In conditions such as ADHD, neurofeedback has been shown to be effective in helping individuals learn to focus better and reduce impulsive behavior. Neurofeedback training equals and in some cases exceeds the effectiveness of drug treatment.

Neurofeedback treatments have been tested on people with attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities since the late 1970s. Dr. Joel Lubar and his colleagues (Lubar et al. 1995), as well as many others, have proven with clinical tests that it is possible to rewire the brain with training. In a recent study by Levesque (Levesque, Beauregard & Mensour, 2006), functional MRI neuroimaging documented positive brain function changes in children with attention deficit disorder after neurofeedback treatment.
Rossiter and LaVaque (1995) proved that the improvement in attention and concentration resulting from 20 neurofeedback treatments is comparable to the use of the drug Ritalin (without all its harmful side effects), while other researchers (Monastra et al, 2002) found that neurofeedback is more effective it was like Ritalin.

In the field of ADHD, research has been ongoing since 1970, which has shown that children and adults typically have high theta activity at rest in the frontocentral areas, which can basically be traced back to reduced cortical activity (low arousal). However, high theta activity is also characteristic of other neurological diseases (e.g. epilepsy).

Because high theta activity and the beta frequency range are tied to attentional processes, their ratio (theta/beta ratio, θ/β) has been studied the most, and it has been shown that high θ/β is associated with faster reaction time in both healthy subjects and ADHD patients together in the experimental situations. However, this type of faster reaction is associated with a higher error rate and impulsivity, and in the case of ADHD, θ/β is much higher even in a resting state. θ/β is probably the most robust EEG result within the disease picture, however, research is ongoing for other frequency ranges and evoked potentials as well.

In the light of these and other studies, it can be stated that neurofeedback is an important and effective alternative treatment for people with attention deficit disorder and learning difficulties. Neurofeedback training reduced hyperactive symptoms, irritability, improved emotional stability, improved sleep quality, increased ability to concentrate and focus, increased memory, and improved academic results. It is noteworthy that several studies dealing with attention deficit disorder and learning difficulties have shown that an increase in the intelligence quotient (IQ) can also be observed after neurofeedback treatment. The increase ranged from an average of 9 points (Linden et al., 1996), through 12 and 19 points (Thompson and Thompson, 1998 and Tansey, 1990) up to 23 IQ points (Othmer and Kaiser, 1999).