What's New in Neurofeedback

A Monthly Summary of News and Events

Vol. 4 No. 12 - December 2001

This newsletter is sponsored by EEG Spectrum International Intl, Inc.,
a leader in providing clinical service and training professionals.

Past issues are available at www.eegspectrum.com/newsletter/
Information on how to subscribe or cancel a subscription appear at the end.
The opinions related in this newsletter reflect those of the author only.
Copyright (C) 2001 by EEG Spectrum International Intl, Inc. All rights reserved.


  • Announcements  - News
  • In the Spotlight   - Group Self
  • News & Reviews - Books, journal papers, of interest
  • Events & Locations - Conferences, Courses
  • Last Word               - Year in Review

    •  

    Announcements


     

    In the Spotlight

    Group Self

    by David Kaiser

    Synchrony of brain activity usually reflects deactivation -- and occasionally a loss of responsiveness and function (deep sleep, coma), but synchrony at the organismic level, the person, may be the best sign of mental health.

    Behavioral synchrony is critical to the development of mother-child attachment (Bernieri et al., 1988). From birth, and probably before, an infant moves to the tune of his mother's voice (Austin & Peery, 1983). Emotion and (joint) attention skills evolve quickly in response to maternal and later mutual synchrony between child and caregiver (Feldman et al., 1999; Preisler, 1995). Mating, pedagogy, and most social interactions revolve around various behavioral synchronies. Students who fail to behavior-match their instructors often fail; dialogs rapidly deteriorate without a nonverbal dance.

    We are not the only mammal who relies on behavioral synchrony to develop and maintain relationships. Killer whales maintain pod cohesiveness through diving and respiratory synchronization (humans may have a vestige of this tendency in contagious yawning). Herd animals synchronize activities throughout the day. Yet it is the mental and emotional synchronization between people that interests me.

    Frecska and Kulcsar (1989) argue that certain healing rituals are effective because they produce a deep psychobiological synchrony between adults. The ritual experience which includes trance, dance, fellowship, and rhythms, may have as its goal a form of attentional synchrony, one that unites individuals in harmonious fellowship and oneness. Television and cinematic narratives may serve the same role that ritual in pre-industrial age once served: uniting minds, if only for an hour or two, and in so doing, invoking wholeness, groupness.

    The title of this piece, "Group self" may sound like an oxymoron. The term "self" evokes individuality, uniqueness, variance from a group. By "group self" I mean that thing we construct and carry with us wherever we go: who we are, what we are, how we are, why we are. How does it differ from a "private self?" There is no private self -- except in psychosis. Self is a context.

    The concept of self is a cultural invention, just like baseball. It is a mnemonic, a set of rules and conventions taught to school children tn the process of socializing them. Historically its appearance coincided with the psychosocial transformation of languages in the first millenium B.C. (notably in early Greece and Judea) when mental states were compared and identified, publicly discussed, and most importantly, recognized as shared experiences (Jaynes, 1976). We have spent 3,000 years evaluating and expanding the undarkness between our ears. That others have done most of the work for us, before we even appear on the planet, speaks to how the self is a convention we acquire through social learning.

    I do not have further room (this month) to elaborate on this notion; suffice it to say that our connection to others is our best thermometer of mental health. How much we include others in our self, how large we extend our group, the healthier we usually are. (Of course there are always exceptions.) What follows is a measure of connection between others in the attentional domain:

    Attention Synchrony

    According to Berlyne (1971), an interesting stimulus is one which elicits an inclination to respond, but this tendency is inhibited or blocked in some manner. The inhibited response increases arousal until a new cognitive response appropriate to the stimulus is formed. Once it does, arousal drops and this reduction in arousal is rewarding. Interest in a stimulus ought to a function of the number and magnitude of response inhibition -- which should be quantifiable in EEG.

    Modulated activation

    Activation alone is not responsible for eliciting interest. Mildly noxious stimuli may produce arousal without interest (Zillman, 1982). Videos which consist of unending chases and gunplay that constantly attempt to arouse the audience can become as monotonous as a blank screen. Likewise, films with uneven pacing or tedious plotting can diminish arousal and bore an audience. Interesting films required arousing events as well as relatively uneventful intervals during which individuals can integrate information (from previous intense segments) as well as experience the pleasurable drop in arousal.
    Activation levels oscillate not only during high interest conditions, but also during low involvement conditions such as resting baselines. What differs between the modulation pattern found in baseline conditions (i.e., the natural background of alpha fluctuation) and the modulation pattern during high interest states is the source of modulation. When a person relaxes and closes her eyes, so that they are no processing external information, the pattern of alpha modulation depends solely on internal thought processes (reverie, ruminations). When she pays attention to an (external) stimulus, one in the environment, its information pattern may drive the pattern of alpha modulation. Unfortunately it is difficult to segment an interesting stimulus like a 2 minute film. But we can measure how a group responds to each moment of a stimulus, and this may provide us with an index of external engagement.
    Individuals activate then deactivate to stimuli which interest them. Boring scenes in a movie produces various (uncorrelated) responses from individuals as some continue to process previous information and others anticipate new events or daydream; the important point being that they are not responding uniformly. When individuals respond in unity, activate and deactivate together, they are demonstrating high attentional synchrony (ASync) and indicating that the external event is driving their alpha modulation (i.e., it interests them). Assessment of group synchrony, simultaneous engagement or disengagement across individuals for each moment, is readily quantifiable with between-subject variance.
    Low involvement conditions such as the eyes open resting baseline should elicit the minimum amount of attentional synchrony, the most random modulation between individuals (see Figure 1). In this figure, not only is the between-subject alpha variance large (n=20), note how it increases across time. At "task" onset, individuals were in a similar psychological, behavioral, and motivational state (listening and following instructions), especially compared to later in the recording. Therefore variance was relatively low. But as time past, their thoughts and actions diverged as no external stimulation was forthcoming to activate or mediate attentional states.


    Figure 6.1. Mean alpha magnitude +/- 1 SD from 18 subjects are plotted for each epoch. Individual bars indicate the range across subjects at each epoch during an eyes closed condition (128 s, site Pz). Note the wide range of magnitudes at any given epoch.

    Attentional Synchrony and Interest

    Figure 2 presents between-subject variance during low and high interest films (as determined by previous group ratings).



    Figure 2. Mean alpha magnitude +/- 1 SD at Pz for 20 subjects are plotted at each epoch. Individual bars indicate the range of alpha magnitude across subjects at each epoch during low and high interest films. Note the narrow distribution of magnitude values during the high interest film.

    As shown in Figure 3, a significant negative correlation was found between normalized interest ratings and between-subject variance during the last 30 s of each film at site Pz [r=-.80, F(1,19)= 33.627, p<.01].


    Figure 3. Mean between-subject variance as a function of (normalized) interest ratings. Numbers in graph refer to EO conditions placed arbitrarily as low interest conditions.

    Attentional Synchrony and Magnitude values

    Behavioral rating, ASync, and alpha magnitude, were calculated at site Pz for each epoch of each film. Behavioral ratings were compared to between-subject variance at each epoch (ASync) and epoch magnitude for eight films. Only eight films had reliable behavioral ratings (i.e., ratings from six of more subjects). Behavioral ratings of interest were joystick movements subjects produced to reflect their interest in the material. A 50 s smoothing function and a 6 s time lag of ASync provided the best correlation with behavioral ratings. Of the eight films analyzed, six exhibited significant correlations between behavioral ratings and ASync values. Only 4 films exhibited a significant correlation between behavioral ratings with epoch magnitude [p<.05]. Figure 4 illustrates the relationship between magnitude, between-subject variance, and behavioral ratings across time.



    Figure 4. Epoch values of between-subject variance, alpha magnitude, and a behavioral interest rating during two films [Cool World, Heart of Dixie]. Note the especially strong relationship between either EEG measure and the interest rating in the second film.

    The reliability and validity of this new measure has not yet been established. However, the present results are very promising that this approach will yield useful information about conditions that other EEG measures cannot obtain. Mean ASync and epoch ASync values were both highly predictive of interest in films. Perhaps a clinical measure might be developed to identify individuals who do not show normal attention patterns to stimuli. Such a measure might not only identify attention deficit individuals but depressed and other mood-disordered patients.
    Related reading:
    Austin & Peery (1983). Analysis of adult-neonate synchrony during speech and nonspeech. Percept Mot Skills, 57, 455-9.
    Bernieri (1988). Coordinated movement and rapport in teacher-student interactions, Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 12:2, 120-138.
    Bernieri, Reznick, & Rosenthal (1988). Synchrony, pseudosynchrony, and dissynchrony: Measuring the entrainment process in mother-infant interactions, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 243-253.
    Frecska, E., & Kulcsar, Z. (1989). Social bonding in the modulation of the physiology of ritual trance. Ethos, 17, 70-87.
    Feldman, Greenbaum, & Yirmiya (1999). Mother-infant affect synchrony as an antecedent of the emergence of self-control. Dev Psychol 35(1):223-31
    Pacella (1996). Maternal depression, quality of attachment, and interaction synchrony between infants and mothers.

     

    News & Reviews NEW BOOKS

    Learning Disabilities : Characteristics, Identification, and Teaching Strategies
    by William N. Bender

    Practical guide focusing on educational and theoretical issues; includes the latest research and information for every major developmental area. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0205321844/top100

    The Neuropathology of Schizophrenia: Progress and Interpretation
    by P. J. Harrison
    For researches and practitioners, discusses clinical syndrome underlying structural substrates of schizophrenia. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0192629077/top100

    Minor Traumatic Brain Injury Handbook: Diagnosis and Treatment
    by Gary W. Jay
    Discusses the evaluation, treatment, and clinical and behavioral problems associated with MTBI. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0849319552/top100

    Stress and Trauma
    by Patricia A. Resick
    Discusses full range of clinical disorders that often result from extreme stress, emphasis on PTSD. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841691909/top100

    Ritalin: Theory and Practice
    by Laurence L. Greenhill
    Summarizes leading-edge findings on the use and misuse of psychostimulants in clinical practice. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0913113824/top100

    Memory : From Mind to Molecules
    by Larry R. Squire
    Describes the molecular events that take place in the brain as a memory is formed, including malfunctions of memory such as amnesia, Alzheimer's disease and age-related memory loss. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0716760371/top100

     

    JOURNAL PAPERS

    Is the left cerebral hemisphere more prone to epileptogenesis than the right? : If there is greater left than right cerebral hemispheric vulnerability to epileptogensis, it is only in left-handers. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11679305

    PET findings in patients with major depression. : Hippocampus appears to play an important role in major depression. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11681541

    EEG-defined subtypes of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. : Three distinct EEG clusters of children with ADHD were found. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11682348

    Deficit in shifting attention present in high-functioning autism : Deficiency in shifting from local to global processing was found in autistics but not Asperger's. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11708391

    Neuroimmunologic aspects of sleep and sleep loss. : Numerous medical disorders involving the immune system such as infectious diseases, fibromyalgia, cancers, and major depressive disorder are associated with changes in the sleep-wake physiology. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11607924

    Decision-making in mania: a PET study. : Task-related activation in the anterior cingulate was associated with increasing severity of manic symptoms. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11701607

    Effects of abstinence on the brain: QMRI and MRS : White matter lesions are widespread in active drinkers but partly resolve during long-term abstinence. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11707642

    Neurological outcome after severe head injury in childhood: a long-term follow-up : The infant brain is more vulnerable to lasting deficits and is more prone to post-traumatic seizure development. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11720116

    Neuropsychiatry of frontal lobe dysfunction in violent and criminal behaviour : Focal orbitofrontal injury is specifically associated with increased aggression. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=11723190

     

     

    Events & Locations

    Upcoming Courses

      Woodland Hills, CA
    • 4-Day Compreh. -Jan 24-27
    • 4-Day Compreh. -Mar 14-17
    • 2-Day Alpha Theta -Mar 19-20
      Orlando, FL
    • 4-Day Compreh. -Feb 21-24
      Atlanta, GA
    • 2-Day Beta/SMR Skills, Adv Practicum -Jan 11-12, 2002
    • EEG Course- Jan 13
    • QEEG Course- Jan 14

    Prerequisites: All Adv. classes require successful completion of the 4 Day Comprehensive Beta/SMR.
    * Advanced Practicum requires 150 hours direct NF clinical experience.


    More info at www.eegspectrum.com/course

    Conferences for Neurofeedback Clinicians & Researchers

    CONFERENCELOCATIONDATES
    Winter Brain - http://www.futurehealth.org/2002.htmMiami, FL Feb 7-11
    AAPB - http://www.aapb.orgLas Vegas, NV Mar 20-24

     

    Last Word

    Year in Review, 2001

      Spotlight
    1. The Bipolar Child, reviewed
    2. The Dark Ages of Neurofeedback
    3. Fight the Power
    4. Group Self
    5. How Well is Functional Neuroimaging Functioning?
    6. A Little Ditty about Functional Conformity
    7. The Placebo Revisited
    8. THX-1138: Vision of The Future?
    9. Take Two Placebos and Call Me in the Morning
    10. The "Wave-Particle Duality" in Human Behavior
    11. When is Theta Alpha?
    12. Where's my Firefox
      Last Word
    1. 345 Sites on My Head
    2. Expert Predictions
    3. Keeping up with German Research
    4. Large-N Project II
    5. Pay Attention: Ritalin Acts Much Like Cocaine
    6. Robert Chabot
    7. Solve Half of the Problem Now
    8. Three Years of Articles: an index
    9. Waiting for V
      Book Briefs
    1. Acute Stress Disorder: A Handbook of Theory, Assessment, and Treatment
    2. Addictions & Substance Abuse: Strategies for Advanced Practice Nursing
    3. The Addictive Personality : Understanding the Addictive Process and Compulsive Behavior
    4. Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions
    5. Alcoholism Sourcebook
    6. American College of Physicians Home Medical Guide: Epilepsy
    7. Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence
    8. Anxiety, Depression, and Emotion
    9. Asperger Syndrome
    10. Atlas and Classification of Electroencephalography
    11. Atlas of Epileptic Seizures and Syndromes
    12. Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder at Home and at School
    13. Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Transactional Developmental Perspective
    14. Autism in History : The Case of Hugh Blair of Borgue
    15. Becoming an Addictions Counselor: A Comprehensive Text
    16. Behavioral Concerns and Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Explorations and Strategies for Change
    17. A Biological Brain in a Cultural Classroom
    18. Bipolar Disorders: Basic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications
    19. Brain Mapping: The Disorders
    20. Brain Mapping: The Systems
    21. Brain Plasticity and Epilepsy
    22. Brains That Work a Little Bit Differently
    23. Children With Autism : A Developmental Perspective
    24. Children of Addiction: Research, Health, and Public Policy Issues
    25. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Other Invisible Illnesses
    26. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Facts
    27. Clinical Judgement: Evidence in Practice
    28. Clinical and Neuropsychological Aspects of Closed Head Injury
    29. Cognitive Neuroscience : A Reader
    30. Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion
    31. Cortical Functions
    32. Depressed Child and Adolescent: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives
    33. Developmental Disabilties: A Neuropsychological Approach
    34. Developmental Disorders of the Frontostriatal System: Neuropsychological, Neuropsychiatric and Evolutionary Perspectives
    35. The Difficult Child
    36. Dual Diagnosis Recovery Sourcebook: Addiction with an Emotional Disorder
    37. The Effects of Early Adversity on Neurobehavioral Development
    38. Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior
    39. Epilepsy and Sleep: Physiological and Clinical Relationships
    40. Epilepsy: Problem Solving in Clinical Practice
    41. Epileptic Seizures: Pathophysiology and Clinical Semiology
    42. Essential Guide to Depression
    43. Essentials of Chemical Dependency Counseling
    44. Exiting Nirvana: My Daughter's Life with Autism
    45. Exploring the History of Neuropsychology: Selected Papers
    46. Finding Out About Asperger's Syndrome, High-Functioning Autism and PDD
    47. The Forensic Evaluation of Traumatic Brain Injury: A Handbook for Clinicians and Attorneys
    48. From Neuron to Brain
    49. Functional Imaging in the Epilepsies
    50. Genetics and the Electroencephalogram
    51. Handbook of Alcoholism
    52. Handbook of Epilepsy
    53. Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition
    54. Handbook of Psychophysiology
    55. Improving Treatment Compliance: Counseling and Systems Strategies for Substance Abuse and Dual Disorders
    56. Integrative Neuroscience: Bringing Together Biological, Psychological and Clinical Models of the Human Brain
    57. Learning Disabilities : Characteristics, Identification, and Teaching Strategies
    58. Learning Disabilities: Implications for Psychiatric Treatment
    59. Learning Outside the Lines: Two Ivy League Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD
    60. The Life of a Bipolar Child: What Every Parent and Professional Needs to Know
    61. Magnetic Stimulation of the Human Nervous System
    62. Management of Stress and Anxiety in Medical Disorders
    63. Meeting the Challenge of Learning Disabilities in Adulthood
    64. Memory : From Mind to Molecules
    65. Migraine
    66. Minor Traumatic Brain Injury Handbook: Diagnosis and Treatment
    67. Modernization of the Sacred Disease: The History of Epilepsy, 1865-1914
    68. The Neurobiology of Cocaine Addiction: From Bench to Bedside
    69. The Neuropathology of Schizophrenia: Progress and Interpretation
    70. The Neurophysics of Human Behavior: Explorations at the Interface of the Brain, Mind, Behavior, and Information
    71. Neuropsychological Assessment in Clinical Practice: Test Interpretation & Integration
    72. Neuropsychology for Health Care Professionals and Attorneys
    73. Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-Hippocampal System
    74. The Neuropsychology of Emotion
    75. Nonverbal Perceptual and Cognitive Processes in Children With Language Disorders
    76. An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage
    77. Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry
    78. PMS, Perimenopause, and You: Guide to Emotional, Mental, & Physical Patterns of a Woman's Life
    79. Pain: What Psychiatrists Need to Know
    80. Panic Disorder: Assessment and Treatment Through a Wide-Angle Lens
    81. Pharmacotherapy for Mood, Anxiety, and Cognitive Disorders
    82. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Comprehensive Text
    83. Prozac and the New Antidepressants : What You Need to Know About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone, Vestra, Celexa, St. John'
    84. Psychiatric Management in Neurological Disease
    85. Psychology of Alcohol and Other Drugs : A Research Perspective
    86. Relapse and Recovery in Addictions
    87. Ritalin: Theory and Practice
    88. Seized: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy as a Medical, Historical, and Artistic Phenomenon
    89. Shattered Nerves: Doctors, Patients, and Depression in Victorian England
    90. Sleep Disorders
    91. Special Problems in Counseling the Chemically Dependent Adolescent
    92. Stress and Health: Research and Clinical Applications
    93. Stress and Trauma
    94. Stroke: A Practical Guide to Management
    95. Strong Feelings: Emotion, Addiction, and Human Behavior
    96. Toward Consilience: The Bioneurological Basis of Behavior, Thoughts, Experience, and Language
    97. Treating Adult Children of Alcoholics: A Behavioral Approach
    98. Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
    99. What's Going on in There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life