What's New in Neurofeedback

• Mind Control Study Raises Hopes
• Brain implants 'read' monkey minds
• Brain Chemical Linked to Teen Suicides in Study
• Mother-child bond identified
• Brain reacts differently to beauty, displeasure, loneliness
• Brain Lesions Appear After Temporary Amnesia
• Yahoo Exec and Wife Give UCLA $25 Million
• Bilingualism helps protect aging brains: study

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

The SABA conference is part training retreat, part scientific conference. This latest foray included keynote speakers from the larger conferences in this field. And unlike those conferences (AAPB, ISNR), guest lecturers are given an entire evening - two hours or so -- to present their data and develop their arguments. The mornings are spent on training: daily tutorials on artifacting, feedback strategies, acquisition and feedback software practicums.

M.B. Sterman, Ph.D. presented "EEG Oscillations, drive reduction, and synaptic reorganization: How neurofeedback works." The thrust of the talk is how SMR training facilitates learning, and gave me hope that when confused about protocol selection, SMR training of central sites should almost always be beneficial. Sterman discussed why this is so physiologically, and to do this, phylogenetically. The mammalian cortex evolved an architecture which produces the oscillatory networks that allow learning, adjustment, flexibility, providing new behaviors in the response to environmental challenges. The reptilean brain, its predecessor, is hard-wired and reasonably incapable of learning. Not only can we (primates) adapt, we can learn to learn. Rats and squirrels can learn, but they do not learn to learn. They take thousands of problems before they benefit from such experiences, The rodent cortex, and its miniscule associative cortex, does not allow for much positive transfer, the ability to improve from similar but unidentical experiences of the past. Cats fare better, but still it takes hundreds of trials before they get the idea. Only in primates (and possibly cetaceans) do we witness the full impact of positive transfer, how past learning facilitates and speeds future learning.

David Kaiser, Ph.D. (myself) presented "Rogue-site Analysis: a new metric for functional interpretation." I described this technique last newsletter, last conference. One new element was the index called global comodulation, the average of all comodulation correlations across all site pairs, 19x18 pairs. This simple index of brain connectivity, presumably, may reflect the overall maturity of a brain. In particular ADHD children reveal less mature brains, by their age, than their counterparts. Although this index is computed using contributions of every electrode site, I suspect it reflects specifically the frontal lobe's inability to orchestrate the various posterior cortices. I also presented "Methodological issues in QEEG" in which computational error is quantified for power values (compared to magnitude), single tapering windows (compared to overlapping tapering functions), seaming artifact rejection techniques (compared to clipping, i.e., managing missing data during averaging), and state transitions (i.e. activation trends in baseline conditions). All of these comparisons should be in print soon, and probably part of a standards paper when the opportunity arises.

Simon Hanslmayr, from the University of Salzburg, Austria, presented "Increasing cognitive performance in healthy subjects with Neurofeedback." A student in Wolfgang Klimesch's lab, they are investigating the roles of theta and alpha oscillations in cognition and validating peak performance in neurotherapy.

Adam Clarke, Ph.D., University of Wollongong, Australia, who with advisor RJ Barry has perhaps published more QEEG papers than anyone in the last decade, reported on "Arousal, activation, or processing: Which shell is the pea under in ADD?" Adam presented a series of experiments that investigated what beta activity in ADHD means, and in general what our EEG results for ADHD children mean. He found that beta activity is largely incidental to the core symptoms of ADHD. He also tackled the semantics of arousal/activation. Arousal is poorly defined within psychophysiology literature and is often interchanged with activation. Arousal he defines as the energetic factor associated with amount of effort being employed to complete a task. Activation is the actual processing of information by the CNS. Arousal and activation can be dissociated, and he showed a study where fatigued subjects (low arousal, generally) required high activation to solve tasks. He concluded that alpha was a good index of arousal, as have other researchers in the past (e.g., low alpha 7-9 Hz in particular reflecting arousal, high alpha 10-12 Hz, activation.)

Allan Schore, Ph.D., UCLA, presented "The right brain, attachment experiences, and the origin of self-regulation " where he discussed how the right hemisphere's early development underlies our emotional well-being and sense of self. Schore has two extensive books where he acts as an "integrationist," as he calls himself, synthesizes clinical and neuroscientific advances, notably developmental affective neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. These books are Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self, and Affect Regulation and the Repair of the Self, the latter advocating neuropsychoanalysis.

Eran Zaidel, Ph.D., UCLA, presented "Hemispheric specialization and cognitive performance: Effects on neurofeedback outcomes" in which he discusses his approach to validate the effectiveness of neurofeedback training. By preferentially training one hemisphere, then testing the subject on tasks better performed by one or the other hemisphere, the efficacy of specific neurofeedback protocols can be quantified. All the interesting wrinkles available to laterality researchers are being brought to bear on neurofeedback research.

Denise Malkowicz, MD, Drexel University, provided a four-hour tutorial on clinical EEG analysis, reviewing neurological methods and principles in electroencephalography. Also, numerous clinical findings were reported, including on autism/asperger, brain injury, seizure, and depression. Presenters included Lynda Thompson, Ph.D. & Michael Thompson, MD, Jolene Ross Ph.D. and Jim Caunt, Coralee Thompson, MD, Henry Mann, MD, Al Collins, Ph.D, Merlyn Hurd, Ph.D., and Tamara Lorensen. Ricardo Weinstein Ph.D. reported on his work with "The Criminal Brain" - how early brain injury and state-imposed death penalties coincide.

Scott Makeig, Ph.D., USCD, presented "Mining event-related human brain dynamics" where the consequences of independent component analysis were discussed. This highly computational technique attempts to discern cortical sources of activation by comparing and decomposing signals received at each electrode. Concidentally the UC system sent out a press release a few days after the conference (http://www.ucnewswire.org/news_viewer.cfm?story_PK=3962)

Jeffrey Schwartz, MD, UCLA, presented "The mind and the brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. Implications for OCD". He is author of "The Mind and the Brain", "Brain Lock" and the fascinating "Dear Patrick: Life is Tough - Here's Some Good Advice" in which he reveals his correspondence to a New York City teenager whose father left. Jeff argued how volition and instinct meet in the human brain. Somewhere free will must interface with instinct, conscious processes with automatic, nonconscious ones. In this hybrid tissue there is a struggle, one that individuals with OCD and other disorders occasionally lose. He suggested the striatum, and localized the two properties of mental action to cell types located there. (I imagine that randomness and order also have a physical point of unification, where they sit down and divvy up the universe. Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, would be my candidate for such a place, where for a century now randomness has overwhelmed any sense of order)

Wolfgang Keeser, Ph.D. closed the conference with a "State of the Art" of EEG and neurofeedback technology. And this conference was state of the art. Neurofeedback is as much about mammalian phylogeny and technology as it is about volition.

-DK

News & Reviews NEW BOOKS

Developmental Neuropsychology: A Clinical Approach
by Vicki Anderson
Emphasis on assessment, treatment and management of pediatric conditions. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/086377704X/top100

Neural Plasticity: Effects of Environment on the Development of the Cerebral Cortex
by Peter R. Huttenlocher
Integrates recent research on plasticity in sensory systems, motor cortex, higher cortical functions, and language development. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674007433/top100

Adolescence and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
by Naida Edgar Brotherston
Portrait of four young women with CFS. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789012081/top100

Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry
by Benjamin J. Sadock, Virginia A. Sadock
Integrates biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives. Case histories. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0781731836/top100

Minds Behind the Brain: A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries
by Stanley Finger
Neuroscience is steadily replacing psychology, philosophy, and even religion as a model of self-understanding -- here are the pioneers, from Cajal, Sperry, Galen, to Descartes. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/019508571X/top100

An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage
by Malcolm Macmillan
Gage's family and personal background, including contemporary medical and newspaper reports of the accident and its consequences, and his treatment. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262133636/top100

Treating Epilepsy Naturally : A Guide to Alternative and Adjunct Therapies
by Patricia A. Murphy, Russell L. Blaylock
Looks at treatment options, lifestyle choices, and ways of living well. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0658013793/top100

Information in the Brain
by Ira B. Black
Describes how mental function, brain function and biological information can be understood in molecular terms. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262521881/top100

Brain plasticity following psychophysiological treatment in LD/ADHD : Psychophysiological treatment impacts brain plasticity and regulation, improving neurophysiology of frontal and posterior brain regions along with school and neuropsychometric performance. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15050372

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder and changes in frontal alpha asymmetry. : Alpha asymmetry scores for the PMDD group fell into the negative range during the Luteal period while control subjects remained stable. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15050374

Prognostic value of frontal functional neuroimaging in late-onset severe major depression. : Specific frontal functioning (left anterior fronto-cerebellar perfusion ratio) may predict the acute antidepressant response in late-onset severe major depression. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15056574

Is there a sex difference in the course following traumatic brain injury? : Females age 30 years or older had poorer outcome than either males or younger females. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15068659

Cognitive tasks for driving a brain-computer interfacing system: a pilot study. : Authors discuss nonlinear method in the attempt to establish appropriate methods to operate BCI systems, particularly for disabled people who experience difficulty with motor imagery. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15068187

Peculiarity of the right-hemisphere function in depression: solving the paradoxes. : Depression is characterized by functional insufficiency of the right hemisphere combined with its physiological overactivation. Author argues monosemantic/polysemantic issues. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14687851

Stability of resting frontal electroencephalographic asymmetry in depression. : Test-retest stability of resting EEG alpha asymmetry in 30 depressed women at 4-wk intervals exhibited modest stability over 8- and 16-week intervals. However changes in asymmetry scores were not related to changes in clinical state, severity. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15032992

Sex differences in adult ADHD: brain activity and autonomic arousal. : Adult ADHD males (but not females) showed increased EEG theta activity; adult ADHD females (but not males) were autonomically hypo-aroused (decreased skin conductance level). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15099695

Regional cerebral blood flow with subtypes of major depression. : rCBF of right frontal lobe suggests two distinct types of depression, atypical and melancholic. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15093962

Synchronized Oscillations at alpha and theta Frequencies in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. : Activation of the metabotropic glutamate receptor may be the potential mechanism whereby the thalamus promotes EEG alpha and theta rhythms in the intact brain. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15091341

(From March 2002 newsletter) In 1970 Eran Zaidel developed the z-lens, contact lenses that darkened half of the visual field, either the left or right sides. Schiffer (1997) placed masking tape over the left (LVF) or right visual fields (RVF) of safety glasses and he found that 42 of 70 patients reported more anxiety while wearing his glasses. Depressed patients reported more anxiety with LVF glasses (RVF-blocked/RH activating) and PTSD patients had more anxiety waering RVF glasses. Unihemispheric activation may also improve attention and functioning in patient populations such as autism and schizophrenia. And we can also employ unihemispheric training, by wearing z-glasses during neurofeedback sessions.

Continuing with eyeglass-taping, metaphorically, neurofeedback practices might employ the optometrist's trick of improving a bad eye by blocking the good. We've all seen the eyepatch look which forces a young child to develop his or her bad eye. Well, the same approach should work for cortex. We might improve function of cortical modules that are underrelied upon by knocking out their overachieving homologues. Ninety-nine percent of callosal fibers connect homotopic regions of the brain. This means that frontal lobe fibers in the left hemisphere connect to similarly located frontal lobe areas on the right. Left inferior temporal lobe connects to right inferior temporal lobe, F3 to F4, O1 to O2, etc. Callosal fibers are both excitatory and inhibitory, and I suspect that when, say, Broca's area fails to mature in an autistic, when it remains a 98-lb weakling, it is a victim of repression, of an inhibitory bully in right frontal cortex kicking sand in its face whenever it apts to act. Uptraining low frequency (1-6 Hz) over the homologue in question should reduce its function temporarily. (I wouldn't recommend this approach on clients until others have reviewed it, of course.)

Finally, a reliable sham training technique eludes this field. The problem with training any frequency band is, what if it actually helps, and what if it actually hurts (like uptraining theta in seizure disorder). If you want to prove that SMR training treats ADHD, downtraining SMR is often offered as the control condition, or uptraining what should be ineffective, like a low band like delta, which would probably simply increase blinking. Perhaps the solution lies outside of the spectral domain. Use the temporal domain for a control. I suggest operant conditioning of moderate amplitudes, amplitudes unassociated with any single band but all bands. As long as the amplitudes are moderate and not too high (high amplitudes require low frequencies), the frequency correspondence should be nil. Most neurofeedback equipment can effectively train raw (temporal domain) activity by setting reward or inhibit frequency band to maximal width, say from .5 Hz to 60 Hz. Set amplitude threshold to some middle range (e.g., 5-10 uV or whatever empirically works).

-DK