What's New in Neurofeedback

• Sleep boosts lateral thinking
• Panic attack patients lack key brain receptors
• Brain size matters for sex
• Subconsciously, Athletes May Play Like Statisticians
• Proteins 'may help memories form'
• Freud was right: mind can block bad memories

  All links at: http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=science&cat=brain_research

In the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon's title character steps between a boorish Harvard upstart and Will's working-class friend, who the college kid is trying to embarrass in front of some girls at a bar. Will claims that the ponytailed savant "wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for a buck fifty in late charges at the public library." But is that true? Can we learn on our own? If so, why is education so expensive, one of the largest entry in our federal budget, for instance? (Though far behind defense)

Well, for Will and people like him, the answer is yes, you can learn everything on your own. If you're a fictional character based a .01 % of the population, yes. If not, and you're like the rest of us, we may need a little help, a little filtering here and there. Sometimes we go it alone, but a guiding hand always gets us there quicker and with more certainty. As Yogi Berra put it, "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

Last month I tossed off a bunch of self-service items (280 neurofeedback citations), and this month I step back even further into the mist and toss off a bunch of self-service resources. Here are a bunch of doors, all relevant to neurofeedback to varying degrees, through which anyone can make his or her way. Choose a few when you get a chance, or are in need.

1. Google News - http://news.google.com -- This handy resource lets me track the mediasphere (including two neurofeedback articles from last week's newspapers). Building Brainpower: Neurobiofeedback helps tame the storm for brain injury patients (Flint Journal, Michigan); and a blurb in Valley briefs, New Haven Register, CT

   Google also has email News Alerts. Absent of human filtering, of course -- a firehose here, a trickle of unrelated debris there, but overall an effective way to follow the world (4,500 news sources) on your topic of interest. Here is one of our topics of interest:

2. Neurotherapy/QEEG Newsalert

   The advantage of machine filtering (and finding) is the firehose -- everything and anything all at once. Nothing missed -- perhaps -- if you keyword-it right. But human filtering brings us selection, order, and summarization, so that the article "Brain Waves: Brett Favre A Hollywood Story" doesn't waste space in your inbox.

   The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) now posts all its course materials online for all the world to use. How can they do this and still justify $150K in tuition, as Will claimed. MIT would argue that people pay for people, not words. We learn through interaction, not reception. Learning is a dynamic process, not a static one. In other words, you are NOT paying for materials, but the faculty members explaining the materials they selected. OpenCourseWare it is called - check out the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Brain-and-Cognitive-Sciences/

3. Intro Psych Fall 2001
4. Intro Psych Fall 2002
5. Neuroscience and Behavior
6. Brain and Cognitive Sciences I
7. Brain and Cognitive Sciences II
8. Neural Plasticity in Learning and Development
9. Affect: Biological...
10. Topics in Brain and Cognitive Sciences
11. Special Topics in Brain and Cognitive Sciences
12. Cognitive Neuroscience of Remembering
13. Language and Mind

    My answer to MIT is a paltry, underfunded site on RIT's webservers. The site used to brim with images (i.e., be less paltry) but I recently scrubbed the site clean of material I didn't create to free myself of copyright issues. Still, there's a good helping, and the Brainwaves course is highly relevant-- http://www.rit.edu/~dakgsh/

14. Psy 325 - Intro Psychology
15. Psy 400 - Experimental Psychology
16. Psy 545 - Brain & Behavior
17. Psy 546 - Right Brain Left Brain
18. Psy 547 - Brainwaves & Behavior

    Research Helpers

19. Psycholinguistics Database
20. APA format Guide #1
21. APA Guide #2
22. Run Statistics online
23. Brain-Behavior Relationships
24. CogPrints - electronic archive of Cog papers, http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/

    Outside of academia, we have news gathering organizations such as Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/news)

25. Mind & Brain News at Science Daily
26. Neuropsychology at Science Daily , and
27. biofeedback at Science Daily . as well as other promising sites,
28. Yahoo Brain Research
29. PsychWatch Weekly webzine
30. http://www.mentalhealth.org/newsroom
31. MSNBC Health library
32. Spark Notes - http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology
33. Sci-Tech Daily
34. NPR's Science Friday

    For general news junkies, there is

35. Newsblaster at Columbia Univ, an attempt to remove humans from the filtering process entirely. Computers preprocess content, and abstract the relevant elements, making a front page on their own -- which I suspect eventually other computers will be reading, in an intellectual-apocalyptic-Terminator kind of way. The process must be tailored to each domain of knowledge, and mental health and brain research news haven't been attacked yet (I talked with the director months ago about helping her but we have yet to start).
36. Newsmax.com is my favorite, not for news, but because it posts the Late night jokes from the previous night and beyond -- Leno, Letterman, and Conan.

    Want atoms instead of bits? Try the flea market of the world, Ebay - http://pages.ebay.com/search/items/basicsearch.html

37. Mind videos at Ebay
38. Brain videos at Ebay
39. Psychology videos at Ebay
40. Google's foray into sales - Froogle

    Finally, Search engines, when you need something specific and now:

48. Of course, if you fail to find what you want, and cannot get ahold of a friend or colleague to answer that important question, there's always the lure of cash to strangers: answers.google.com, a forum where researchers answer your questions for a shilling or two.

    And finally, if you cannot get enough of EEG Spectrum Intl's offerings, there is the weekly content I maintain at

49. Start My Day with EEG Spectrum Intl - http://start.eegspectrum.com

-DK

News & Reviews NEW BOOKS

Exposure Anxiety - The Invisible Cage: ...Self-Protection in Autism
by Donna Williams
A very helpful perspective on autism from an insider's point of view. Written like a manual for people dealing with this form of anxiety. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1843100517/top100

Guide to Neuroimaging in Psychiatry
by C Fu, T Russell, C Senior, Dl Weinberger, R Murray
Paperback guide to the increasingly important role neuroimaging plays in differential diagnoses, treatment, and prevention in psychiatry. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/184184229X/top100

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- Time : A Novel
by Mark Haddon
Fictional accounnt of high-functioning autism (a novel my wife really enjoyed - there is no higher praise) www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385509456/top100

Cognitive Neuroscience of Development
by Michelle De Hann, Mark H. Johnson, Michelle de Haan, Arthur H. Evans, Mark Johnson
Overview of methods used to study emerging interface between neurobiological and psychological perspectives in typical and atypical cognitive development. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/184169214X/top100

Epilepsy as a Dynamic Disease
by P. Jung, J. Milton, E. Greenbaum
Explores the possibility of implanting a device in epileptics capable of detecting seizure occurrence, with methods to abort it. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3540427627/top100

Introduction to Alcohol Research: Implications for Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
by Daniel L. Yalisove
Summary of alcohol research, positive and negative consequences of alcohol consumption, and the causes and effective treatment of alcohol disorders. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0205331297/top100

Coping With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
by Diane Roberts Stoler
Comprehensive manual explains what is involved in diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of brain-injured people. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0895297914/top100

I Hate You, Don't Leave Me : Understanding the Borderline Personality
by Jerold J. Kreisman, Hal Straus
Guide provides professional advice, designed to aid BPD victims and their families. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380713055/top100

Psychological treatments for epilepsy. : Reviewed psychological treatments: relaxation therapy was unsuccessful; EEG biofeedback improved cognitive and motor functions; educational interventions improved understanding of epilepsy, coping & med compliance. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14583944

Knowledge of epilepsy and familiarity with this disorder in the U.S. : The general public has little knowledge about epilepsy; educational campaigns through community settings are recommended. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14636355

Brain imaging studies in human addicts. : Heroin-related stimuli provokes activation of anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal regions. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14636961

Abnormal brain lateralization in high-functioning autism. : Autistic individuals with history of early language disturbance show atypical cerebral dominance, indicated maturational disturbances in establishing lateral preference. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14594334

SPECT brain perfusion findings in traumatic brain injury. : Basal ganglia hypoperfusion is the most common abnormality following mild or moderate traumatic brain injury, common in patients complaining of memory problem and dizziness. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14600973

Emerging dialogue between psychoanalysis and neuroscience: neuroimaging perspectives. : Hopes to reestablish psychodynamic theory in contemporary medicine via neuroimaging are discussed. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14596561

Computer method for identifying patterns in electroencephalogram signals. : Machine identification of weak signals hidden by specific ones (across long, 1 hr time windows) -- useful for sleep, perhaps. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14602518

Brain atrophy in alcohol dependence : Brain atrophy in alcohol dependence reflects individual differences in exposure to alcohol. Comorbid cocaine use disorder may exacerbate white matter atrophy. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14594753

Left-hemisphere dysfunction in autism: What are we measuring? : Results suggest bilateral neuropsychological involvement, affecting left- hemisphere functioning predominantly but not exclusively. Authors caution about inferences. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14592007

Learning impairment in male and female alcoholics. : Alcoholics are impaired on face-name learning but whether it's a direct effect of alcohol or their disrupted interpersonal relationships remains to be investigated. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14589692

1. It is by logic we prove; it is by intuition we discover
2. It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
3. The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
4. A mind too active is no mind at all.
5. All men by nature desire knowledge.
6. Everything you can imagine is real.
7. Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language.
8. Grasp the subject, the words will follow.
9. Words have a longer life than deeds.
10. Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.
11. Learning: to suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
12. The most merciful thing in the world is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
13. All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
14. We are what we repeatedly do.
15. All perception of truth is the detection of an analogy.
16. Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
17. Don't fall before you're pushed.
18. Never give a child a sword.
19. An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.
20. It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.
21. If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
22. Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
23. If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.
24. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
25. Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
26. Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.
27. A neurosis is a secret that you don't know you are keeping.
28. Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity.
29. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
30. Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on children than the unlived life of the parent.
31. I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.
32. I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there.
33. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle - Plato

More quotes at http://www.rit.edu/~dakgsh/quotes.htm

-DK