qEEG

A discussion on LORETA software use and licensing.

April 30, 2009
Leslie Sherlin, PhD

There recently has been some discussion regarding the use of low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography or LORETA, sLORETA and eLORETA. I felt compelled to make a few comments regarding this since there may be some confusion of how LORETA works and the usage of LORETA as an inverse solution specifically the licensing agreements of the KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research at the University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich.

My intention is to very briefly explain the license agreement so that the end user can be informed. I’ll do so in an informal way by telling the story of the implementation of these methods from my perspective. For a more formal description of the use of LORETA families and some examples you can see a recently written chapter 4 by myself (Sherlin, 2009) in the latest edition of the book Introduction to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback edited Budzynski, Budzynski, Evans & Arbarbanel.

In 2000 I had the great privilege to visit with Roberto Pascual-Marqui PhD, the developer of the LORETA family, with my colleague and fellow student Marco Congedo. At this time the LORETA-Key software (Pascual-Marqui, 1994, 1999), had not been widely distributed and utilized in the United States. Marco had significant interest in using LORETA for visualizing brain activity and for exploring newer methods for neurofeedback and had many questions for Roberto. So upon the invitation of Roberto, Marco found funding to travel to Zurich and learn the details from the creator and I happen to be standing in the right spot at the right time. Roberto Pascual-Marqui trained us extensively on how to use his software, named LORETA-Key, which had been already released as free academic software. The LORETA-Key software is a collection of independent modules that the user must run in sequence in order to get from raw EEG to LORETA images.

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Neurofeedback Foundation Award 2009

In his role as the Managing Director of the Foundation for Neurofeedback and
Applied Neuroscience John Fisher recently announced the Foundation’s selection of a recipient of the Neurofeedback Foundation Award.

The Foundation gives an award to the author(s) of the publication which has
“contributed the most to furthering the field of neurofeedback” during the
past year. Past recipients have included Drs Rob Coben, John Gruzelier, as
well as Johan Levesque and Mario Beauregard.

This year the Foundation has chosen Professor Dr. Juri Kropotov as recipient
of this years award, based on his book and the body of work Juri has
contributed over the years.

This award selection was announced recently at the EEG Spectrum Clinical
Interchange Conference in Los Angeles.  The award includes a gorgeous plaque
as well as an honorarium.

We salute both the Foundation for helping promote the fiend of NF, as well
as all the award recipients for their publications and the substantial
contributions they all have given to our field.

In Memory of E. Roy John PhD – World Renowned Neuroscientist

Life offers us many teachers, and we generally only learn a small sliver of what they have to offer from the breadth and depth of their experience.

One such teacher was E. Roy John, who most knew as a brain researcher, though he had so much more to offer… did you know he was “blacklisted” as a liberal, or that he worked on the Manhattan Project making Plutonium? Did you know he is considered the grandfather of Cuban Neuroscience? How about his love of boating…

Perhaps a quick look through his obituary will make us all appreciate just a bit more the actual magnitude of our loss from his passing…. And then you can look over the diagram of the brain and see some of the complexity of the models Roy passed on to those who now have to carry on without his wise counsel.

Joyful in having known him, and saddened by our loss,

Jay

In Memory of E. Roy John PhD

Brain Functional Diagram from Roy John PhD

Letter to APA regarding qEEG

This letter has been sent to the American Psychological Association because they have for so long seemly ignored a growing number of psychologists who provide neurofeedback and QEEGs to people who have many disorders , often, disorders that were”incurable”.

Our organization needs to provide information regarding the types of training/treatment that has been proven  over and over to help clients that have severe impediments to their lives.  If you feel similarly and would like to either sign this letter or write your own, it may cause some movement in APA and the Monitor to recognize the services we provide.

Merlyn Hurd PhD;BCIAC/EEG Fellow
Editor of NeuroConnections the ISNR/AAPB Neurofeedback division

Letter to APA regarding qEEG – March 09 2009

James H Bray PhD, President APA
Rhea K. Farberman, Executive Editor Monitor on Psychology
750 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002-4242

Dear Drs. Bray and Farberman,

Imagine the excitement of seeing “Brain Imaging” on the front of the Monitor for the March 2009 edition.  Finally, the APA is writing about QEEGs (quantitative electroencephalograms) and the types of work that is being done by thousands of psychologists in the neurofeedback world.

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Is neurofeedback an efficacious treatment for ADHD? A randomized controlled clinical trial

Background:

For children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a reduction of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity by neurofeedback (NF) has been reported in several studies. But so far, unspecific training effects have not been adequately controlled for and/or studies do not provide sufficient statistical power. To overcome these methodological shortcomings we evaluated the clinical efficacy of neurofeedback in children with ADHD in a multisite randomised controlled study using a computerised attention skills training as a control condition.

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EEG based Personalized Medicine in ADHD

Neurophysiological studies in ADHD have shown a relatively uniform picture with regards to EEG – QEEG data (based on group data). Most studies find excess slow brain activity (theta) (Hermens et al., 2004; Mann et al., 1992; Chabot and Serfontein, 1996; Clarke et al., 1998, 2001; Lazzaro et al., 1998, 1999) and a decreased fast brain activity (beta) (Hermens et al., 2004; Clarke et al., 1998; Mann et al., 1992; Lazzaro et al., 1998, 1999). Theta EEG activity is often associated with an “inattentive” or a dreamy state, and beta activity is often seen when the brain is very busy with for instance solving a cognitive task. Figure 1 shows an example of this based on the data of the Brain Resource International Brain Database of 275 patients with ADHD. In this example the increased theta and decreased beta can be clearly seen, with a frontal localization.

group data
Theta                              Absolute Beta                     Relative Beta

Figure 1: This figure shows the average brain activity (quantitative EEG – QEEG) of 275 children with ADHD, compared to a control group. On the left the increased theta EEG activity (p<.0001) can be seen, in the middle the absolute beta EEG activity (p<.0001) and on the left the decreased relative beta EEG activity (p<.0001). This deviant brain activity has a fronto-central localization. This pattern is found in almost all ADHD studies.

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Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force Congressional Briefing

St Joseph’s Regional Medical Center on behalf of the participants of the International Conference on Behavioral Health and Traumatic Brain Injury invites you on March 12, 2009 at 11:00am to a Congressional Briefing.

The participants of the International Conference on Behavioral Health and Traumatic Brain Injury will be holding a Congressional Briefing hosted by:

Congressman Bill Pascrell and  Congressman Todd Platts

Co-Chairs, Congressional Brain Injury Task Force presenting recommendations to improve the care of our wounded warriors NOW!

In October of 2008, St Joseph’s Regional Medical Center hosted the International Conference on Behavioral Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. 100 doctors, researchers and scientists from around the globe discussed issues facing our wounded warriors, identified the barriers to treatment and strategized on the improvements for continuum of care. This briefing will present their reccomendations.

The meeting will be held @ the Capitol Visitors Center- Congressional Meeting Room South

RSVP – rsvp@susandavis.com

Neurofeedback Impacts on Addiction

According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, addiction is currently one of the most significant health and social problems in America, affecting ~12.5% of the population. Medical costs can be up to 300% higher for an untreated alcoholic than a treated alcoholic. Other costs to society have reached almost $500 billion, taking into account unemployment, lost productivity, increased crime and justice system/incarceration costs, health care system strain, increased insurance costs, child abuse/neglect and even workplace violence. It is estimated that every dollar spent on treatment saves $4–$7 in costs from drug-related crime and can help reduce the spread of infectious diseases.

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qEEG Artifacting

The qEEG represents the statistical manipulation of the raw EEG, so an understanding of these manipulations should precede any discussion of the qEEGs clinical indications for protocols. Without such knowledge any given finding may be misinterpreted.

Following the careful recording of the EEG, the quantitative analysis is begun with the sampling of the data to be used in the analysis by the Fourier transform. The Fourier analysis assumes there are no transients (epileptic discharges, episodic voltage changes etc.) or state changes (light sleep, drug effect, mental task, etc.), so these must be avoided when selecting data for analysis in qEEG for eyes closed resting database comparison. There are some eyes open and task databases available more recently (Hudspeth, Sterman, Duffy etc.)

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