What the research says. All of it.

ADHD is the most-studied use of neurofeedback, with controlled trials going back to 1976. For the standard protocols — theta/beta, sensorimotor rhythm and slow cortical potentials — meta-analyses report medium-to-large effects on inattention and impulsivity, with gains maintained or increased six to twelve months after training ends. A 2020 international review rated standard-protocol neurofeedback a well-established treatment with remission rates of 32–47%. A 2025 meta-analysis that pooled every kind of protocol found a significant benefit on blinded ratings only in the trials that used the standard protocols. Kerov plans use standard protocols, selected from each person’s qEEG brain map.

1. Pigott HE, Cannon R. (2014). Neurofeedback is the best available first-line treatment for ADHD: what is the evidence for this claim?. NeuroRegulation. Review of 16 controlled studies since 2000, 828 participants.

   Across the 16 studies, neurofeedback improved parent-rated core symptoms in 15 and teacher-rated symptoms in 12, with gains maintained at six-month and two-year follow-ups; four studies reported outcomes equivalent to stimulant medication. The authors argue neurofeedback should be recognised as a first-line option.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

2. Arns M, Clark CR, Trullinger M, deBeus R, Mack M, Aniftos M. (2020). Neurofeedback and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children: rating the evidence and proposed guidelines. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. Quantitative review of meta-analyses and four multicenter RCTs.

   Standard neurofeedback protocols met a stricter version of the APA criteria for a well-established treatment: medium-to-large effect sizes, remission rates of 32–47%, effects sustained at 6–12 months, no evidence of publication bias and no neurofeedback-specific side effects.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

3. Van Doren J, Arns M, Heinrich H, Vollebregt MA, Strehl U, Loo SK. (2019). Sustained effects of neurofeedback in ADHD: a systematic review and meta-analysis. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 10 randomized trials with 2–12 month follow-up, 506 children.

   Inattention improved with a medium effect at the end of training and a large effect at follow-up; hyperactivity/impulsivity improved with medium effects at both points. Non-active control conditions showed no lasting effect, and neurofeedback’s advantage over them was larger at follow-up than at the end of training.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

4. Micoulaud-Franchi J-A, Geoffroy PA, Fond G, Lopez R, Bioulac S, Philip P. (2014). EEG neurofeedback treatments in children with ADHD: an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 5 RCTs with semi-active or sham controls, 263 children.

   Parent ratings of overall symptoms, inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity all improved significantly versus controls; on teacher ratings, inattention improved significantly.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

5. Riesco-Matías P, Yela-Bernabé JR, Crego A, Sánchez-Zaballos E. (2021). What do meta-analyses have to say about the efficacy of neurofeedback applied to children with ADHD? Review of previous meta-analyses and a new meta-analysis. Journal of Attention Disorders. Review of 7 meta-analyses plus a new one of 17 RCTs.

   Randomized trials support neurofeedback’s efficacy on parent ratings, and inattention improved on possibly blinded ratings as well; preliminary comparisons suggested stimulant medication produces larger short-term effects.

   Read the paper ↗

6. Arns M, de Ridder S, Strehl U, Breteler M, Coenen A. (2009). Efficacy of neurofeedback treatment in ADHD: the effects on inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity: a meta-analysis. Clinical EEG and Neuroscience. 15 studies, 1,194 participants.

   Large effect sizes for inattention and impulsivity and a medium effect for hyperactivity; under the AAPB/ISNR efficacy guidelines the authors rate neurofeedback for ADHD “Efficacious and Specific” (Level 5).

   Read the paper ↗

7. Westwood SJ, Aggensteiner P-M, Kaiser A, et al. (2025). Neurofeedback for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 38 randomized trials, 2,472 participants aged 5–40.

   Pooling all protocols, no significant improvement in blinded ratings of total ADHD symptoms; restricted to trials using established standard protocols, a small significant improvement, plus a small gain in processing speed. The authors recommend standard protocols and precision approaches to identify who benefits.

   Read the paper ↗

8. Roley-Roberts ME, Pan X, Bergman R, et al. (2022). For which children with ADHD is TBR neurofeedback effective? Comorbidity as a moderator. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 142 children aged 7–10, double-blind RCT, 13-month follow-up.

   Response to theta/beta neurofeedback varied with comorbidity: children whose ADHD came with anxiety responded better to the control condition, while children with oppositional behaviour responded better to neurofeedback at 13 months. The authors conclude the protocol should be matched to the child.

   Read the paper ↗

More studies on this topic: ISNR bibliography ↗ · NeuroRegulation journal ↗

Anxiety has one of the longest track records in neurofeedback. A 1978 study in Science reported that anxious people who learned to raise their alpha rhythm became calmer in proportion to the change, and reviews in 2000 and 2005 found alpha, theta and alpha-theta training effective across the anxiety disorders. Randomized trials since — in generalized anxiety disorder and with frontal-asymmetry training — report reduced anxiety maintained at follow-up. A 2020 systematic review found biofeedback of all kinds superior to a waiting list and called for larger trials against active comparison treatments. The PTSD trials below address the same hyperarousal pattern. Kerov protocols are chosen from each person’s own brain map.

1. Hardt JV, Kamiya J. (1978). Anxiety change through electroencephalographic alpha feedback seen only in high anxiety subjects. Science. High- and low-anxiety adults, at least 5 hours of training.

   In high-anxiety subjects, anxiety fell in proportion to alpha increases and rose with alpha suppression; low-anxiety subjects learned the task well but showed no anxiety change. The authors suggested long-term alpha feedback “may be useful in anxiety therapy.”

   Read the paper ↗

2. Rice KM, Blanchard EB, Purcell M. (1993). Biofeedback treatments of generalized anxiety disorder: preliminary results. Biofeedback and Self-Regulation. 45 adults, randomized, 5 conditions.

   All treated groups reduced trait anxiety and physical symptoms, maintained at six weeks; only the alpha-increase group also reduced heart-rate reactivity to stress.

   Read the paper ↗

3. Moore NC. (2000). A review of EEG biofeedback treatment of anxiety disorders. Clinical Electroencephalography. Narrative review.

   Alpha, theta and alpha-theta enhancement were found effective for anxiety disorders, and alpha suppression effective to a lesser degree; the author outlines the variables future placebo-controlled trials should examine.

   Read the paper ↗

4. Hammond DC. (2005). Neurofeedback with anxiety and affective disorders. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Narrative review with case examples.

   Reviews the brain-function findings behind anxiety, OCD and depression and the neurofeedback literature for each, concluding it “seems to hold promise” for retraining abnormal brain-wave patterns with minimal side effects.

   Read the paper ↗

5. Dreis SM, Gouger AM, Perez EG, Russo GM, Fitzsimmons MA, Jones MS. (2015). Using neurofeedback to lower anxiety symptoms using individualized qEEG protocols: a pilot study. NeuroRegulation. 14 clients aged 11–61, retrospective pilot.

   Neurofeedback protocols chosen from each client’s own qEEG produced statistically significant improvement on anxiety symptom measures after an average of 13 sessions.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

6. Mennella R, Patron E, Palomba D. (2017). Frontal alpha asymmetry neurofeedback for the reduction of negative affect and anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 32 women, randomized, active control.

   Training frontal alpha asymmetry reduced anxiety and negative affect compared with an active control training; positive affect and depression scores did not change.

   Read the paper ↗

7. Tolin DF, Davies CD, Moskow DM, Hofmann SG. (2020). Biofeedback and neurofeedback for anxiety disorders: a quantitative and qualitative systematic review. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs in diagnosed anxiety disorders.

   Biofeedback, broadly defined, was superior to waiting-list conditions; the authors found the existing trials too few and too small to separate specific from non-specific effects and recommend larger, better-controlled studies.

   Read the paper ↗

8. Hou Y, Zhang S, Li N, Huang Z, Wang L, Wang Y. (2021). Neurofeedback training improves anxiety trait and depressive symptom in GAD. Brain and Behavior. 26 women with generalized anxiety disorder, randomized to two training sites.

   Ten sessions of parietal alpha training reduced state and trait anxiety, depressive symptoms and insomnia, with further gains at four weeks; both training sites produced similar results.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

More studies on this topic: ISNR bibliography ↗ · NeuroRegulation journal ↗

Reviews since 2010 report gains in attention, executive function, language and social behaviour, and a 2025 systematic review found positive effects on cognition in ten of twelve studies, six of them lasting. Controlled trials report: mu-rhythm training that normalised EEG measures and parent ratings in autistic children; a placebo-controlled trial of 60 preschoolers with larger gains in expressive language and joint attention from real feedback than from sham; slow-cortical-potential training that reduced core symptoms in adolescents; and a blinded 2013 trial in which cognitive flexibility improved while core symptom scores did not change significantly. Families come to us for regulation, sleep and attention alongside their child’s existing therapies.

1. Coben R, Linden M, Myers TE. (2010). Neurofeedback for autistic spectrum disorder: a review of the literature. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. Narrative review.

   Reviews the literature to 2010 and describes neurofeedback as a non-invasive approach shown to improve neuroregulation in autistic children, without the side effects or ongoing dosing of medication; the authors set out directions for further research.

   Read the paper ↗

2. Kouijzer ME, van Schie HT, Gerrits BJ, Buitelaar JK, de Moor JM. (2013). Is EEG-biofeedback an effective treatment in autism spectrum disorders? A randomized controlled trial. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 38 participants, blinded active comparator and waiting list, 6-month follow-up.

   Just over half the participants learned to regulate their EEG. Those who did improved in cognitive flexibility compared with the skin-conductance group; parent-rated core symptom scores did not change significantly, and no non-specific effects of the training were found.

   Read the paper ↗

3. Pineda JA, Carrasco K, Datko M, Pillen S, Schalles M. (2014). Neurofeedback training produces normalization in behavioural and electrophysiological measures of high-functioning autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Autistic and typically developing children, 30 hours of mu-rhythm training.

   Training aimed at the mirror-neuron system normalised EEG mu-suppression measures and improved parent-rated behaviour in the autistic children, with no such changes in typically developing children.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

4. Konicar L, Radev S, Prillinger K, et al. (2021). Volitional modification of brain activity in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a Bayesian analysis of slow cortical potential neurofeedback. NeuroImage: Clinical. 41 adolescents, randomized, active control (counselling), 24 sessions.

   Core symptoms fell in the neurofeedback group by 21 points on the Social Responsiveness Scale, slightly more than in the counselling group; EEG showed delta power decreasing and alpha power increasing over the course of training.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

5. Wang XN, Zhang T, Han BC, et al. (2024). Wearable EEG neurofeedback based on machine learning algorithms for children with autism: a randomized, placebo-controlled study. Current Medical Science. 60 children aged 3–6, sham-controlled, 60 sessions.

   Both groups improved alongside their usual behavioural programmes; the real-feedback group gained significantly more in expressive language and cognitive awareness, including joint attention.

   Read the paper ↗

6. Rezaee M, Effatpanah M, Nasehi MM, Ghamkhar L, Barati N. (2025). Assessing the impact of neurofeedback on cognitive function in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review. Iranian Journal of Child Neurology. PRISMA systematic review, 12 studies.

   Ten of twelve studies reported a positive effect on attention, memory, executive function or speech, and six reported the gains lasting over time; the authors describe neurofeedback as a promising intervention for cognitive challenges in autism.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

More studies on this topic: ISNR bibliography ↗ · NeuroRegulation journal ↗

Randomized controlled trials of EEG neurofeedback for post-traumatic stress — including two double-blind, sham-controlled studies — report meaningful symptom reduction and remission rates around 60%, with brain-imaging evidence of network connectivity moving toward normal. The authors of these trials call for larger ones.

1. van der Kolk BA, Hodgdon H, Gapen M, et al. (2016). A randomized controlled study of neurofeedback for chronic PTSD. PLoS One. 52 adults, waitlist-controlled.

   After 24 sessions, 27% of the neurofeedback group still met criteria for PTSD versus 68% of controls; effect sizes were comparable to established PTSD treatments.

   Read the paper ↗

2. Nicholson AA, Ros T, Densmore M, et al. (2020). A randomized, controlled trial of alpha-rhythm EEG neurofeedback in PTSD. NeuroImage: Clinical. 36 adults, double-blind, sham-controlled.

   Remission of 61% in the neurofeedback group versus 33% with sham, with fMRI evidence that brain-network connectivity moved toward normal.

   Read the paper ↗

3. Nicholson AA, Densmore M, Frewen PA, et al. (2023). Homeostatic normalization of alpha brain rhythms and reduced symptoms in PTSD following a randomized controlled trial of EEG neurofeedback. Brain Communications. 38 adults, double-blind, sham-controlled.

   60% remission at three-month follow-up; reduced alpha rhythms, a known PTSD signature, normalized in the neurofeedback group.

   Read the paper ↗

More studies on this topic: ISNR bibliography ↗ · NeuroRegulation journal ↗

A randomized pilot trial found neurofeedback aimed at lowering cortical arousal improved insomnia severity about as much as cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, while a double-blind crossover study found sensorimotor-rhythm neurofeedback and placebo feedback equally effective on subjective sleep complaints in primary insomnia. Better sleep is among the changes clients most often report during a program.

1. Kwan Y, Yoon S, Suh S, Choi S. (2022). A randomized controlled trial comparing neurofeedback and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia patients: pilot study. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 17 adults.

   Both groups improved on insomnia severity and sleep quality; the neurofeedback group showed EEG changes consistent with lower cortical arousal.

   Read the paper ↗

2. Schabus M, Griessenberger H, Gnjezda M-T, et al. (2017). Better than sham? A double-blind placebo-controlled neurofeedback study in primary insomnia. Brain. 25 adults, double-blind crossover.

   Neurofeedback and placebo feedback were equally effective on subjective sleep complaints, and objective sleep measures did not change; the authors conclude it should not replace CBT-I for primary insomnia.

   Read the paper ↗

More studies on this topic: ISNR bibliography ↗ · NeuroRegulation journal ↗

Neurofeedback in healthy adults has its own literature, separate from the clinical trials. A three-part 2013–2014 review catalogued controlled studies reporting gains in sustained and executive attention, memory, reaction time, complex psychomotor skill, mood and well-being. Meta-analyses since then report a medium effect on working and episodic memory from theta training, a small effect on episodic memory against active controls, a small overall effect on attention that did not hold in the sham-controlled subset, and a large effect on motor performance. In athletes, sensorimotor-rhythm training sharpened the attentional state that precedes skilled action — the “quiet mind before the shot” that performers describe.

1. Gruzelier JH. (2014). EEG-neurofeedback for optimising performance. I: a review of cognitive and affective outcome in healthy participants. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Review of controlled studies in healthy and older adults.

   Reported outcome gains across studies in sustained, orienting and executive attention, memory, spatial rotation, reaction time, complex psychomotor skills, intelligence measures, mood and well-being; 23 controlled studies reported neurofeedback learning indices alongside the gains.

   Read the paper ↗

2. Cheng M-Y, Huang C-J, Chang Y-K, et al. (2015). Sensorimotor rhythm neurofeedback enhances golf putting performance. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 16 pre-elite golfers, randomized.

   After eight sessions the neurofeedback group putted more accurately and showed greater sensorimotor-rhythm power during preparation than controls.

   Read the paper ↗

3. Viviani G, Vallesi A. (2021). EEG-neurofeedback and executive function enhancement in healthy adults: a systematic review. Psychophysiology. Systematic review.

   Found promising evidence for neurofeedback’s effect on executive functions in healthy adults and identified the frequency targets most often linked to gains, while noting the number of well-designed studies is still limited.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

4. Yeh WH, Ju YJ, Liu YT, Wang TY. (2022). Systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of neurofeedback training of theta activity on working memory and episodic memory in healthy population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Meta-analysis of 11 studies.

   Theta neurofeedback improved working memory (Hedges’ g = 0.56) and episodic memory (g = 0.62) in healthy participants; the authors describe it as useful adjunct training.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

5. Onagawa R, Muraoka Y, Hagura N, Takemi M. (2023). An investigation of the effectiveness of neurofeedback training on motor performance in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. NeuroImage. 16 randomized trials, 374 participants.

   A significant, large effect of neurofeedback on motor performance measured after the last training session (standardized mean difference 0.85).

   Read the paper ↗

6. Jackson LE, Han YJ, Evans LH. (2023). The efficacy of electroencephalography neurofeedback for enhancing episodic memory in healthy and clinical participants: a systematic qualitative review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Meta-analysis of 21 studies with active controls.

   A small, significant positive effect on episodic memory (g = 0.31), larger in participants who successfully learned to regulate their EEG; the review notes wide variation in protocols and many under-powered studies.

   Read the paper ↗

7. Kimura I, Noyama H, Onagawa R, Takemi M, Osu R, et al. (2024). Efficacy of neurofeedback training for improving attentional performance in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Imaging Neuroscience. 15 randomized trials, 569 participants.

   A small, significant overall effect on attentional performance (standardized mean difference 0.27); within the eight sham-controlled trials the pooled effect was not significant, and the authors call for more sham-controlled studies.

   Read the full paper (free) ↗

More studies on this topic: ISNR bibliography ↗ · NeuroRegulation journal ↗