gaming the brain?

JB wanted this posted:

"The Escapist has an article called 'Gaming the Brain' about video games being used to treat ADHD. Quoting: 'One of the more promising therapies is neurofeedback, which involves continually monitoring patients' brainwaves. Subjects attempt to change their brainwaves to a set pattern and receive an auditory signal that tells them whether they were successful. With enough repetition, neurofeedback can rewire a person's brain. A study published in 2005 examines how patients diagnosed with ADHD can learn to better maintain their concentration through neurofeedback. Depending on how individuals respond to this type of treatment, it can even be used as a replacement for medication.'"

I wanted to post the following comment, but can't get that to work with the browser I'm currently using, so treat the following as a comment:

I don't know about this particular approach, but there is a test called the "TOVA" (Test of Vigilance and Attention) which is marketed as testing for ADHD. The TOVA requires a person to watch a monitor and hit a key when they see certain stimuli, thus testing vigilence and attention. However, the approach has been criticised in terms of construct validity -- that is, does the test actually test phenomema that are complete and representative of, in this case, the diagnosis (in research its more a matter of properly operationalizing the key parts of the theory one is testing). Another way of thinking about it is that ADHD is diagnosed, and represents a problem, based on how the person performs in classrooms, home and community settings, and generally in the "real world" (whatever that is), rather than performance of watching for a visual stimuli on a monitor in a lab or assessment clinic room. The question, then, is if the video game approach and, more importantly, the changes seen in brainwaves map onto meaningful changes in behavior in which the person has poor functioning attributed to ADHD. -- MW.