Attention plays an important role in children’s development and learning, and neurofeedback training (NFT) has been proposed as a promising method to improve attention, mainly in population with attention problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, whether this approach has a positive effect on attention in normal developing children has been rarely investigated. This pilot study conducted ten sessions of alpha/theta ratio (ATR) NFT on eight primary students in school environment, with two to three sessions per week. The results showed inter-individual difference in NFT learning efficacy that was assessed by the slope of ATR over training sessions. In addition, the attention performance was significantly improved after NFT. Importantly, the improvement of attention performance was positively correlated with the NFT learning efficacy. It thus highlighted the need for optimizing ATR NFT protocol for the benefits on attention at the individual level. Future work can employ a double-blind placebo-controlled design with larger sample size to validate the benefits of ATR NFT for attention in normal developing children.

注意力在儿童的发展和学习中发挥着重要作用，神经反馈训练（NFT）已被提出作为一种有前途的提高注意力的方法，主要针对存在注意力缺陷多动障碍等注意力问题的人群。然而，很少有人研究这种方法是否对正常发育儿童的注意力产生积极影响。这项试点研究在学校环境中对八名小学生进行了十次 alpha/theta 比 (ATR) NFT，每周两到三次。结果显示了 NFT 学习效果的个体间差异，这是通过 ATR 在训练期间的斜率评估的。此外，NFT 后的注意力表现显着提高。重要的，注意力表现的提高与 NFT 学习效果呈正相关。因此，它强调了优化 ATR NFT 协议的必要性，以提高个人层面的注意力。未来的工作可以采用具有更大样本量的双盲安慰剂对照设计，以验证 ATR NFT 对正常发育儿童注意力的益处。