Early work in neurofeedback was primarily on the central strip, and for me, central and temporal placements continue to be the starting placements for training. But frontal training has become an important and regular component of training over the past year or two. I now think of training on the central strip for normalization and stabilization of arousal level. This is already very powerful in reducing symptoms that arise when one slides down the over or under arousal end of the performance-versus-arousal curve. Frontal training adds a new piece — organization and control of brain function.

The front half of our brains organizes and executes output, while the back half processes and integrates input from the body and outside world. The frontal lobes are involved in coordinating the selection of goals and plans of action, while initiating desired behaviors and inhibiting undesired behaviors. And they oversee the execution of behaviors to their successful completion. As the most recently evolved and slowest to develop part of our central nervous system, the frontal lobes are vulnerable to neurodevelopmental disorders. John Bradshaw’s book (see above) looks at Tourette syndrome, OCD, ADHD, autism, depression and schizophrenia as syndromes involving significant developmental deficits of frontal circuits. (more…)