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

Vol. 10 No. 6 - June 2007

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) 2007 by EEG Spectrum
Intl, Inc. or David Kaiser. All rights reserved.
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Announcements - News
In the Spotlight - Ranking EEG
News & Reviews - Books & journal papers
Events & Locations - Conferences, Courses
Last Word - Psych Sayings
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Announcements

* Brain chemical has key role in ADHD: studies
* Brain Studies Show ADHD Is Real Disease
* Coffee may slow memory declines in women
* Blossoming brains

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

Ranking EEG

"How can you learn what's never shown?" -- Goo Goo
Dolls, 2007

EEG normalization training requires a clinician to
choose, to prioritize what deficit or excess should
be tackled first by training. I am a cognitive
neuroscientist with limited clinical experience
(although I started my psych education in clinical
psych), so my list of what to tackle first is based
on neuroscientific theory more than experience. [I
train my son, myself, and eventually every one of my
crazy kids, if they ever sit still.] In EEG
normalization training, a QEEG assessment identifies
those aspects of an individual's brain activity
profile which are abnormal and potentially
dysfunctional, and this is typically achieved by
comparing him or her to a database of healthy
individuals of same or similar ages.

So let's say we've run a Q with replicated
conditions for eyes closed and open rest and low and
high challenge tasks like reading and math, and now
we are faced with 100 or so significant differences
from our database. A hundred isn't many when you can
see the full extent of the psychophysiological
landscape, or brainscape, as I can with my analysis
program (SKIL). So I have a 100 findings -- now what
should I address first with training? All findings
are equal but some findings are more equal than
others. How do I decide where to start training?
Which findings are most meaningful?

Below is my rankings for selecting a protocol -- if
all I have to go on is EEG data and know nothing
about a client such as his major complaint or
disorder.

First I set "significant deviance from normals" at
greater than 2 std deviations on all spectral
parameter examined and require this criterion be
replicated. Replications are critical to assessment
and without them I am less confident in my
conclusion even when the results fall 3 or more
standard deviations away from a norm. Replications
let me sleep at night peacefully. If a difference
doesn't show up twice, or three times, or four
times, how real can it be? If a finding doesn't
replicate, it's unreliable (given the assumption
that conditions were comparable). The more often a
finding occurs, the more reliable it is, and the
more likely it is a valid indication of abnormal
psychophysiologic functioning.

In SKIL, replications can be identified
mathematically, but that isn't as fun as using my
eyeballs to see what's real. My simple stereoscopic
technique (to give it a fancy name) instantly
eliminates noise from signal. This is done by the
following: Display Replication 1 for a spectral
parameter (eyes closed alpha magnitude, for
instance), and right beside it display another map
with Replication 2 for the same parameter. (see
http://www.skiltopo.com/images/replicate.jpg).
Wherever red or blue duplicate (higher or lower than
2 standard deviations), I pay attention. If I see
red in one map (e.g., frontal alpha) but green (
normal) in the same area in the other map, I ignore
the finding -- which sounds harsh and overly
conservative, but I have the entire spectral
landscape in front of me to explore and if the
unreplicated finding is real, it will find a way to
show itself. It will bleed into other bands, other
montages, other parameters, better than it even
shows itself in its first appearance. [The image I
refer to at skiltopo has a white-out option to
eliminate the middle z-scores. Where there is white
would be green when this option is turned off.]

Replicate, triplicate, tetraplicate findings to be
sure. For multiple replications across the same
condition (EC1, EC2, EC3, EC4, etc) or across
conditions (EC1, EC2, EO1, EO2, etc).

Okay, so using this stereoscopic approach (or
similar control for randomness), let's say we cut
away half of the chaff and end up with 50 or more
statistically reliable findings. Now what?

Here is my priority of deviance, in descending
importance:

Low frequency > high frequency: (delta > theta >
alpha > beta )
Anterior > posterior deviance
Eyes closed > Eyes open > Low challenge task > high
challenge task
Connectivity deviance > amplitude deviance
Coherence deviance > comodulation deviance
Homologue > ipsilateral (intrahemispheric) >
heterologue deviance
Greater > lower statistical deviance

So a 2 standard deviation deviance in Theta activity
during EO1 and replicated in EO2 is more relevant
than a 3 standard deviation deviation deviance in
Alpha activity during EO1 and EO2, according to my
scheme.

A 2 std dev deviance at the anterior site F3 is
judged more intrinsic to brain dysfunction than a 3
std deviation deviation at posterior site P3.

A 2 std dev deviance during EO1 and EO2 is judged
more relevant than a 3 std deviation deviance in EC1
and EC2.

A 2 std dev deviance in Alpha comodulation is more
relevant than a 3 std deviation deviance in Alpha
magnitude.

A 2 std dev deviance in Alpha coherence is more
relevant than a 3 std deviation deviance in Alpha
comodulation.

A 2 std dev deviance in Alpha coherence between
homologues T3-T4 is more relevant than a 3 std
deviation deviance in Alpha coherence between
ipsilateral T3-C3 .

A 2 std dev deviance in Alpha coherence between
ipsilateral T3-C3 is more relevant than a 3 std
deviation deviance in Alpha coherence between
non-homotopic T3-C4 .

And finally 3 std dev > 2 std dev

There are always holes is such generic schemes.
Where does gamma magnitude rank -- after beta, or
before? Where do phase and magnitude asymmetry or
unity rank? Can a 4 or 5 std deviation of a lesser
finding be more meaningful than 2 std deviation?

And what exactly is my rationale for this scheme?

Evolution.

Brain dysfunction can be conceived as primitive
responses to events, subcortically-dominated
behaviors, lacking integration with anyone's vast
experience. The theory of microgeny was prominent
around the turn of last century (1900s, that is) and
in this theory brain injury was conceived in an
evolutionary context. Injury was thought to expose
earlier stages of our processing, pulling the tarp
away from the wall to reveal the scalfolding
beneath. Each brain event incorporated our entire
evolution in a matter of milliseconds. We scale the
fish-to-human evolutionary ladder in our head every
second of our days -- except when we failed to do
so.

Now my thinking, metaphorizing, steps in: Fear is
amphibian, anxiety reptilean, control mammalian. So
I rank EEG phenomena evolutionarily as best I can. I
want to increase traffic of the mammalian brain and
decrease influence of our ancient parts. So the
cortex must be connected to everything below as
directly as possible (i.e., delta suggest
decortication or white matter injury), and the
cortex should be governed by infiltration of the
thalamocortical network (theta & alpha, and
connectivity measures), which is mediated by frontal
lobe systems that draw on our experiences and
perceptions coolly and comprehensively to make us
the full human we can be.

This priority list is independent of behavioral and
symptom considerations. A client's complaints should
obviously factor into protocol selection. Two brain
loops might be broken, but our client will let us
know which s/he can compensate for and which s/he
cannot.

-DK
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News & Reviews

NEW BOOKS

ADD in The Workplace: Choices, Changes, and Challenges
by Kathleen G. Nadeau
Discusses ways to maintain an optimal work environment for ADD adults.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 0876308477/eegspectrum

The Neuropsychiatry of Epilepsy
by Michael Trimble, Bettina Schmitz
Recent findings for epilepsy and behavior disorders.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521005167/eegspectrum

Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
by Michel Foucault
A timely look back at a classic (which is an oxymoronic statement, I guess).
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 067972110X/eegspectrum

The Computer and the Brain
by John von Neumann
A giant of 20th century mathematics and his thoughts on the brain and
intelligence. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 0300024150/eegspectrum

Journeys Through ADDulthood
by Sari Solden
A response to how ADHD treatment focuses on overcoming its symptoms rather than
leading a fulfilling life. --
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802713769/eegspectrum

Starting Again: Early Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury
by Patricia M. Davies
Practical advice on physical rehab of brain injured patients.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0387559345/eegspectrum

Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture
by William L. Benzon
Speculation on how emotion and physiology combine in music-making.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465015441/ eegspectrum

Asperger's: What Does It Mean to Me?
by Catherine Faherty
Workbook to help child learn more about himself.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885477597/eegspectrum


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JOURNAL PAPERS

Coherence in ADHD and excess beta activity : Excessive beta power in ADHD
children may be evidence of a frontal lobe dysfunction in this subtype.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17502165


No neurochemical evidence for brain injury caused by heading in soccer. :
Repeated low severity head impacts were not associated with neurochemical signs
of brain injury.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17496068


Grandchildren at Risk for Depression Differ in EEG Asymmetry. : Grandchildren
with depressed parent and grandparent showed relatively less right than left
hemisphere activity.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17481594


Can behavioural therapy influence neuromodulation? : Reviews behavioral therapy
impact on CNS function.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17508158


Testosterone-related disorders in women with autism spectrum conditions. :
Androgen theory of autism evaluated by surveying women with autism spectrum
conditions. These women more often exhibited irregular menstrual cycle,
epilepsy, and tomboyism, among other conditions.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17462645


Complementary and alternative medicine for epilepsy in Midwest : Nearly 2 in 5
epileptics surveyed used CAMs, including prayer/spirituality, "mega" vitamins,
and stress management (16%).
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17459780


Electrophysiological activity underlying inhibition in late-life depression :
Frontal dysfunction in the depressed group was observed in p300b measure for
Go/NoGo task.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17462822


Topographic brain: from neural connectivity to cognition. : Broader
understanding of topographic maps may link genetics, neurophysiology and
cognition.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17462748


Correlation between EEG rhythms during sleep: surface versus mediotemporal EEG.
: Power density is negatively correlated between delta/theta and beta
frequencies above 16 Hz during NREM sleep.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17471077


Event-related functional MRI study of working memory in euthymic bipolar
disorder. : Widespread fronto-cortico- limbic dysfunction may be inherent in
bipolar disorder.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17476364


EEG power and coherence in dyslexic children : Dyslexic children show increased
slow activity in frontal and right temporal regions
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17472228
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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)

* Glensdale CA Aug 23-26
* Alexandria VA Sep 6-9
* Chicago IL Sep 27-30

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

ISNR - www.isnr.org San Diego, CA Sep 6-9, 2007
AAPB - www.aapb.org Daytona Beach, FL May 13-18, 2008

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Last Word


Psych Sayings

If you just set people in motion they'll heal themselves.

The child is father to the man.

Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.

Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.

The human brain is a most unusual instrument of elegant and as yet unknown
capacity.

The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.

I am not young enough to know everything.

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature,
compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.

Actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

The palest ink is better than the best memory.

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.

Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.

To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires
brains.

A mind too active is no mind at all.

I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.

----end--