What's New in Neurofeedback
A Monthly Summary of News and Events

Vol. 9 No. 9 - September 2006

This newsletter is sponsored by EEG Spectrum Intl Inc,
a leader in providing clinical service and training
professionals. Past issues available at
http://start.eegspectrum.com/Newsletter/
To subscribe or cancel, see newsletter's end.
Opinions related in this newsletter reflect
author's only. Copyright (C) 2006 by EEG Spectrum
Intl, Inc. or David Kaiser. All rights reserved.
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Announcements - News
In the Spotlight - Technology-assisted Self-regulation
News & Reviews - Books & journal papers
Events & Locations - Conferences, Courses
Last Word - Somewhere over New York
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Announcements

* Heavier weight tied to poorer mental function
* Head growth in infancy tied to later intelligence
* Scientists discover brain trigger for selfish behaviour
* Chemo makes brain 'work' harder
* Brain's Selfishness Spot Revealed
* Brainteaser: Scientists dissect mystery of genius
* Mind games
* 'Vegetative' Woman's Brain Shows Surprising Activity
* Back From the Dead
* How the Brain Helps Partisans Admit No Gray

All links at: news.yahoo.com/fc/Science/Brain_Research
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In the Spotlight

Technology-Assisted Self-Regulation (TASR)

I planned to discuss ADHD this month, but Monastra et
al's paper on ADHD is due this week so I'll review it
and other ADHD papers next month. Many people have
requested a layperson description of neurofeedback
training and QEEG assessment. My first attempt at
writing one for the journal of neurotherapy was
clocked in at MD/PhD reading level, despite my
attempt to assessibility. I hope this try is closer...

In the 1950s neuroscientists developed equipment that
allowed rats to stimulate the pleasure centers of the
brain. A lever was connected to a weak electrical
generator which itself was connected by a wire to the
deepest part of the rat's brain. Whenever a rate
tapped the lever, a miniscule amount of electricity
flowed from the generator into the rat's brain, into
the pleasure center of the brain. Rats wired in this
fashion quickly caught on to the nature of the task
and after little training would tap the lever
thousands of times an hour to receive the impulse.
The rodent wireheads would pass up sleep, comfort,
food, and even a receptive mate to work the bar. It
was found to be the strongest form of learning ever
to occur on the planet, and extremely resistant to
extinction, to use the terminology of the day. Most
rats would indulge in day-long binges of
self-stimulation without a moment's rest and even
when an electrified grid was placed between them and
the lever, the rats would risk a gauntlet of shocks
to gain access to their beloved.

The implications for studying addiction were obvious;
the implications for learning and brain normalization
training less so. But rats are rats. Would humans
fare any better if allowed to reward themselves
similarly, that is, intra-cranially without
restraint?

What do you think? A few epileptic patients
stimulated themselves into convulsions before the
experiments were called off.

EEG operant conditioning does not stimulate the brain
directly -- rewards come in through the eyes and ears
and mind of the individual -- but by rewarding EEG
changes with visual and auditory rewards a therapist
is able to help shape an individual's brainwave
activity toward normal patterns of activity. The
advent of powerful personal computers and advances in
miniaturization and amplification has allowed anyone
who doesn't mind getting gel in their hair the
ability to visualize the electrical activity of their
own brain and once you can visualize your behavior,
you can change it.

Brainwaves are minute electrical voltages generated
by the top layer of the brain (cortex) which can be
detected by modern electrical equipment. Sensors
placed on the scalp record these tiny voltage changes
across the scalp and analyze the signals looking for
specific rhythms. When brain rhythms are normal, an
individual is rewarded, usually by means of a sound
(bell or chime) or light or video event. But when his
or her brainwave activity deviates from normal, this
positive feedback stops and a negative response may
be provided such as a red flashing light or even a
buzzer. In this fashion good brain-behaviors are
exercised and undesirable brain-behaviors are not
reinforced, with a goal being the accumulation of
good brain-behaviors. A reasonably large repertoire
of healthy behaviors is the basis for cognitive
flexibility and self-regulation. An important point
to realize is that no electrical current is put into
the brain. The brain's electrical activity are merely
registered passively at the scalp and these brain
energies are relayed to a computer.

Human EEG consists of random events and rhythms. By
means of operant conditioning -- rewarding the
presence of certain brain activity patterns and not
others -- healthy brain behaviors can be learned and
unhealthy brain behaviors unlearned. Therapists
typically focus on brain rhythms which have been
studied for decades, which are called alpha (8-12
Hertz or cycles per second), beta (15-40 Hz), gamma
(40+ Hz), delta (0.1-4 Hz) -- the first four letters
of the Greek alphabet -- plus theta (4- 8 Hz), the
8th letter, and the more English-sounding SMR (12-15
Hz) which stands for sensorimotor rhythm. Because
these rhythms encompass a variety of physiological
processes, however, each rhythm is often also
dissected into smaller frequency ranges and such
"narrow bands" are identified by their numerical
range (8-10 Hz, 10-11 Hz).

When someone closes their eyes, alpha activity occurs
across most or all of the brain. When he or she opens
his eyes in a well- lighted room, alpha rhythms are
replaced by beta rhythms, which are fast and
low-amplitude waves. The amount of replacement and
brain locations where these replacements occur varies
depending upon the complexity, novelty, and
meaningfulness of the environment, among other
factors. Alpha rhythm replacement may involve all of
the electrode positions or be selective and only
occur at a few sites. Drugs, drowsiness, drive, and
time of day generally influence every part of the
brain whereas sensory and cognitive demands activate
only a selected few brain areas.

Electrodes are positioned on the scalp according to a
50-year standard known as the International 10-20
system which divides the head into proportional
distances --10% or 20 % of the way between the dent
of the nose (nasion), protrusion in the back of the
head (inion), and preauricular points directly in
front of each ear. Labels reflect underlying brain
areas: FP for frontal pole, F for frontal, P for
parietal, C for central, T for temporal, and O for
occipital. Sites are numbered with zero or "z" in the
middle of the head (midline), followed by larger
numbers as electrodes are positioned farther out to
either side, with odd numbers alternating with even
numbers between the left and right hemispheres (i.e.,
odd on the left, even on the right). Electrodes are
spaced 6 or 7 cm apart on most heads. If more
coverage is needed, additional electrodes may be
placed halfway between any pair of electrodes. This
system owes its endurance to its simplicity and
fortuitous division of the scalp into brain regions
that remain useful for cognitive and psychiatric
research. Finally an EEG signal is always the
difference in electrical potential between two
electrodes on the scalp. Each electrode may be
compared to its neighbor (e.g., C3 to Cz, P3 to Pz),
or every electrode can be compared to the same
electrode (C3 to Cz, P3 to Cz, O1 to Cz, etc).


See figures at
http://start.eegspectrum.com/Newsletter/sep2006.htm

EEG training allows an individual to monitor his or
her own brain behavior, making visible and discrete
what is normally hidden and continuous. This
transformation of the invisible to the visible allows
anyone to alter the behavior of his or her own brain.
Without technological assistance, brain behaviors
would be simply too subtle or ambiguous for proper
detection and training (i.e., operational
conditioning). This is the strength of neurofeedback
-- operant conditioning of psychophysiological
responses beyond the level of normal (unassisted)
observation. EEG biofeedback acts like a telescope to
the mental sky. But with this strength comes some
ambiguity as brain behaviors (neurophysiological
responses) are not so readily classified as good or
bad as motor actions can be. That is why children are
often trained towards a database norm. The rationale
is that if most children on average show a specific
brain behavior, a certain incidence of this or that
brain rhythm, this behavior ought to be generally
healthy and positive. Many neurotherapists guide
training by performing a quantitative EEG assessment
of an individual before training and even at regular
intervals during training.

Behavioral and mental states such as mathematical
processing, reading, or relaxation are believed to
consist of unique and distinct perceptual and
cognitive operations and every mental operation has
its own unique EEG profile -- that is, a unique
pattern of rhythmic activity in various parts of the
brain. This concept is the foundation of functional
neuroimaging including functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI), a popular method of investigating
cerebral blood flow. This concept also provides the
rationale for EEG normalization training: One's brain
activity is trained toward a population norm because
any deficit or excess of rhythmic activities is
likely a result of abnormal neurophysiology and
mental irregularity.

Running on a treadmill helps a physician determine
how well a patient's heart handles work or stress.
Running through a test battery of reading, math, and
problem-solving during the acquisition of EEG signals
helps determine how well an individual's brain
handles work or stress. Eyes closed relaxation or
simply opening the eyes may reveal mental
shortcomings for some individuals while others
require challenges such a general test battery to
reveal suspected or known deficits. Continuous
attention tasks are often used to reveal processing
deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) children and executive control and inhibition
tasks for identifying disturbances in the frontal
lobe.

A minute of EEG contains a vast amount of
information. Frequency analysis reduces EEG to a
manageable handful of numbers. Spectral information,
as it is called because we examine the entire
frequency spectrum for rhythmic patterns, can be
presented in tables, histograms, line graphs or the
popular brain maps. Brain maps convert numbers into
colors, which allows the human eye to quickly detect
important patterns. In addition to unusual amounts of
energy in various parts of the brain, we can also
depict abnormal network activity. Too little or too
much reciprocity between brain areas is quantified by
means of comodulation and coherence analysis.
Comodulation captures the reciprocity of energies
between brain areas and coherence captures the timing
relationships.

The figure below is an example of a brain-network map
of a healthy adult compared to a brain-injured adult
of similar age. We are looking down on the head of
each person, with their nose on top and ears to
either side. Each circle is positioned at one of the
19 electrode sites sitting atop the head and depicts
within itself all of the connections between
electrodes relative to its position. The color yellow
indicates normal function (i.e., database average),
green and orange mostly normal, with blue and red
indicating too little and too much connectivity,
respectively.

As you can see, the healthy adult (left) shows
relatively normal amounts of shared energy between
electrodes for the rhythm under investigation while
the brain-injured individual (right) shows too little
communication or reciprocity between areas, notably
between the frontal areas of the brain.

The theta rhythm dominates a child's spectral energy
while an adult brain contains most of its spectral
energy in a faster rhythm, the alpha rhythm.

When we evaluate children we have to take into
account a degree of neurological immaturity. Most of
the energy of an infant's brain resides in the
slow-wave delta rhythm and more than a decade of
development may pass before an adult brainwave
pattern emerges. Theta rhythms are prominent in many
children diagnosed with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because this reflects
the immaturity of the ADHD brain. Theta rhythms in an
adult or non-ADHD teenager often indicate brain-
injury or neurological disease. The brainwave
activity of any child may be compared to a database
of many normal children in order to identify what
parts of the brain, if any, differ in activity and
what frequency rhythms are present at these
locations.

Many psychiatric and neurological conditions manifest
themselves more as disturbances in brain connections
than as local damage or disorder. Therapy can focus
on restoring activity to isolated brain areas or
focus on re-establishing brain networks. Through
trial and error any individual gradually develops
mental strategies that modify his or her brain
rhythms so as to maximize reward and in so doing
alter these rhythms for the better. Neurofeedback
works at the level of one's will, as in will power.
An individual explores what is and what is not
healthy willful behaviors, however indirectly,
through the impact one's will has on one's brain
rhythms. The brain is enormously plastic in terms of
function as well as structure and is capable of
altering neural pathways in response to reward. Much
like our body, our brain also responds to exercise.
Neurofeedback provides one of the best forms of
exercise -- regulatory practice, the brain practicing
at regulating itself.

-DK
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News & Reviews

NEW BOOKS
Helping Your Child Overcome Separation Anxiety or School Refusal
by Andrew R. Eisen, et al
Parenting book for separation anxiety disorder.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572244313/eegspectrum

Melancholia: Diagnosis, Pathophysiology and Treatment of Depressive Illness
by MA Taylor, Max Fink
Reviews melancholia. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521841518/eegspectrum

Methods in Mind (Cognitive Neuroscience)
by Carl Senior, et al
Focuses on methods of cognitive neuroscience.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262195410/eegspectrum

Effort: A Behavioral Neuroscience Perspective on the Will
by Jay Schulkin
Argus for diverse cognitive systems, many embodied in motor systems relevant to
self-regulation. --www.amazon.com/exec/ obidos/ASIN/0805860096/eegspectrum

Clinical Neuroembryology: Development and Developmental Disorders
by Hans J. ten Donkelaar, et al
Overviews development of CNS in the context of developmental disorders.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 3540291407/eegspectrum

Understanding And Treating Anxiety Disorders:
by Barry E. Wolfe
Integrative theory for treating anxiety disorders.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591471966/eegspectrum



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JOURNAL PAPERS

Sex differences white matter microstructure and impulsivity in adolescents. :
Relates sex-related differences in white- matter development with impulsivity.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16916700


Growth and sexual maturation in children and adolescents with ADHD : Confirms
that children with ADHD treated with stimulants grow more slowly than untreated
individuals.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16914999


Juvenile Administration of Methylphenidate Attenuates Adult Hippocampal
Neurogenesis. : Early-life exposure to methylphenidate inhibits survival of
adult-generated neurons in the hippocampus and may also impact proliferation.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16893528


Functional neuroimaging of primary headache disorders. : Reviews functional
imaging studies in migraine and other headaches.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16893344


QEEG prefrontal cordance as a predictor of response to antidepressants :
Decrease in prefrontal cordance indicates early changes of prefrontal activity
in responders to antidepressants.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16889798


EEG alpha oscillations: Inhibition-timing hypothesis. : Event-related
desynchronization reflects release of inhibition associated with complex
spreading activation.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16887192


Brain oscillations in opioid dependent patients. : EEG of patients with opioid
dependence show increased relative beta activity and right-sided dominance
among other effects.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16890339


Effect of gender on outcomes following traumatic brain injury : Females are
nearly twice as likely as males to die of brain injury.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16906701


Transcranial magnetic stimulation in treatment of depressive relapse. :
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is effective in remediating
depressive relapse.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16911751


Methylphenidate and cocaine : Methylphenidate was well tolerated by those
undergoing cocaine recovery and decreased some of positive subjective effects
of cocaine usage.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16916538
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Events & Locations

Upcoming Courses

A Pathway to Brain Regulation - Neurofeedback helps improve
neuroregulation. It's used by health care professionals for ADHD,
depression, anxiety disorders, LD, mood disorders, and behavioral
problems. This 4-day course, Neurofeedback in a Clinical Practice,
provides the basis for using Neurofeedback clinically. - *28 CEs

4-Day Comprehensive Course Dates (subject to change)

* Chicago IL Oct 19-22
* Portland OR Nov 16-19
* Los Angeles CA Dec 7-10

Our course is a hands-on experience right from the start. Attendees
consistently say this format is a very good way to learn
Neurofeedback.

"Neurofeedback should be viewed as one of the three essential or
primary forms of intervention - psychotherapy, psychopharmacology,
and Neurofeedback. In my experience, neurofeedback is every bit as
important and powerful as the other two forms of treatment." - Dr.
Laurence Hirshberg of Brown University Medical School, a
psychologist specializing in Developmental Disorders and Autism.

Contact Karie Kramer, our training coordinator, for more information
818-789-3456 ext 847 or see www.eegspectrum.com/ Training

*EEG Spectrum International, Inc. is approved by the APA to offer
continuing education to psychologists. ESII maintains responsibility
for the program.


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Conferences for Neurofeedback Clinicians & Researchers

CONFERENCE LOCATION DATES

AAPB www.aapb.org Monterey CA Feb 2006

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Last Word

Somewhere over New York

Most years the ISNR conference takes place on the 2nd
weekend of September which means that we are often
scurrying through airports on the day of September
11th, Patriot Day. I was in the air on the first
anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon
attacks and I was in the air this anniversary and it
gave me time to pause and reflect on the type of mind
that could convince itself that an act of homicidal
suicide could somehow benefit him and his family.

Suicidal terrorism is like taking your sister to the
prom -- anyone can do it but what have you
accomplished? Longer lines at airports while reducing
financial and social opportunities for your children?
Terrorism requires almost no investment by the
organizing body; just a few older men convincing
younger less invested men to act on beliefs which
they themselves have never fully acted upon. I've
heard it said that all fanatics are converts, and
perhaps disposing of one's life on an unverifiable
promise takes a special narrowness of thought only
acquired during conversion. But where in the brain do
such thoughts of suicide lie? Where do they hide?
During the ISNR conference a few of us discussed the
idea of spiritual neuroscience, a field of
investigation into matters of connection to the One
and the Infinite, and I asked one of my friends
whether spirituality could ever be bad, ever be
negative, as emotions possess positive and negative
valence. We did not come up with a definitive answer,
but considering the spiritual justification of
homicide throughout humankind's history, we should
not traipse into this field of investigation naively
or with a presumed positive outcome. Spirituality may
be as dark as humankind. Even if its origins are
outside of the brain, and that is the primary
question for this field, the brain is where its
impetus are interpreted and acted upon and where all
its imperfections will come to light.

The issue of suicide is where clinical neuroscience,
neurotherapy and its like, and any spiritual
neuroscience must meet. Four centuries ago the Earl
of Oxford, in his most autobiographical of plays,
thoroughly summed up the issues surrounding why the
vast majority of people do not turn off the present
light for a pledge of future brilliance.

"To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the
dread of something after death, The undiscover'd
country from whose bourn No traveller returns,
puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills
we have Than fly to others that we know not of?"

To fly to others that we know not of? To fly into a
building.

I use to tell my students that if they wished to save
the world, figure out how to control nuclear fusion,
provide humanity with endless power. But I was young
and naïve then and realize now how endless power
would only lead to our annihilation until we can
figure out the meaning of life, or better put, why
some find meaning in life and some do not.

Clinical neuroscience may not reveal the undiscovered
country, but it should reduce the ills we bear and
illuminate the mysteries of mental health.

David A. Kaiser,
September 11, 2006
Somewhere over New York
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