Application of neurofeedback in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The present study aims to systematically evaluate the application of neurofeedback technology in the intervention and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through meta-analysis. This study first searched for ‘neurofeedback’, ‘neurofeedback training’, ‘NFT’, and ‘ASD’, ‘autism’, and other related search terms from Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, CNKI, and Baidu Scholar. After relevance and repeated filtering, the initial download yielded 900 articles. 570 articles were subsequently removed through repeated filtering. All selected papers met the following criteria: (a) empirical studies using humans; (b) clear description of experimental design and procedures; (c) the primary subject of the study was ASD, with no other comorbidities involved; and (d) review articles were excluded. Neurofeedback training, an emerging technology, uses electroencephalography or blood-oxygen-level-dependent based real-time monitoring and feedback to continuously modify individual brain activity. Due to its non-invasive and safe nature, it is increasingly being used in interventional treatments for special populations. Given its direct monitoring and feedback of brain activity signals, neurofeedback training may produce meaningful improvements over relatively short training periods in some studies. The overall effect size is [0.511, 0.880], and the 95% confidence interval is [0.511, 0.880].