Types of attention and the difference between neurofeedback, cognitive training and regular computer games
Dr. Daniel Ben Eliezer, Chief psychologist, Excellent Brain
We are often asked about the difference between neurofeedback and computer games, as well as the difference between neurofeedback and computerized cognitive tasks that do not involve EEG (but only include exercises that require focusing, memory, or thinking).
To address these questions, we will first review the types of attention and why neurofeedback can help with attention deficit disorders while regular computer games are irrelevant.
Different types of attention and attention disorders:
Human attention is a cognitive ability that allows focusing on important data out of the large amount of information that arrives from our senses (mainly vision and hearing), and transferring it into our working memory. There, the mental process and information processing of both verbal and visual stimuli actually take place. In contrast to this process, (known as “bottom-up” (i.e., from the outside to the brain/body to the brain) there is also other type of attention that deals with top-down processes, i.e. initiated by the brain. This attention focuses on the executive functions, which are actually responsible for initiating desirable behavior, inhibiting unwanted behavior and behavior planning. From this distinction, three types of attention arise (according to Posner), with the first two being mostly bottom-up and the last type being mostly top-down.
Alert – Attention in which prominent external stimuli attract a person’s attention, such as rapid movement in the visual field, loud noise or when calling our name. Such stimuli usually manage to target cognitive resources very quickly, and even people with attention deficit disorders do not usually have difficulty allocating attention in such cases.
Orientation – In this case we have prior knowledge or early expectation that guides us to locate important signs in time or space (for example red light at a traffic light while driving and not when we walk the walkway) . In this case the top-down prior knowledge acts in advance to focus us on the external stimuli that may appear from the outside (bottom-up) and as such, facilitates the possibility of locating it, even if it is not prominent or noisy.
Executive control – This attention is measured and examined in cases where there is a requirement from the “top”, i.e., from our brain or consciousness to deliberately focus on a particular stimulus, and sometimes in a way that is contrary to stimuli from the environment . People with ADHD have particular difficulty initiating this type of attention over time, especially in monotonous tasks or when their motivation to succeed in them is not very high.
Types of attention and training for people with attention deficit disorders
Given that people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have particular difficulty with the latter type of attention, this is the primary target of brain training. So, during training, the trainee should initiate attention, and not in response to interesting stimuli that pop during the game.
Therefore, in cognitive training with neurofeedback (as well as in any computerized cognitive training) the user interface should be one that encourages the user to create the attention by oneself, and not to stimulate it nor induce it by attractive or immersive content. An increase in attention considering an attractive stimulus (as in a most action computer games) is undesirable – both because it is not the main impairment in attention disorders, and also because it does not address the need of people with attention disorders. Their difficulty is mainly in situations where they themselves need to raise attention when the task is lacking interesting stimuli – so the game must simulate an environment like the challenge of real life. In such an environment, the user must learn to filter out the external background noises and overcome them by increasing internal attention, thus strengthening neural circuits that engage in the initiation of this type of attention, thus reducing, over time, the symptoms of attention difficulty.
In conclusion:
Attractive and interesting computer games cannot be a solution to attention deficit disorders, since they do not induce attention initiation, and therefore do not provide a solution to the specific the difficulty characteristic of ADHD. Games that encourage a cognitive challenge that requires user-initiated activity can provide a long-term solution, but in neurofeedback, which also measures brain waves and reinforces relevant waves, learning is more effective, given the accuracy of strengthening relevant neural circuits.
