Monthly summary of general news, case histories,
and introductory articles about neurofeedback
for the interested layperson
Vol. 10 No. 6 - June 2007
Past issues are available at start.eegspectrum.com/News/
Copyright (C) 2007 by EEG Spectrum International. All rights reserved.
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All links at news.yahoo.com/fc/Science/Brain_Research
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:
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
News & Reviews
NEW BOOKS
ARTICLES
ADD in The Workplace: Choices, Changes, and Challenges
by Kathleen G. Nadeau
Discusses ways to maintain an optimal work environment for ADD adults.
The Neuropsychiatry of Epilepsy
by Michael Trimble, Bettina Schmitz
Recent findings for epilepsy and behavior disorders.
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).
The Computer and the Brain
by John von Neumann
A giant of 20th century mathematics and his thoughts on the brain and intelligence.
Communities That Care: Action for Drug Abuse Prevention
by J. David Hawkins, RF Catalano
Discusses community-wide prevention efforts.
Journeys Through ADDulthood
by Sari Solden
A response to how ADHD treatment focuses on overcoming its symptoms rather than leading a fulfilling life.
Starting Again: Early Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury
by Patricia M. Davies
Practical advice on physical rehab of brain injured patients.
You Mean I Don't Have to Feel This Way?: New Help for Depression, Anxiety, and Addiction
by Colette Dowling
Latest research in brain chemistry, notably serotonin, and mood disturbances.
Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture
by William L. Benzon
Speculation on how emotion and physiology combine in music-making.
Overcoming Your Alcohol or Drug Problem: Effective Recovery Strategies Therapist Guide
by Dennis C. Daley
Evidence-based treatment protocol for substance use disorders.
Asperger's: What Does It Mean to Me?
by Catherine Faherty
Workbook to help child learn more about himself.
Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Lyme Disease
by Burton Goldberg, Larry Trivieri Jr.
Guide by physicians explaining holistic diagnostic and therapies.
Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties
by Jonathan Berent, Amy Lemley
Exercises and new treatment techniques to overcome social anxiety.
A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention...
by John J. Ratey
ADHD expert explains the functions of the brain.
Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous
by Mary Darrah
Describes early pioneer in disease model of alcoholism.
ARTICLES
Coherence inADHD and excess beta activity
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Excessive beta power in ADHD children may be evidence of a frontal lobe dysfunction in this subtype.
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.
Grandchildren at Risk for Depression Differ in EEG Asymmetry.
:
Grandchildren with depressed parent and grandparent showed relatively less right than left hemisphere activity.
Can behavioural therapy influence neuromodulation?
:
Reviews behavioral therapy impact on CNS function.
Acute effects of smoked marijuana on decision making
:
THC impacts speed of performance of executive function, but not accuracy.
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.
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%).
Electrophysiological activity underlying inhibition in late-life depression
:
Frontal dysfunction in the depressed group was observed in p300b measure for Go/NoGo task.
Topographic brain: from neural connectivity to cognition.
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Broader understanding of topographic maps may link genetics, neurophysiology and cognition.
Suicidality, depression, and alcohol use among adolescents
:
Suicidality, depression and alcohol use increase in adolescence
Social outcomes in childhood brain disorder
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Model of social outcomes of childhood brain disorder pulling on research from social problem solving and communication, social-affective and executive processes, and neural substrates.
Correlation between EEG rhythms during sleep: surface versus mediotemporal EEG.
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Power density is negatively correlated between delta/theta and beta frequencies above 16 Hz during NREM sleep.
Event-related functional MRI study of working memory in euthymic bipolar disorder.
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Widespread fronto-cortico-limbic dysfunction may be inherent in bipolar disorder.
EEG power and coherence in dyslexic children
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Dyslexic children show increased slow activity in frontal and right temporal regions
Marijuana use motives and social anxiety among marijuana-using young adults.
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Social anxiety was common in individuals with marijuana use problems.