Neurocore: An Abridged History of Applied Neurofeedback

Our brains are truly amazing organs. Aside from being one of the more resilient and adaptable structures in nature, the human brain is the source of our thoughts, perceptions, behaviors and emotions. Made up of billions of microscopic neurons that use chemical signals to regulate electrical activity all throughout one’s brain. These neurons allow us to think, feel, function, and process complex information. After all, our understanding of the brain is only possible through the workings of the powerful organ itself. While our understanding of the mind has come along way in recent years, there is still much that researchers and scientist must uncover to unlock the mysteries of the brain.

Advances in EEG technology, brain mapping, and neurofeedback have developed at an exciting rate and have given scientist a better understanding of how the brain works and what can be done to improve such functioning. Companies like Neurocore have begun applying such knowledge to improve mental acuity and treat such mental disorders as ADHD, Anxiety, ASD, and Depression. While such neurotherapeutic applications have only recently been offered to the public at large, they have a rich history of development dating back to the mid-twentieth century. Here are some of the highlights of that history of qEEG, Neurofeedback and brain mapping technologies.

One of the first contributions to our understanding of neuroscience today came from two Italian scientists in the late-18th century. Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta are considered the forefathers of modern electrophysiology and bioelectric theory. Galvani conducted experiments by connecting frog-legs to his iron fence during lightning storms. When the lightning flashed, the frog legs would contract. Galvani explained the contracting to an “animal electricity” that was stored in the frog legs. Volta, conversely and correctly hypothesized that the contractions were due to dissimilar electrical properties in the metal-tissue saline interfaces. It was not until 1800 that Volta could prove his hypothesis.

History of EEG Tech

An electroencephalogram, or EEG as it is more commonly known, is a test that detects electrical activity in the brain using small, non-invasive metal discs. These metal discs are known as electrodes. These electrodes are placed on the scalp to pick up on the electrical impulses of the brain. The brain communicates through these electrical impulses throughout the day and night. An EEG recording will display such impulses as wavy lines allowing for brain diagnosis. One of the earlier uses of EEG was for diagnostic tests for epilepsy. Nowadays EEG are used to diagnose and treat brain disorders and other mental maladies as stroke, sleep disorders, brain dysfunction or encephalopathy, brain tumors, inflammation of the brain or encephalitis, and brain damage from injuries to the head.

It was Hans Berger who reported the first publication detailing his observations of ‘das Elektrenkephalogramm’. Berger published, “About the human electroencephalogram”, in 1929 detailing the first recording of a human EEG. Using his son Klaus as a guinea pig, Berger described his methods and observations. Berger’s discoveries were not only remarkable and momentous advances in the development of clinical neurology, but many consider his innovations to be the birth of theoretical or clinical neurophysiology.

Berger’s innovations came as a surprise to his peer’s who were skeptical about the brain’s electrical association. One colleague recalled, “In the small medical world of Jena, nobody, least of all Berger's associates, expected him to make a great scientific discovery … His days resembled one another like two drops of water. Year after year he delivered the same lectures. He was the personification of static.” This dedication for his work stemmed from a curiosity about a physical basis of the mind which took ahold of Berger when he was 20 years old. Berger’s regimen for excellence was only rivaled by his self-criticism. Berger struggled with episodes of depression and eventually took his own life at the age of 78.

Berger success was driven by a firm belief in telepathy. This belief stemmed from a life-threatening accident during Berger’s military service as a young man. During training maneuvers, Berger and his horse took a fall down a steep decline landing beneath the rumbling wheels of large artillery piece. The evening of his accident, his family sent an urgent telegram to Berger inquiring about his health, which they had never done before. Berger’s sister somehow knew “with certainty” that her little brother had suffered an accident and demanded her father send the telegram. Berger explained his sister’s intuition as an instance of spontaneous telepathy which he maintained the rest of his life.

Alpha and Beta waves were also discovered and named by Berger. Berger called the slower frequency, larger amplitude waves that appeared above the posterior scalp when a subject closed their eyes, alpha waves. Berger called the faster frequency, smaller amplitude waves beta waves and he observed them replacing alpha waves when a subject opened their eyes. By 1939, scientists had picked up on Berger’s descriptors of “alphas” and “betas” to describe the degree of braineaves.

qEEG Background

Quantitative Electroencephalography (qEEG) or brain mapping is a method of recording EEG activity using a computer. While a standard EEG records brainwaves or electrical activity, quantitative EEG applies algorithms and statistics to compare such records with those records of other age and gender-controlled individuals and databases. This qEEG process allows doctors and clinicians to create a map of the brain by combining thorough measurements and quantitative comparisons. Multi-channel EEG data is processed using such algorithms as the “Fourier”, or in newer applications “Wavelet” analysis. These “brain maps” are used to direct patients progress to their intended mental destinations whether that be to minimize dysfunction or train one’s brain to perform at their peak.

While EEG signals were being detected as early as the 1920’s, the computer technology required of qEEG was not available until the 1990’s. From the time between the discovery of EEG to the late 1960’s EEG information was analyzed visually. Earlier implementations and uses of qEEG database applications began in the 1970’s through the work of Matousek and Petersen, but wider acceptance of qEEG and use in the Neurofeedback field did not come until the mid-1990’s. The UCLA Brain Research Institute was the first pioneer of the qEEG applications during 1961-1974. The UCLA group which was led by Ross Adey was the first to use digital computers to analyze EEG’s and also the first to put together a library of brain maps.

In the last 20 years due to the increasing availability of affordable computer equipment with increasing calculating power, the field of QEEG has expanded even further and has become available for many practicing clinicians and clinics. Along with this, several different normative databases have been developed as well and are available to most clinicians. qEEG helps clinicians gauge how fast or slow the brain is running, which can help isolate the root cause of what unwanted challenges or symptoms a patient is facing.

History of Neurotherapy

Neurotherapy, or neurofeedback is the practice of using electrical measurements of brain waves to teach the brain to self-regulate. Neurofeedback is essentially like a reward system for your brain. Through repetition, practice, and positive reinforcement, our brains can not only function more efficiently, they can reduce or eliminate undesirable brain activity.

In 1968, Psychology Today published an article by Joe Kamiya entitled, "Operant Control of the EEG Alpha Rhythm and Some of its Reported Effects on Consciousness". This article not only popularized neurotherapy but also stands out as being the first EEG neurofeedback training. The article detailed Kamiya’s observations regarding two separate tests. In the first test, subjects closed their eyes and waited for a tone to ring at which point subjects were asked whether they thought they were exuding alpha brain waves. Only half of the subject’s answers were correct, but Kamiya noticed that some individuals had the ability to develop their brain wave instincts. The second part of the test asked subjects to achieve going into alpha when a tone rang once and to avoid going into alpha when the tone rang twice. While some subjects succeeded, others faltered, but Kamiya again noticed that some could change the state of their brain wave on command.

During the same time Kamiya was making his observations at the University of Chicago, Dr. Barry Sterman, at UCLA, was looking into cat’s ability to undergo neurofeedback. Specifically, Sterman was trying to increase cat’s sensory motor rhythm (SMR) by rewarding them with food when a cat would achieve Sensorimotor Rhythm (SMR), or brain waves between 12 and 15 Hz. Turns out some cats were capable of altering their SMR’s which are also known as Lo-Beta brain waves. Years later, Sterman was doing an experiment for NASA on seizures triggered by exposure to rocket fuel. He used the same cat’s that had undergone SMR training and as it were, those cats were significantly less likely to experience seizures than cat’s who had never went through SMR training. Because of Sterman’s study, NASA had their lunar astronauts undergo SMR training and has made neurofeedback a regular part of astronaut training since the 1970’s. Applying his techniques to humans suffering from epilepsy, Dr. Sterman found that 60% of his participants were capable of reducing their epilepsy by 20-100%, and that the outcomes were long lasting.

Treating Depression with Neurotherapy

On the spectrum of depression, clinical depression is considered the most severe. Also known as major depressive disorder, clinical depression affected 10.3 million U.S. adults in 2016 according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Clinical depression episodes can last weeks, months and sometimes even years. The key characteristic of clinical depression is a noticeable change in functioning that continues for two weeks or more. The exact causes of clinical depression are not fully known. Factor’s such as a person’s brain chemistry, genetics, and hormones can all contribute to that person’s illness. If you or someone you know believes to be suffering from depression, please reach out for help.

Traditional treatments for depression include antidepressants, psychotherapy, or some combination of the two. But doctors and researchers have been diagnosing depression with EEG and treating the disorder with Neurotherapy for almost a decade. Frederick Lemere was the first to publish a description linking EEG results to depression in 1936. In, The Significance of Individual Differences in the Berger Rhythm, Lemere compared the EEG’s of healthy people with numerous psychiatric patients, concluding, “The ability to produce ‘good’ alpha waves seems to be a neurophysiological characteristic which is related in some way to the affective capacity of the individual”. Increased alpha activity is now considered to be one of the best indicators of depression.

Lemere’s findings have been used by scientists and clinicians at Neurocore to offer a Medication-Free Depression Treatment Program using neurofeedback. Neurocore patients are using neurofeedback to train their brains to overcome the severity of symptoms of depression and sometimes overcoming the disorder altogether. Neurocore’s brain training therapy for depression begins with a comprehensive assessment using qEEG brainwave mapping technology, a clinically validated symptom rating scale known as the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) DSM-Oriented Depressive Problems Scale, and other diagnostic measures to help generate a well-rounded landscape of one’s depression symptoms. Out of the 292 clients who completed Neurocore’s 30-session program, 84% experienced a noticeable reduction of depressive symptoms and 51% no longer met symptomatic thresholds for depression.

Treating ADHD with Neurotherapy

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD is one of the more common neurodevelopmental disorders for children that can last well into adulthood. ADHD is classically described as a mental disorder that manifest itself in children that can be impulsive, inattentive or hyperactive. There are three kinds of ADHD that are categorized by the symptoms a person displays. Predominantly Inattentive Presentation, Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation, and the third type of ADHD is a combination of the first two symptoms. Recent studies suggest that ADHD is a hereditary trait that gets pasted on genetically.

Among the various applications for neurofeedback, the most research has been conducted towards treating ADHD. One of the first demonstration of the effects of neurofeedback on ADHD were conducted in 1976 by J.F. Lubar. In Lubar’s article, he described the application of SMR neurofeedback in a child with ADHD and found success in improving the child’s distractibility and hyperactivity. Combining this information with the qEEG technology that was being developed at UCLA at the time, researchers were able to determine that ADHD could be characterized as an excess of theta waves and a decrease in beta waves.

Neurocore is building on the knowledge of applied neurotherapy for ADHD in children, teens, and adults with great success. In the thousands of children with ADHD that Neurocore has already treated, 85% experienced a noticeable reduction of ADHD symptoms and 53% no longer met symptomatic thresholds of ADHD. Many cases of ADHD in children can be linked to anxiety, poor sleep quality, vision problems, a learning disability, or other conditions. This is why Neurocore is dedicated to finding the root of a child patient’s attention problems with the power of qEEG technology. Using advanced qEEG technology allows Neurocore’s mental health professionals measure an individual’s unique brainwave activity to hone in on the cause of behaviors associated with ADHD.

History of Neurocore

Founded in 2004, Neurocore Brain Performance Centers specialize in providing data-driven, brain-based assessments and training programs to adults and children. Neurocore utilizes EEG, qEEG and neurofeedback to help improve mental acuity, sleep disorders and increase patient’s ability to manage stress. Neurocore also combines neurofeedback with a type of biofeedback called heart rate variability (HRV) training. This method involves combining the subconscious retraining of one’s brain with the mindful effort of regulating your breathing patterns through therapeutic breathing methods. So not only do Neurocore patients simultaneously enhance their minds and bodies, they also are strengthening their mind-body connection.

Since it’s fourteen years of operation Neurocore has become the national authority in applications of neuroscience. They currently serve Michigan and Florida with eight brain performance centers available to the public. Furthermore, athletes and franchises have began using the neurofeedback as part of their training regimens. The Portland Trail Blazers, for example, recently partnered with Neuropore and has added a “brain room” to their training facilities. Technology in their brain room is capable of training and improving overall function of the brain, endocrine, cardiovascular and respiratory systems by indicating stress level, recovery and relaxation.

Only time will tell what is next for the Brain Performance Training Centers. But if their future is anything like their history of intuitive neurofeedback applications, then we can look forward to cutting edge biofeedback research and development from the Michigan based company. We know that psychological factors, such as the differential influence of feedback, reward and experimental instructions, and other factors, such as sense of agency and locus of control, are now being investigated for their effects on neurofeedback. Determining the effect of such psychological factors will only help Neurocore clinicians hone their craft. To learn more about the Neurocore process and how they are boldly bringing neurofeedback technology into the twenty-first century, check out their website or call 800.600.4096.

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