The Impact of Neurofeedback protocol Variation on the reaction time in elderly people

In most people getting old is associated with a decrease in both cognitive and motor functions. One of these functions that get affected is reaction time. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of neurofeedback training protocol variation on the reaction time of elderly people, Which is based on the principle of specificity of training. For this purpose ,Forty elderly participants between the ages of 65 to 70 years were selected and assigned to one of the for groups of experimental groups: 1) neurofeedback at Cz and beta wave, fixed frequency, fixed training arrangement, 2) neurofeedback at Cz and beta wave, fixed frequency, variable training arrangement 3) Neurofeedback at Cz and beta wave, variable frequency, fixed training arrangement, 4) Neurofeedback at Cz and beta wave, variable frequency, variable training arrangement) and 5) control (sham). All groups participated in simple reaction time tests for pre-test and post-test. The analysis of covariance showed that neurofeedback interventions had a significant effect on the reaction time of elderly people (p <0.05) and the frequency and the group with variable training arrangement had the best performance compared to the other groups (p <0.05). According to these results neurofeedback, training affects improving the reaction time of the elderly people and these interventions should be designed based on the principle of specificity of training.