decreased PTSD symptoms, internalizing, externalizing, other behavioral and emotional symptoms, and significantly improved the executive functioning of children aged 6 -13 years with severe histories of abuse and neglect who had not significantly benefited from any previous therapy. Conclusions: NFT offers the possibility to improve learning, enhance self-efficacy, and develop better social relationships in this hitherto largely treatment-resistant population. Clinical Impact StatementAbuse and neglect of children by caregivers often have long-lasting and pervasive effects on mental and neural development, including problems with attention, impulse control, self-regulation, and executive functioning. Impairment of affect regulation is thought to be the largest obstacle to effective intervention. In this pilot study of neurofeedback for polysymptomatic children with such histories, we found a significant improvement on affect regulation and executive functioning after 24 sessions of neurofeedback treatment. This offers the possibility of being able to improve learning, enhance self-efficacy, and develop better social relationships in this hitherto largely treatment resistant population.

The relationships between memory processes and oscillatory electroencephalography (EEG) are well established. Neurofeedback training (NFT) may cause participants to better regulate their brain EEG oscillations. The present study is a double-blind sham-controlled design investigating the effect of NFT on memory. NFT included up-training upper alpha (UA) band, up-training sensory-motor rhythm (SMR) band and sham protocol. Thirty healthy adult volunteers were randomly divided into three treatment groups. NFT sessions (30 min each) took place twice weekly for a total of 10 sessions while memory testing took place pre- and post-training. The results indicate dissociation between SMR and UA NFT and different memory processes. While the SMR protocol resulted in improving automatic, item-specific and familiarity-based processes in memory, the UA protocol resulted in improved strategic and controlled recollection. The implications of the results are discussed.

The benefits of clinical neurofeedback training are well known, however, its adverse side-effects are less studied. This research focuses on the transient adverse side effects of neurofeedback training via a double-blind, sham/controlled methodology. Thirty healthy undergraduate students volunteers were randomly divided into three treatment groups: increasing a modified Sensory Motor Rhythm, increasing Upper Alpha, and Sham/control group who receive a random reward. The training sessions were administered for a total of ten sessions. Questionnaires of transient adverse side effects were completed by all volunteers before each session. The results suggest that similar to most medical treatments, neurofeedback can cause transient adverse side effects. Moreover, most participants reported experiencing some side effects. The side effects can be divided into non-specific side effect, associated with the neurofeedback training in general and specific ones associated with the particular protocol. Sensory Motor Rhythm protocol seems to be the most sensitive to side effects.