What's New in Neurofeedback

• 'Brainwave' cap controls computer
• Meditation Gives Brain a Charge
• Breakups Can Be Mapped in the Brain
• 'Faulty wiring' stress death link
• Toys have lasting impact on brain
• Talent 'changes way brain works'
• Brain Area May Control Urge to Hoard
• Baby talk key to evolution
• Third Language Area in Brain Identified
• Smoking is bad for the brain
• How Birds Learn to Sing May Give Clues to Human Language

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

Below are the journal publications in the field of neurotherapy for 2004, a total of 15 papers and 2 dissertations. This does not include conference abstracts, nor papers from the related field of BCI (brain-computer interface) which is in the news, above.

1. Cho, Baek-Hwan; Kim, Saebyul; Shin, Dong Ik (2004). Neurofeedback Training with Virtual Reality for Inattention and Impulsiveness. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7, 519-526.
2. Daley KC (2004). Update on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Current Opinions in Pediatrics, 16, 217-26
3. Duff J (2004). The usefulness of quantitative EEG (QEEG) and neurotherapy in the assessment and treatment of post- concussion syndrome. Clinical EEG & Neuroscience, 35, 198-209.
4. Egner T (2004). The effects of neurofeedback training on the spectral topography of the electroencephalogram. Clinical Neurophysiology, 115, 2452-60
5. Egner T (2004). EEG biofeedback of low beta band components: frequency-specific effects on variables of attention and event-related brain potentials. Clinical Neurophysiology, 115, 131-9.
6. Egner T, Gruzelier JH (2004). The temporal dynamics of electroencephalographic responses to alpha/theta neurofeedback training in healthy subjects. Journal of Neurotherapy, 8, 43-57.
7. Hammond DC, Walker J, Hoffman D (2004). Standards for the use of Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG) in neurofeedback: A position paper of the international society for neuronal regulation. Journal of Neurotherapy, 8, 5-27.
8. Hinterberger T (2004). An EEG-driven brain-computer interface combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng, 51, 971-4
9. Kirlangic ME (2004). A database for therapy evaluation in neurological disorders: application in epilepsy. IEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed, 8, 321-32
10. Orlando PC, Rivera RO (2004). Neurofeedback for elementary students with identified learning problems. Journal of Neurotherapy, 8, 5-19.
11. Quinn JF, Bodenhamer-Davis E, Koch DS (2004). Ideology and the stagnation of AODA treatment modalities in America. Deviant Behavior, 25, 109-131.
12. Rossiter T (2004). The effectiveness of neurofeedback and stimulant drugs in treating AD/HD: Part I. Review of methodological issues. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback, 29, 95-112
13. Sime A (2004). Case study of trigeminal neuralgia using neurofeedback and peripheral biofeedback. Journal of Neurotherapy, 8, 59-71.
14. Vernon D, Frick A, Gruzelier J (2004). Neurofeedback as a treatment for ADHD: A methodological review with implications for future research. Journal of Neurotherapy, 8, 53-82.

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    FOREIGN LANGUAGE
15. Holtmann M (2004). [Neurofeedback for the treatment of ADHD in childhood and adolescence] Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatr Psychother, 32, 187-200

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    DISSERTATIONS
16. Congedo, MF (2004). Tomographic neurofeedback: A new technique for the self-regulation of brain electrical activity. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, Vol 64(9- B), 2004. pp. 4668.
17. Van Zile, NJ (2004). The effects of electroencephalographic biofeedback treatment on trichotillomania: A single-case experiment. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, Vol 64(9-B), 2004. pp. 4602.

In January 2005 there have been eight publications already, so 2005 is likely to be an even stronger year in terms of publications.

1. Gruzelier J (2005). Critical validation studies of neurofeedback. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 83-104
2. Hammond DC (2005). Neurofeedback with anxiety and affective disorders. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 105-23
3. Hirshberg LM (2005). Emerging brain-based interventions for children and adolescents: overview and clinical perspective. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 1-19
4. Kropotov JD, Grin-Yatsenko VA, Ponomarev VA, Chutko LS, Yakovenko EA, Nikishena IS. (2005). ERPs correlates of EEG relative beta training in ADHD children. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 55, 23-34.
5. Monastra VJ (2005). Electroencephalographic biofeedback (neurotherapy) as a treatment for ADHD: rationale and empirical foundation. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 55-82
6. Thornton KE (2005). Electroencephalogram biofeedback for reading disability and traumatic brain injury. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 137-62
7. Trudeau DL (2005). Applicability of brain wave biofeedback to substance use disorder in adolescents. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 125-36
8. Walker JE (2005). Neurofeedback treatment of epilepsy. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14, 163-76

-DK

News & Reviews NEW BOOKS

Conduct Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence
by Jonathan Hill (Editor)
Comprehensive account of conduct disorder for mental health professionals. ---www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521786398/top100

Neuropsychological Assessment
by Muriel Deutsch Lezak
Manual of neuropsychological assessment tools. ---www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195090314/top100

Epilepsy in Children
by Alexis Arzimanoglou
Discusses seizure disorders and problems related to classification of epileptic seizures and epilepsies. ---www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/0781726980/top100

PTSD in Children and Adolescents
by Spencer Eth
Review of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in children and adolescents including evaluation, assessment methods and child trauma in relation to adult PTSD. ---www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/1585620262/top100

An Adult Child's Guide to What's Normal
by John C. Friel Ph.D., Linda D. Friel M.A.
Practical guide to living a healthy life after being raised in an dysfunctional family. ---www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558740902/top100

Antisocial Behavior in Children and Adolescents
by John B. Reid, et al
A coercion theory about the development of delinquency and other antisocial behavior. ---www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/1557988978/top100

EEG analysis of children with ADHD and comorbid reading disabilities. : ADHD + RD group had more relative theta, less relative alpha, and a higher theta/alpha ratio than the ADHD group. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15493324

Theory of mind after traumatic brain injury. : Patients with TBI have inference-making impairments which can combined with linguistic and working memory limitation to impair theory of mind capability. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15488910

Early neurobiological alternations in teens with PTSD : During earthquake imagery, PTSD group activated bilateral visual cortex, bilateral cerebellum and left parahippocampal gyrus, while control group did not. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15489009

Quantitative EEG and neurotherapy in the assessment and treatment of post-concussion syndrome. : QEEG can identify post-concussion syndrome and neurotherapy may redress symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15493535

Media violence exposure and executive functioning in aggressive adolescents. : Higher amounts of media violence exposure correlated with deficits in executive functioning. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15468343

Effects of neurofeedback training on the spectral topography of the electroencephalogram. : Alpha/theta training produced replicable reductions in frontal beta activity. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15465432

Attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms and Internet addiction. : Presence of ADHD symptoms is an important risk factor for Internet addiction. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15482579

Continuous quantitative EEG monitoring in hemispheric stroke patients : A brain symmetry index may be used to monitor possible changes of brain function after stroke. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15472102

EEG mapping in patients with social phobia. : Trait anxiety and depression scores correlated positively with alpha activity and negatively with theta, suggesting a hyperarousal pathogenetic factor of anxiety. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15465293

Adolescents with learning disorders have atypical EEG correlation indices. : Reading was associated with high correlations in EEG indices within the right hemisphere in reading and writing impaired students. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15465448

Cognitive neuroscience of memory distortion. : Hippocampus and several cortical regions contribute to false recognition. The prefrontal cortex monitors retrieval and it limits the rate of false recognition. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15450167

Education Modifies the Effect of Alcohol on Memory Impairment : Alcohol intake has less impact on verbal memory impairment among more educated subjects than among those with less education. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15459511

Which hand is dominant reveals a great deal about your brain, at least in terms of gross organization, and probabilistically. If you are right handed, your speech center is in your left hemisphere (LH), or nearly always so (96% of the time). If you're left handed, your speech center is still in the LH 70% of the time. The remaining 30% of the time it is split, half in the right hemisphere (RH), and half (15%) in both LH and RH (i.e., both centers needed for competence). Once we've identified which hemisphere houses the speech center, by process of elimination we can identify the hemisphere were spatial and emotional perception and processing are housed (the other one, the RH in most people). The right hand-speech connection has been known for millenia; even King David spoke of it 3000 years ago: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth..." (Psalm 137).

Such robust behavioral asymmetry is not only rare in the animal kingdom, it may be unique. We are the only creatures that exhibit a limb preference at the species level for all tasks. Handedness or pawedness can be found in individual apes, monkeys, cats, even rats, but only humans demonstrate consistent handedness as a group. Nine out of 10 adults are right-handed, 8 out of 10 children are right handed. We have been aware of this since time immemorial. Although Plato sought symmetry in all human function, his student Aristotle (384-322 BC) recognized our natural asymmetry and argued that the right side initiated all movement -- in all creatures, no less. Which is interesting given that he was an exception to the rule, a left-hander.

When did handedness evolve in humans? Preferential wear patterns on primitive hominid cutting tools suggests right handedness, but not conclusively so. Coren & Porac (1977) surveyed 5000 years of art that depicted unimanual tool or weapon use and 93% exhibited right handness. Some believe that right-handedness was a recent adaptation during the Bronze age, driven by weapon use, but what little art remains from this period to address this issue (37 pieces) mostly show right-handedness as the norm, so our unique characteristic was probably fully established well before the invention of swords and spears. For my money the best prehistoric evidence of early hominid right-handedness comes from hand outlines. A full 70% are of the left hand, not 50/50. This suggests that the hand that did the tracing, the one favored by the prehistoric artist to manipulate the red ochre or scraper, was the hand we don't see, the fine motor controlling doodler, the right hand. So right-handedness may have emerged prior to art, prior to even spoken language.

We humans have lived in a right-handed world probably forever. Those unlucky enough to be born with a dominant left hand often had to learn to act otherwise. Cultural pressure against sinistrality (derived from Latin, on the left side) has waned as of late, but only as of late, and not everywhere in the world. A teenage Ugandan student of mine told me how her brother was forced into right-handedness by her parents. The Bible reflects the constant pressure against the sinister ones: "Of the children of Benjamin, 700 of 26,000 were "restricted in their use of the right hand" - that is, about 3 % were left handed. This is near the rate we find in 80 years old individuals today, not the 10-14% we find in children today. That only 2% of octogenarians are lefties, and 4% of quintogenerians (50 year olds) are lefties, is partly due to social pressures during the Coolidge administration and beyond, and partly due to increased mortality for being born in the wrong parallel universe. This is a right-handed world, my friends: left-handers are six times more likely to die from an accident, four time more likely to die while driving, possibly because they are forced to use their non-dominant foot to control acceleration and braking. Lefties are more susceptible to allergies, reading disabilities, migraine headaches (Geschwind and Behan, 1984) and finger amputation by power tools (Corliss, 1984), among other obstacles to survival. On the bright side, there are more left handers proportionally in baseball and professional tennis than there should be. And more left-handed artists and architects. Here is a list where left handedness is overrepresented (i.e., greater than the population norm of 10-14%): Math prodigies, Gifted children, Recent Presidents, Vegetarians, Lawyers , Criminals, Autism, Alcoholism, People having paranormal experiences, Smokers , Sleep difficulties, and stutterers, among others. As for individuals from history, the follower crafters of our culture were sinistral: Leonard Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonaroti, Albert Einstein, Aristotle (already mentioned), Neil Armstrong, Henry Ford, Joan of Arc, Winston Churchill, Jack The Ripper, Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, and Babe Ruth

Okay, so not all of it is good.

Is right-handedness a product of nature or nuture? In 1940, the monozygotic concordance rate (identical twins) was 14.5% and the dizygotic rate (fraternal twins) was 14.0%, whereas the single birth rate was 8.5%. Twinning is dangerous, to the fetuses and mother; it is associated with higher rates of pre- and perinatal injury, which may explain these values. One way to become left-handed in this world is to be heading into it as a rightie, only to have damage to the motor strip when you're making your way out. Left handedness is found in 7.3% of normal elementary schoolchildren, but in 18.2 % in special education facilities (in 1920), suggesting an association with early brain injury. But there must be other ways to become a leftie besides natal strokes and disease, as the list of high functioning left-handers above attests to.

According to Annett (1974), two factors are involved in human handedness: we all have a set of genes that forces us to have a dominant hand. That is the first factor. But which hand will be that dominant one, this depends on an entirely independent genetic process. According to her "right shift hypothesis", a separate and single gene determines which hand will become dominant, but the shifting is not between right and left but between right and either. The right shift hypothesis predicts that right-shifting is dominant, the non-right-shift gene is recessive. Rife (1940) surveyed more than 2,000 people and found that children of both right-handed parents (R-R) were themselves right handed 92.4% of the time. Children of "mixed" marriages (one rightie, one leftie parent) were themselves righties 80.5% of the time. And the critical test case, children of two lefties were themselves righties about half of the time. This data perfectly fits a single-gene Mendelian combination model, as Annett claims. The major caveat would be the paucity of L-L parentage in the survey, only 11 pairs. Not much to work with statistically.

In other primates we do find consistent handedness within individuals across years of time, so it is feasible that handedness is a primate or mammalian trait, but right handedness for a species is due to a single flip of a switch in our genome sometime during the last 5 million years. In gorilla adults we find equal numbers of left and right-handed apes, but interestingly in juvenile gorillas we find human numbers, 90% right handed, 10% left (Shaffer, 1993). Maybe that single genetic mutation in the deep dark past, which separated us from all other apes, simply kept us from growing out of our childish ways.

-DK