What is Brain Training?

What is Brain Training? What is brain training?  Well, that is an interesting question… Brain training is becoming increasingly popular through neurofeedback. It allows people to change the way their brain functions by responding to personalized feedback about how their brain works naturally. Brain training uses EEG (electroencephalography) to detect brain activity. Activated neurons in our brains create electrical charges that can be monitored and read by EEG.  When groups of neurons are activated at the same time in the same place in the cortex, as occurs during various behavioral or cognitive tasks, the cumulative electrical energy can be detected by electrodes placed on the scalp during an EEG test.

Based on the patterns observed through EEG, a training regimen can be put into place to train your brain using neurofeedback.  This training uses audio and video played on a computer while you are wear a passive sensor that provides the feedback to the system.  The audio and video will seem choppy at first, but as the brain learns to work within the baseline it will become clearer.  The system rewards the brain when it is functioning within baseline areas.  Through multiple training sessions, patterns are established as behavior in the brain changes.  It is much like training a dog to sit.  We reward the dog with treats when they do the desired behavior. After a while, we can tell the dog to sit without giving them treats as a pattern and behavior is established.

A study done in 2002 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12557451) suggests that EEG brain training in a pool of over one hundred children ages 6-19 saw significant gains in dealing with ADHD without using medication such as Ritalin. This opens the possibility that cognitive issues such as ADHD are treatable without medication.

To learn more about neurofeedback therapy and EEG give us a call at (813)434-3639.