Abstract
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.
Highlights
Learning disorders (LDs) are neurodevelopmental impairments, and they are found in5%–20% of children and adolescents between 5 and 16 years old [1,2,3,4]
Coupled with the lagged development of academic skills, children with an LD usually endure a heterogeneous frame of cognitive impairments in processes such as phonological awareness, attentional control, processing speed, and working memory (WM) [6], the latter being the main source of this heterogeneity [7]
To select the specific sources to be used in the analysis, we applied a datadriven approach where the ROIs were selected based on the intrinsic variability of the data. For this purpose we developed a variant of the eigenvector centrality mapping technique (ECM) [69]
Summary
Learning disorders (LDs) are neurodevelopmental impairments, and they are found in5%–20% of children and adolescents between 5 and 16 years old [1,2,3,4]. Coupled with the lagged development of academic skills, children with an LD usually endure a heterogeneous frame of cognitive impairments in processes such as phonological awareness, attentional control, processing speed, and working memory (WM) [6], the latter being the main source of this heterogeneity [7]. WM is the part of the memory in charge of the online processing of information in a type of limited-capacity mental workspace to achieve goal-directed actions [8] This process is a commonly affected cognitive domain in children with an LD [9,10,11], and serves as an adequate predictor of current and future academic difficulties [12,13]. An affective distress in LD often appears in the form of reduced self-esteem coupled with possible anxiety and depression problems that can be aggravated further into adolescence and adulthood [17]
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