News

Neurofeedback Story on NBC NEWS

NBC Reports on a woman who uses neurofeedback to manage her migrane headaches.

Neurofeedback News Story from San Antonio TX

KENS5 reports on the uses of neurofeedback brain training.

BrainMaster BrainTrack is Featured on BBC Series

BrainTrack, BrainMaster's competitive EEG racing track, was recently featured on the BBC Series Clever V Stupid.

http://www.qeeg.co.uk/braintrack.htm

Applied Neuroscience and BrainMaster announce new real-time Z Score Training 3/31/06

BrainMaster Technologies Inc. and Applied Neuroscience Inc. (ANI) are pleased to announce the availability of a new tool for use in EEG neurofeedback training, assessment, and related work. The "Z Score DLL*" training system is a joint development, that provides real-time neurofeedback training using state-of-the-art signal processing, NeuroGuide normative database analysis, and new computational methods.

The Z Score DLL* provides a total of 72 real-time values computed continuously in real time by the ANI "Z Dll" software. These calculations are performed more than 30 times per second, and provide data useful for training and for assessing the current condition of the trainee via the normative EEG scores on any of the 72 components. These consist of Z scores for the following estimators: Absolute Power (2 channels, 8 bands), Relative Power (2 channels,8 bands), Power Ratios (2 channels, 10 ratios), Amplitude Asymmetry(8 bands), Coherence (4 bands), and Phase Difference (8 bands).

Z scores provide an instantaneous measure of how the trainee's EEG compares with a normal population. Scores are based upon the EEG signal, the sensor locations, the age of the trainee, and whether eyes are open or closed. With this information, the Z Score system is able to provide values of 0.0 (normal), positive (above normal) and negative (below normal). A Z Score of -1.0, for example, means the trainee is 1 "standard deviation" below normal for their population. So when a trainee sees an alpha level of 8.5, and asks, "What does that mean?" it is now possible to to tell them how this measurement (and 71 others) compares to the normative population. This makes it possible to construct protocols that are "aware" of how the trainee fits in. This is of considerable value in amplitude and power measurements, but it is even more essential for coherence, phase, and asymmetry scores. Since it is not possible to easily tell whether a given trainee's coherence is "OK" without a normative population, this system now opens the door to more meaningful, more responsive, and more confident EEG training.

These Z Scores provide similar (and consistent) data as provided in a QEEG (e.g. NeuroGuide) when it is used for normative statistics. The difference is that the Z scores are available in real time, and can be used in tandem with existing clinical neurofeedback software. This makes it possible to perform a mini-assessment of selected variables during the training. Z scores can also be used to create feedback events such as sounds and games like BrainMaster's Flash games. Z scores can further be used to set inhibits or artifact detection, or control other interfaces, events, or devices. They can be processed and used in an unlimited array of possible protocols, using the fact that "0.0"means "normal", "1.0" means "a bit high", "2.0" means "very high", "3.0" means "extremely high", and so on. In other words, once a Z score training protocol is set up for one trainee, it is automatically adapted to other trainees by entering their age, eyes open/closed condition, and the sensor locations. The normative statistics take care of tailoring the protocol to the individual so that thresholding and related matters are dealt with automatically.

Using Z scores, it is possible to design training and assessment protocols using the BrainMaster "Event Wizard" and "Math Wizard" interfaces. These tools allow users to design protocols using a very flexible, text-based user interface that includes access to more than 100 built-in BrainMaster training variables (Amplitude, Frequency, Percent Energy, Percent time over threshold, Coherence, Similarity, Phase, Variability, etc), and now the additional 72 Z scores. The Event Wizard allows users to design up to 16 complex events, each of which is a protocol on its own. These events are designed using a "point and select" user interface. All the design of the processing elements are preconfigured, providing the user with access to thousands of possible protocols at the click of a mouse.

By training to Z scores instead of (or in addition to) raw scores, it is possible to normalize EEG values in real time without the need for repeated QEEG recordings. Instead of training simply to a coherence metric, one could train to the Z score, and can train within a set of limits, rather than a threshold. It is also possible to combine Z scores with any other variables during training to provide protocols that are complex in design, yet simple to use.

It is possible, for example, to train to coherence or phase scores, and to watch the scores in relation to the normative population. This takes the guesswork out of coherence and related training, and removes the need for repeated QEEG measures to track the trainee's progress and condition.

The "Math Wizard" further extends the BrainMaster 2.5SE training capabilities by allowing the use of hundreds of expressions and variables in simple equations, providing training flexibility and power. Ratios, logarithms, combinations of variables, yes/no decisions, and so on, are all available via the Math Wizard. Even Z scores can be used in mathematical expressions, creating new training variables whose scope and power are virtually unlimited. One can create a training variable that says "go" only when all coherences are within their normal range, or one that gives special sounds when certain coherences go above or below their current levels. Or, in conjunction with a MINI-Q, one could scan the entire head for brief periods of time, normalizing coherences at each pair, for full-head training capability. These applications are only the tip of the iceberg, considering the breadth and depth of new protocols that are now possible.

It is the policy of BrainMaster Technologies Inc. and Applied Neuroscience Inc. to work collaboratively to develop and validate state-of-the-art signal processing and feedback technologies in the area of EEG feedback. We are proud to offer this latest generation of collaborative development, and to make it available to the clinical community.

(Z-Score DLL*, Patent Pending, optional purchase, consist of a license issued by Applied Neuroscience, Inc. which includes a license for the following: 1 Brainmaster Device and up to 2 computer uses.)

MorrisonDance & BrainMaster present “INSIDE”

MorrisonDance & BrainMaster presented "INSIDE" as a part of Cleveland's first annual Ingenuity Festival.

Dancer moves with surgical precision Friday, September 02, 2005

(The Cleveland Plain Dealer) When James Levin invited Cleveland choreographers to create movement that would be performed with videos of surgery, most found the idea too gory. But not Sarah Morrison. She had a film of arthroscopic elbow surgery, and she was looking for a way to incorporate it into a dance. "My surgery is beautiful," she said. "It's like watching deep-sea diving on PBS. It's amazing how immaculate the inside of the joint is. It's pearlescent white, like a coral reef."

The images, filmed by Dr. Thomas Anderson of the Cleve land Clinic, will be projected on two large screens at the Temple of Technology (Cleveland Trust Rotunda) as MorrisonDance performs. The choreographer first performed the piece when she was seven months pregnant. In the new version, she will dance with a brain-wave cap on her head.

As she moves in sustained slow motion, colorful electroencephalograph readings of her brain waves will be projected on two additional large screens by Dr. Tom Collura of BrainMaster. Morrison describes the contrasting arthroscopic and EEG brain wave images as "an internal landscape of the body and the brain."

The work will be performed at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. At 4 p.m., Collura will demonstrate neurofeedback technology with Morrison performing as the brain.

- Wilma Salisbury

Discovery 24E

BrainMaster Technologies introduces a 24-channel QEEG device

The Discovery 24E is a 24-channel EEG and DC amplifier that is an evolution of the technology used in the 2E and 2EA (Atlantis) series of EEG neurofeedback / biofeedback devices. Read More