By Siegfried Othmer, PhD Science Magazine has just weighed in on the recent sanctioning of Lumosity by the Federal Trade Commission for ostensible over-claiming.(Reference) From our perspective we regard cognitive skills training as a kindred technology to neurofeedback. It’s yet another computer-based method of enhancing brain function. So where do we come down on the […]
By Siegfried Othmer, PhD Amajor divide within the field of neurofeedback is the basic question of whether we are aiming to improve function or to expunge dysfunction. This distinction was highlighted crisply many years ago when one of the early researchers, Barry Sterman, said that if he could not identify a deficit in the EEG […]
By Siegfried Othmer, PhD Picture a young man with a long-term history of schizophrenia and PTSD coming for his first training session with infra-low frequency neurofeedback. At the end of the session he is surprised that he does not feel like smoking. It had been a couple of hours since he last lit up. At […]
By Siegfried Othmer, PhD Basketball phenom Charles Barkley urged parents years ago not to let their children play football. The hazard of injury was too great. Now Dr. Bennet Omalu has issued the same caution. He delivers an even stronger message: Children should not be allowed to play high-impact contact sports until they are old […]
By Siegfried Othmer, PhD On the occasion of the release of the film ‘Concussion‘ it is only appropriate that we add our voice to those that have already been raised on this issue. The reason is that neurofeedback is really the only remedy currently available for concussions. The plain truth of the matter is that […]
The discovery of the hierarchical organization of networks has helped us to understand better just how the brain prioritizes functions. One network in particular, the Default Mode Network (DMN), changes how we now look at self-regulation techniques, including neurofeedback. NFB has been shown to alter the DMN. Somatic biofeedback has been shown to alter the brain in a similar fashion. For example, Critchley et al. found profound changes on frontal and cingulate sites with biofeedback training to lower skin conductance.
