Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback began in the 1960’s as an
outgrowth of measuring electrical activity in the Brain
with an
Electroencephalagram or EEG technology. This technology
has been slowly evolving over the decades. True Neurofeedback
involves feeding Brain Wave activity back to the Brain
so that it can learn different ways of responding to
stimuli. In true Neurofeedback, there is no energy put
into the Brain by the technology, it merely responds
to real-time Brain Wave patterns that the Brain is generating
and assists the Brain in altering those wave patterns
through encouraging and inhibiting sounds, heard through
ear phones.
Until very recently, Neurofeedback technology did not
allow for real-time feedback. The Brain processes stimuli
very quickly, in about 1/10,000th of a second. In order
for Neurofeedback to be effective, it must feed back
to the Brain its own Brain Wave activity in close to
real-time. Due to recent advances in processing speed
and memory, real-time feedback is now possible with the
most up-to-date and powerful computers, achieving results
in Neurofeedback which were previously unattainable.
The Human Brain has billions of Neurons (Brain Cells).
Each Neuron has tens of thousands of connections or relationships
with other neurons. These connections create networks
called Neuro-Nets. There are trillions of connections
and millions of networks. The Neurons are not actually
physically connected. There is a gap between each Neuron
called a synapse. Neurotransmitters cross the gap and
make contact with other Neurons in the network via an
electro-chemical process.
The point is that the Brain is plastic. It is constantly
changing itself through the creation of new Neural Networks
which are the result of experiences. The intent of Neurofeedback
is to give the Brain feedback from its own Brain Wave
patterns, so that it can learn new possibilities through
the creation of new Neuro-Nets. This enables new possible
responses to incoming stimuli.
Today, the majority of Neurofeedback is being offered
by therapists who operate from the clinical/medical model.
Their approach to Neurofeedback is to assist people in
making positive changes in order to get relief from a
clinically-diagnosed psychological/emotional issue. With
enough sessions, this approach to Neurofeedback can get
good results, but our approach is quite different. Please
refer to the Brain State Training page for more specific
information about these differences.
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