Neurofeedback training is exercise for your brain. With neurofeedback training, you go to the training center, rather than to the gym, and exercise the neural pathways to build up your ability to regulate your brain waves and switch from one brain state to another. Like all exercise, neurofeedback training must be done frequently over an extended period of time have an impact. Research indicates that the impact is much greater if the training is done at least twice a week.
The procedure is quite simple. Sensors are placed on the scalp, held in place with a special gel or with a headband. Wires from the sensors conduct tiny electrical currents from the client's head to an amplifier that boosts the signal and passes it on to a computer that registers the different frequencies and amplitudes of the brain waves produced in the area of the brain being monitored.
The brain wave patterns show what a person's brain is doing; for example, whether a person is paying attention or daydreaming or worrying. In an EEG, the brain wave is shown as a wavy line that combines all of frequencies. For neurofeedback training, the computer filters the waves into standard groups of frequencies, like slow Theta waves or fast Beta wave bands. Theta waves predominate when we are drowsy and distracted; Beta waves are more characteristic of alert, focused attention, concentration and problem-solving.
For neurofeedback training purposes, the wave bands are displayed directly on a computer screen,or are used to control gamelike video images. The displays are paired with sounds that give auditory feedback, in addition to the visual feedback. When neurofeedback is used for attention training, a person's attentiveness controls what happens on the screen. Children can learn to control a game by learning to regulate their brain waves so they produce fewer Theta waves and more Beta waves.