What's New in Neurofeedback

• Mind Rewind: Brains Run in Reverse
• Scientists are split on the different ways men and women think
• Can't Focus? Aging Brain May Be to Blame
• Brain Scans May Beat Polygraphs at Lie Detection
• Study confirms location of potential autism gene

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

Barnea A, Rassis A, & Zaidel E. (2005). Effect of neurofeedback on hemispheric word recognition. Brain and Cognition, 59, 314-21.
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16337872

Can lateralized neurofeedback -- training of one hemisphere only -- preferentially impact performance of the trained hemisphere? Pulvermuller et al (2000) previously showed how training slow cortical potentials over the left hemisphere can improve language performance in this hemisphere. This study explored whether learned modulation of neuroregulatory cortical activity (SMR, theta bands) likewise produces hemispheric effects. Twenty children, half boys and half girls, underwent 20 half-hour sessions across a month at either site C3 or C4 referenced to the ipsilateral ear. Using a well-studied language task, it was found performance of the left hemisphere improved with C4 training in boys and C3 training in girls. Although the results for the boys might be interpreted in terms of reduced inhibitory influence of the right hemisphere in language performance, initial levels of language performance for the boys make this conclusion tentative. However the girls' finding is more substantiated, indicating a focal impact for left-sided training and general impact for right-sided training. Girls improved in language performance in both right and left sided presentations after right-brain training (C4) but only for left-hemisphere presentations after left-brain training (C3).

One wrinkle to this study was the use of Hebrew-speakers (i.e., readers). Hebrew has a deep orthography, perhaps the world's deepest, which means letter-to-sound correspondences are ambiguous without knowledge of the word itself. English has a moderate depth to its orthography: some letters always map to the same sounds, some do not and vary from word to word. For instance, if I ask a waiter "Can I have the Caesar Salad?" the letter c is pronounced as a hard /k/ then as an /s/. Spelling-to-sound consistency can be illustrated by the nonword "ghoti" which is pronounced, of course, as "fish". How, you might ask? Well, "gh" in tough or rough sounds like /f/; "o" is pronounced like a short /i/ in "women" and "ti" is /sh/ in vacation and other words. Together these five letters in English can be pronounced as "fish" -- or "goatie" or "foatie" or foshie", etc. Languages with shallow orthographies, such as Serbo-Croatian, do not have such ambiguity or confusion to the assembly of sounds from the written word; the letter "c" is always pronounced /k/, "t" as /t/, etc. Hebrew is much removed from this ease. Hebrew is also written from right-to-left, unlike this sentence which is read and pronounced left to right. The right-to-left direction, more common to historically early writing systems, probably reflects greater involvement of the right hemisphere in deciphering stone inscriptions and the like.

Levesque J, Beauregard M, & Mensour B. (2006). Effect of neurofeedback training on the neural substrates of selective attention in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neuroscience Letters, 394, 216-21.
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16343769

In Levesque's study, 20 ADHD children (no psychostimulants, no co-morbidities) participated in a functional neuroimaging assessment of neurofeedback training. Fifteen children were randomly assigned to neurofeedback training and five were left as controls. Children in the neurofeedback conditions underwent 20 sessions of SMR-enhancement training (with theta inhibit) followed by 20 sessions of low Beta (15-18 Hz) enhancement (with theta inhibit) at site Cz referenced to the left earlobe. Sessions lasted 60 minutes each, three times a week.

Both groups were scanned while performing a Counting Stroop task one week before neurofeedback training began for the experimental group and one week after the end of training. Both groups showed activation of the left superior parietal lobe during task performance prior to training, but after training the group which underwent neurofeedback also showed significant activation of right anterior cingulate cortex. The anterior cingulate may be dysfunctional in ADHD, as evidenced by its inactivity in ADHD adults during the same task. The anterior cingulate is critical in the final stages of selective attention and response inhibition and the Stroop Task is all about inhibiting responses and attending selectively to information. In the original Stroop task subjects name the ink color which a word appears in so if the word "salad" appears in green ink, one responds "green" or clicks a key for this color. In the interference (difficult) version of this task, items are now colors words such as "red" in green ink or "green" in blue ink. One has to ignore the meaning of the word (red) and respond solely to its physical presentation (green). Reading for most individuals is highly automated and difficult to stop so most subjects are slowed and make errors during color-word presentations. In the Counting Stroop, subjects indicate how many words appear on a screen. In the neutral condition words are common animal terms such as bird or dog, and in the Interference condition words are numbers so a subject might see "three three three three" and have to press the key for four (i.e., the number of words on the screen).

Children who received neurofeedback training also showed left caudate and left substantia nigra activation during Counting Stroop performance, which is very consistent with ADHD as a dysfunction of dopaminergic transmission in fronto-striatal circuits. The authors suggest that SMR neurofeedback "led to the neuromodulation by dopamine of neural activity in the anterior cingulate-striatal circuit."

Children who underwent neurofeedback also showed improvement in digit span and attention (IVA) as well hyperactivity and inattentiveness assessments by parents on the Conners Rating Scales, whereas the controls show little change; but we've shown these behavioral improvments all before, without convincing the masses of professionals who fail to understand why learning is more powerful than medicating. Learning is the most powerful force of nature. It is through learning that a large violent aggressive ape is transformed into the paragon of animals... "in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!" to quote another author.

-DK

News & Reviews NEW BOOKS

Psychic Trauma: Dynamics, Symptoms, and Treatment
by Ira Brenner
Clinical study of psychic trauma, focusing on two groups--early physical and sexual abuse and Holocaust survivors. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765703653/eegspectrum

Somatoform Dissociation: Phenomena, Measurement, and Theoretical Issues
by Ellert R. S. Nijenhuis
Describes how trauma, somatoform dissociation and defense may work together. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393704602/eegspectrum

Mapping Cognition in Time and Space
by T Muente, H.J. Heinze
Focuses on high temporal resolution neuroimaging techniques -- event-related brain potentials, magnetoencephalography --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9051994923/eegspectrum

Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook
by Joyce H. Lowinson, et al
Textbook on biological, psychological, and social aspects of substance abuse. For clinicians. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0781734746/eegspectrum

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Neurochronometrics of Mind
by Vincent Walsh, Alvaro Pascual-Leone
Promotes transcranial magnetic stimulation to investigate cortical function. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262731746/eegspectrum

Autism And Williams Syndrome
by Helen Tager-Flusberg
Theory of mind as it emerges during childhood is discussed in reaction to autism and William's syndrome research. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841690082/eegspectrum

Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Epilepsy
by Orrin Devinsky, et al
Provides a broader perspective of healthcare for seizure patients. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1888799897/eegspectrum

Mind, Brain, And Schizophrenia
by Peter Williamson
Instead of investigating its cause, the author argues, we should focus on the final symptoms and behaviors of schizophrenia in order to devise effective treatments. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195176375/eegspectrum

The Boundaries of Consciousness: Neurobiology and Neuropathology
by Steven Laureys
Functional brain imaging techniques offer detailed, integrated exploration of neural and behavioral correlates of consciousness. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0444518517/eegspectrum

Intoxicating Minds: How Drugs Work
by Ciaran Regan
Humanity co-evolved with drugs. That process and how they have altered our very being is discussed in the context of new drug therapies. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0231120176/eegspectrum

Neurofeedback: efficacious treatment for ADHD : Iillustrates treatment modalities and compares them to neurofeedback for ADHD www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16385424

Can neurofeedback training enhance performance? : Rationale for using neurofeedback to train individuals for peak performance. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16385423

Low frequency rTMS stimulation of the right frontal cortex : Moderate robust persistence of rTMS treatments over time were found. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16433057

Alcohol and adult neurogenesis in chronic alcoholism. : Reviews opposing neurogenic processes associated with alcohol intoxication and abstinence. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16421863

Age-dependent decline of ADHD : ADHD's persistence into adulthood depend until strictness of one's criteria. Partial remission criteria reveals 2/3rds of those with childhood ADHD suffering from ADHD symptoms as adults. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16420712

Memory activation enhances EEG abnormality in mild cognitive impairment. : Mild cognitive impairment patients show less decrease in the lower alpha band than controls during picture memory activation. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16406153

Maternal depression, child frontal asymmetry, and child affective behavior : Childhood-onset depression children exhibited left frontal asymmetry associated with both anxious/depressed and aggressive child problems. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16405644

Spectrum-weighted EEG frequency as a quantitative indicator of mental arousal. : Weighted mean frequency of the EEG spectrum may indicate general mental activation. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16400227

Functional neuroimaging studies of cognitive recovery after acquired brain damage : Review of functional neuroimaging studies of stroke and traumatic brain injury. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16395622

Clinical significance of sleep EEG abnormalities in chronic schizophrenia. : Chronic undifferentiated schizophrenics suffer from disturbances in sleep continuity and slow wave sleep. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16377158

What has happened? Let's look at the physics of it all. The buildings. Take the state of California which once possessed the best public educational system in the nation. In the last 20 years the state of California has built 33 new prisons and a single university. It increased its juvenile detention centers by 50 percent over the past five years, or more when one factors in the dozens of impersonal mega-schools built during this time, which sometimes act as detention centers. Mega-schools are high schools with student enrollment above 2,000 and last year 23 new monstrosities were opened nation-wide. Add this to the 1,414 mega-schools already operating in this country, take a look into any one, and the reason for school violence and dropping test scores and other social ills become apparent. We've come a long way from the one-room school house in only 50 years, and all of it in the wrong direction. We are building the wrong kind of buildings for our children.

33 prisons + 1 college = 21st century.

It's a new kind of math, one we are getting use to, a form of subtraction that threatens us all.

-DK