Feasibility of Gamified EEG Neurofeedback Combined with Adaptive Working-Memory Training in Older Adults: A Pilot Study.

backgroundFalls among older adults are linked to central nervous system deterioration and executive function deficits.

objectivesThis study evaluates the feasibility of a gamified EEG-based neurofeedback intervention combined with adaptive working-memory training, targeting neural processes associated with attentional inhibition and working memory in older adults, and characterises, as exploratory secondary outcomes, the oscillatory and functional measures that change over the training period.

methodsTwenty healthy older adults (65.0±3.3 years) completed a 24-session longitudinal training programme. The intervention combined real-time alpha-band neurofeedback (NF), targeting left-frontal alpha activity associated with inhibitory control, with an adaptive N-back task engaging theta-band working memory processes. Behavioural outcomes included the Colour Trail Making Test A and B (CTMT-A/B), the Berg Balance Scale short form (BBS-3P), and the four-item Dynamic Gait Index (DGI-4). EEG was recorded at the Early, Middle, and Later stages to characterise training-related neural and behavioural changes.

resultsThe programme proved highly deliverable: adherence was 100% across all 24 sessions, no session was terminated early, and no severe adverse events occurred. Participants acquired control of the trained signal, with left-frontal alpha power rising across training at the neurofeedback target site, and frontal theta increased bilaterally under adaptive working memory load, consistent with the reduced hemispheric asymmetry characteristic of this age group. Scores changed in the direction of improvement on all four behavioural measures; however, functional changes were small, and cognitive changes cannot be separated from repeated-testing effects. Of sixteen candidate EEG-behaviour associations, four showed moderate-to-large participant-level coefficients and were retained as candidate associations: right-frontal alpha with balance (r=-0.64) and with gait adaptability (r=-0.48), and bilateral frontal theta with processing speed (r=-0.53 and -0.51). Several associations that appeared strong when observations were pooled across stages did not survive participant-level modelling, indicating that repeated-measures methods are needed in this literature. All associations are exploratory, uncorrected for multiplicity, and reported with effect sizes and confidence intervals.

conclusionsThe gamified neurofeedback and working-memory training programme was feasible, well tolerated, and fully adhered to in a supervised experimental setting by community-dwelling older adults and was accompanied by measurable modulation of the targeted frontal rhythms. This study delivers a shortlist of candidate EEG features, with the effect-size estimates needed to power a confirmatory trial. Because the design is single-arm, both functional scales approached ceiling, and the same test forms were repeated at each stage, practice effects cannot be separated from intervention effects, and these associations are hypothesis-generating; a sham-controlled trial in a fall-prone population is the appropriate next step.