Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioural disorder in children, characterised by symptoms such as inattention and hyperactivity. Today's management of ADHD often leads to the use of pharmacological stimulant medication. Parents, however, may be concerned about potential unknown side effects of these medications which include headache, stomach pain, sleeplessness, poor appetite, physical growth retardation, etc.
Recently, there has been a growing interest in treatment of ADHD based on psychosocial aspects. Although important, such treatment has, to date, been shown to be less superior compared to pharmacological treatments.
At the same time, it has been noted that advanced technologies such as brain-computer interface (BCI) can be used to improve the treatment of ADHD based on psychological aspects. BCI provides a direct communication pathway between a human brain and an external device. It relies on bio-signals such as electroencephalogram (EEG) and thus is a low cost and non-invasive interface. Various studies have demonstrated the efficacy of neurofeedback (NFB) or EEG biofeedback in the treatment of ADHD.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,520 describes regulating theta and beta wave activity (more specifically, to decrease theta wave activity and increase beta wave activity) as measured based on respective average millivolt activity. However, a clear and direct correlation between the measured average millivolt theta and beta activities and attention has not been established. Thus, the users involved in the training approaches in that document only learn to control their measured average millivolt theta and beta activities, which are not a direct measure of attention. As a result, while the users may develop a mechanism for controlling the measured average millivolt theta and beta activities, this does not directly correlate with achieving higher attention levels.
A need therefore exists to provide device and method for generating a representation of a subject's attention level that seek to address at least one of the above problems.