Fisch and Spehlmann's EEG Primer
Post-Traumatic Stress Theory: Research and Application
by John Harvey, Brian E. Pauwels
The Hidden Disorder: A Clinician's Guide to ADHD in Adults
by Robert J. Resnick
Intractable Focal Epilepsy
by John Oxbury, Charles E. Polkey, Michael Duchowny
International Perspectives on Child and Adolescent Mental Health
by N. Singh, Jin Pang Leung, A. Singh
The Neuropsychiatry of Limbic and Subcortical Disorders
by Stephen Salloway, Paul Malloy
The Humanizing Brain: Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet
by James B. Ashbrook, Carol Rausch Albright, Anne Harrington
Critical Decisions in Headache Management
by Rose Giammarco MD, John Edmeads MD, David Dodick MD
Memory Disorders in Psychiatric Practice
by G. E. Berrios, John R. Hodges
Stress, Stress Hormones and the Immune System
by Julia C. Buckingham, Glenda E. Gillies
JOURNAL PAPERS
Diurnal variation in the quantitative EEG in healthy adult volunteers. : QEEG recordings (eyes open and closed) taken at 2-hr intervals throughout the day in 18 subjects revealed circadian rhythms in theta, low alpha, and low beta wavebands. Time of day confounds QEEG analysis and must be controlled for.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults: an overview. : The validity of ADHD in adults is still under investigation, despite an emerging neuroimaging literature that indicates abnormalities in the same brain regions underlying both child and adult forms of the disorder.
Effect of depression on neuropsychological functioning in head injury: measurable but minimal. : Regardless of severity, depression results in a small decline in neuropsychological functioning, particularly in visual attention and psychomotor skills.
Adult brain neurogenesis and psychiatry: a novel theory of depression. : The authors hypothesize that neurogenesis (birth of new neurons) in the hippocampus marks the the precipitation of and recovery from episodes of clinical depression.
High frequency waking EEG: reflection of a slow ultradian rhythm in daytime arousal. : A slow ultradian rhythm (with a period of 3 to 4 hours) strongly modulates EEG power in all frequency bands between 1 and 44.5 Hz.
Predictive power of frontal lobe tests in the diagnosis of ADHD : Abnormal scores on certain tests of frontal lobe function may reflect ADHD, but sensitivity was poor, meaning they should not be used as the sole criteria for diagnostic classification.
Virtual lesions and the not-so-modular brain. : Cognitive neuropsychology has generally posited modularity of brain function; however a review of 36 functional neuroimaging studies suggests that functions are distributed over multiple regions; most brain regions are multifunctional.
Psychiatric disorders among drug dependent subjects: are they primary or secondary? : Antisocial personality disorder and phobias have onsets prior to drug dependence whereas generalized anxiety disorder onsets after, and depression is evenly divided between earlier and later onsets relative to drug dependence.
Patterns of psychiatric comorbidity with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. : One-fifth or more of children with ADHD also suffer from a learning disorder, one that is independent of the disorder. Many children with ADHD are also severely emotionally labile, which may result in serious management issues for the clinician.
Correlation of EEG asymmetry and hypnotic susceptibility. : Hypnotic susceptibility appears to correlat with parieto-temporal asymmetry.
Executive processing and ADHD: the supervisory attentional system. : ADHD group are impaired on tasks that require the inhibition of a strongly triggered response compared to learning disabled and normal children.
Can traumatic brain injury cause psychiatric disorders? : Traumatic brain injury is strongly associated with mood and anxiety disorders, but not substance abuse or schizophrenia.
Neuropsychological function in psychotic and affective disorders. : Memory deficits may discriminate between schizophrenia and other psychotic or mood disorders whereas executive abilities did not differ between psychotic and affective disorders.
Reported chronic insomnia is independent of poor sleep as measured by EEG : Chronic insomnia does not predict poor EEG sleep, although both are associated independently with dysphoria, hyperarousal, diminished waking function, and poor sleep quality. Separate arousal and sleep systems may explain these similarities.
Weekend Advanced Workshops for
Neurofeedback Professionals
| EEG Spectrum International Intl is offering a series of workshops addressing topics of interest to professionals working in the field of neurofeedback. Class size is limited to 25 to allow for informal interaction. | |
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Psychopharmacology, Nutrition, and Neurofeedback
Bruce Goderez, M.D. Boston, MA Sep 23-24, 2000 Beta/SMR Skills Enhancement & Case Review Sue Othmer, BCIA Encino CA Oct 7-8, 2000 | |
For information, call EEG Spectrum International Intl at 818-789-3456 x 810 or email training@eegspectrum.com
PREREQUISITES FOR EITHER PRACTICUM:
Calabassas, CA (LA area) - Oct 12-17 San Antonio, TX - Nov 16-21 Encino, CA - Dec 7-12
More info at www.eegspectrum.com/course
Conferences for Neurofeedback Clinicians & Researchers | ||
|---|---|---|
| CONFERENCE | LOCATION | DATES |
| SNR | Minneapolis, MN | Sep 20 - 24 |
NIH and BBWII
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Just a brief observation this month.
Behavioral scientists working with NASA recently adapted a neurofeedback program so that it could impinge on the gaming characteristics of mass market video games. The authors suggest that this technological advance should prove to be more successful than current systems in use, primarily because the patients (here, children with ADHD or ADD) enjoy playing these games and regularly return to do so. This story, and how the science media soaked it up, has revealed to me a new principle of science. That principle is BBWII. Unlike the principles of BBWII, the principles of conditioning can be learned from a book. They have been known for quite some time now. Thanks to people such as Thorndike and Skinner, we know what works well, and what doesn't, when it comes to conditioning our neighbors, our pets, and ourselves. For instance, how best to make a friend. Performing a favor for another doesn't do it, but reverse the relationship and get that person to do you a favor, and you're well on your way. It may not be entirely obvious what principles of conditioning are at work in this seemingly counter-intuitive approach to friend-making, but when we investigate it a bit, it becomes clear (we rarely put ourselves out for people we dislike, or so we tell ourselves). Conditioning is a fact of life, and operant conditioning is a powerful means to an end. Partly due to its power, the rules of operant conditioning have long since been discerned to the nth degree. Sadly, from my perspective, these principles are rarely heeded in the development of neurofeedback programs. Conditioning any behavior, including brain waves, can best attained by following a few procedures: discrete events, rewarded half a second after response, within the context of a variable ratio reward schedule and partial reinforcement. It's rare when a neurofeedback developer invokes even one of these factors in his or her technology. The current media darling is no exception, and possibly worse. Yet what troubles me more is the incredible rapid attention, national and prominent, which the "NASA" system received after its PR was released. You may have heard of the NIH mentality -- "not invented here." Ingroup and outgroup is a way of life, even in science, especially when it comes to funding. Not invented here, not to be funded by us. BBWII is a variant of NIH, and it appears to be running the show at the moment in this example. BBWII -- "Better Because We Invented It" The current level of interest in this feedback system, which includes a recent mention in the prestigious journal Science, along with numerous articles in local and national newspapers, is entirely unfounded in my opinion. No one is reporting a significant improvement in clinical efficacy (that might well warrant some attention). Instead the NASA team has announced that they have, in a sense, upgraded some of the current technology, using a couple of cables, some software programming, and a few off-the-shelf videogames. This they wants us to hail as a breakthrough. Better than all current systems in use, they argue. And without a shread of clinical evidence in their favor. Their research -- excuse me, their feat of engineering, not research as no clinical study has yet been completed by this team (has any outcome data even been collected yet?); we are told to celebrate this work. The media calls it a success already. The powers that be strongly support it. And I call it for what it is: not science reporting, but a decree. -DK |