Consensus on the reporting and experimental design of clinical and cognitive-behavioural neurofeedback studies (CRED-nf checklist).

Neurofeedback has begun to attract the attention and scrutiny of the scientific and medical mainstream. Here, neurofeedback researchers present a consensus-derived checklist that aims to improve the reporting and experimental design standards in the field.

Neurofeedback impacts cognition and quality of life in pediatric focal epilepsy: An exploratory randomized double-blinded sham-controlled trial.

Objective: Children with epilepsy experience cognitive deficits and well-being issues that have detrimental effects on their development. Pharmacotherapy is the standard of care in epilepsy; however, few interventions exist to promote cognitive development and to mitigate disease burden. We aimed to examine the impact of two different modalities of neurofeedback (NFB) on cognitive functioning and quality-of-life (QOL) measurements in children and adolescents with controlled focal epilepsy.

Editorial Perspective: How should child psychologists and psychiatrists interpret FDA device approval? Caveat emptor.

Recently several new tests have received US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) marketing approval as aids in the diagnostic process for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including the Neuropsychiatric electroencephalogram (EEG)-Based ADHD Assessment Aid (NEBA) Health test. The NEBA test relies upon an EEG-based measure, called the theta to beta ratio (TBR). Although this measure has yielded large differences between ADHD and non-ADHD groups in studies prior to 2009, recent studies and a meta-analysis could not replicate these findings.

Biofeedback in the treatment of epilepsy.

This review traces the application of electroencephalographic (EEG) operant conditioning, or biofeedback, from animal research to its emergence as an alternative treatment for the major types of seizure disorder. Initial animal studies focusing on brain mechanisms that mediate learned behavioral inhibition revealed a uniquely correlated 12- to 15-Hz EEG rhythm localized to sensorimotor cortex. We labeled this the sensorimotor rhythm, or SMR.

Foundation and practice of neurofeedback for the treatment of epilepsy.

This review provides an updated overview of the neurophysiological rationale, basic and clinical research literature, and current methods of practice pertaining to clinical neurofeedback. It is based on documented findings, rational theory, and the research and clinical experience of the authors. While considering general issues of physiology, learning principles, and methodology, it focuses on the treatment of epilepsy with sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) training, arguably the best established clinical application of EEG operant conditioning.

Neurofeedback treatment of epilepsy: from basic rationale to practical application.

The treatment of epilepsy through operant conditioning of the sensorimotor rhythm electroencephalogram has a 35-year history. Neurophysiological studies have shown that this phasic oscillation reflects an inhibitory state of the sensorimotor system. Operant learning of sensory motor rhythm production results in an upregulation of excitation thresholds within the thalamocortical sensory and motor circuitry, which in turn is associated with reduced susceptibility to seizures.

Basic concepts and clinical findings in the treatment of seizure disorders with EEG operant conditioning.

Two issues concerning sensorimotor EEG operant conditioning, or biofeedback, as a therapeutic modality for the treatment of seizure disorders are the focus of this review. The first relates to the question of whether relevant physiological changes are associated with this procedure. This question is addressed through review of an extensive neurophysiological literature that is likely unfamiliar to many clinicians but that documents both immediate and sustained functional changes that are consistent with elevation of seizure thresholds.

Limitations of the American Academy of Neurology and American Clinical Neurophysiology Society paper on QEEG.

The AAN/ACNS report is misleadingly negative regarding the current status of quantitative EEG and tends to discourage its development and use with other related clinical problems. There have been many excellent studies showing that QEEG can be useful for the evaluation and understanding of mild traumatic brain injury, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, alcoholism, depression, and other types of substance abuse. In fact, Hughes and John recently provided in this Journal an extensive and detailed review of the use of QEEG in psychiatric disorders.

Psychological defense mechanisms and electroencephalographic arousal.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological defense as measured by the Kragh tachistoscopic Defense Mechanisms Test (DMT), and general arousal properties of the individual as measured with electroencephalogram (EEG). The DMT assesses defense by presenting neutral and threatening pictures with very short exposure times. EEG characteristics were measured in the 8-12 Hz EEG frequency band during DMT testing.

Suppression of EEG rhythmic frequencies during somato-motor and visuo-motor behavior.

In a previous study of simulated vehicle performance we found that stationary visual attention and body movements alone produced selective effects on topographic EEG frequency patterns. In the present study we focus on an expanded set of these task components. EEG, EOG and ECG data were recorded from 21 subjects during instructed driving movements and during visual scanning tasks ranging from a stationary to a rapidly moving simulated driving display.

Physiological origins and functional correlates of EEG rhythmic activities: implications for self-regulation.

Recent neurophysiological findings in relation to thalamocortical mechanisms for sensory processing, together with established anatomical and expanding functional evidence, have provided a rational theoretical framework for the interpretation of normal and abnormal EEG rhythmic activities. This perspective is integrated here with earlier animal studies which were the foundation for many current applications of EEG self-regulation as a clinical tool. Basic evidence concerning the origins, frequency modulation, and functional significance of normal EEG rhythmic activities is reviewed here in an effort to provide guiding principles for the interpretation of clinical abnormalities and their remediation with EEG feedback training.

Concepts and applications of EEG analysis in aviation performance evaluation.

Quantitative studies of the human EEG during signal detection, flight simulation and actual flight performance tasks are reviewed here from the perspective of basic animal research on the neurophysiological and functional correlates of relevant rhythmic patterns. Evidence is examined which relates distinct EEG frequency changes to psychomotor behavior, signal processing and intrinsic attentional modulation during complex performance. Findings indicate that the EEG can provide a valid and objective index for mental effort but, in addition, may reveal task-related cognitive resource allocation, task mastery and task overload.

Multiband topographic EEG analysis of a simulated visuomotor aviation task.

Topographic EEG spectral magnitudes from 19 cortical sites were compared in 15 adult male subjects during performance of a simulated flight task and during control conditions which attempted to separately evaluate functional components of this task. Four conditions were studied, including eyes closed, a visual control, a motor control and a simulated landing task requiring integration of both visual and motor components. Each condition was repeated twice in a counterbalanced replicated measures design.

Effects of systemic atropine sulfate administration on the frequency content of the cat sensorimotor EEG during sleep and waking.

Sensorimotor electroencephalogram (EEG) frequencies in cats were evaluated with power spectral analysis before and after 3 doses of atropine sulfate. All doses of atropine tested caused enhanced EEG slow waves (0-7 Hz) and spindles (8-15 Hz) during waking immobility, and postdrug frequency profiles during slow-wave sleep and waking immobility were identical. With 0.

Future perspectives for applied psychophysiology and biofeedback.

Current circumstances in both the health science and health care delivery systems in our country have created serious problems for health professionals, particularly for those of us in the relatively young field of biofeedback. At the same time, recent and emerging developments in the neurosciences and in technologies for biological measurement offer exciting new opportunities for the applied psychophysiology upon which our field is based. Examples of these developments include the elucidation of potential neurophysiological mechanisms that may mediate the psychophysiology of immune system responses, and technical achievements leading to on-line, noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging of brain neurochemistry.

Polysomnographic sleep and waking states are similar in subsequent siblings of SIDS and control infants during the first six months of life.

Twenty-five subsequent siblings of infants who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) underwent 12-h overnight polygraphic recordings during the first week of life and at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 months of age. The polygraphic tracings from these infants were compared with those from 25 infants without a family history of SIDS. One dozen sleep and waking parameters were examined including state transition probabilities, the ratio between quiet sleep (QS) and active sleep (AS), the incidence and duration of sustained states and the stability of an infant's sleep and waking during the first half year of life.

Sleep and waking states in infancy: normative studies.

Twelve-hour polygraphic recordings were obtained in 20 normal healthy term infants at 1 week of age, at monthly intervals up to 4 months, and at 6 months of age. Each minute of these recordings was coded into active sleep (AS), quiet sleep (QS), wakefulness (AW), or indeterminate (IN) based on polygraphic and behavioral variables. For each state, a dozen variables were computed with the help of a laboratory computer.

Neuropsychological assessment of subjects with uncontrolled epilepsy: effects of EEG feedback training.

A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered at baseline, postcontrol period, and posttraining period to 24 drug-refractory subjects with epilepsy participating in a study of sensorimotor electroencephalographic (EEG) normalization feedback training. Results revealed the following. First, subjects exhibited significant baseline deficits in psychosocial, cognitive and motor functioning.

Hemisphere-specific deficits on cognitive/perceptual tasks following REM sleep deprivation.

Current research and theory support the position that there are diurnal changes in the relative functional dominance of the hemispheres in the "normal" population. In one example of this position, Bakan (1978) has stated that REM sleep allows for right hemisphere dominance with a relative absence of left hemisphere interference. The present study involved pre- and postREM deprivation visual presentation of cognitive/perceptual performance tasks that had previously been demonstrated to have lateralizing value.

Sleep disruption with basal forebrain lesions decreases latency to amygdala kindling in cats.

Sleep deprivation enhances seizure susceptibility in experimental and human epilepsies. Because sleep abnormalities are also common in these populations, a possible explanation for this close association is that sleep deprivation activates seizures by enhancing existing sleep disturbances. The present experiment examined this hypothesis by comparing sleep-waking state percentages and the number of after-discharge-eliciting stimulations required to induce generalized tonic-clonic convulsions with the amygdala kindling model of epilepsy in 3 groups of cats (n = 5 each).

Changes in circadian sleep and waking patterns after somatosensory deafferentation in the cat.

The present study describes changes in circadian state pattern organization associated with somatosensory deafferentation in the adult cat. Nine animals, implanted for chronic monitoring of standard sleep state variables, were divided into 3 groups for study. Six cats received dorsal column transections at either a high (C1-C3, N = 3) or low (C5-T1, N = 3) cervical level.

'Kindling' a sleep disorder: degree of sleep pathology predicts kindled seizure susceptibility in cats.

Progressive sleep deficits accompanying the gradual development of a kindled seizure disorder in cats persist at least one month after kindling and correlate with subsequent seizure thresholds. These parallels between the two pathologies suggest the kindling of a sleep disorder which occurs in addition to, and may be a determinant of, the kindled seizure disorder.

Baseline studies and anticonvulsant drug effects on the sleep EEG power spectral profile.

This study explored a new approach to the application of electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectral analysis in the search for an objective, quantitative evaluation of anticonvulsant drug effects on the primate central nervous system. Standardized EEG samples were drawn from the slow wave sleep state. Four rhesus monkeys were adapted to restraining chairs and to prolonged recording in an isolation cubicle.