What is concentration?
When people concentrate, they do not say to themselves “I’m going to increase beta activity from my frontal lobe”. Rather, they decide that it would be an appropriate time to concentrate (the conscious decision), but then their brain instinctively knows how to increase beta brain wave activity (the automatic, but unconscious, brain response). What if, however, that person’s brain was not used to producing higher levels of beta brain wave activity? You guessed it, they would try to concentrate (conscious decision) but their brain would not produce the right pattern for long enough to actually allow them to concentrate well.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback starts with an analysis of how the brain is idling and activated. Much like an automobile engine, each region of the brain has a way of idling that may or may not be the healthiest pattern. The brain functions, as a whole, much better when all the regions are idling in a manner that is not too under-activated or too over-activated. The brain map and neurocognitive testing help us understand which areas of the brain are working optimally and which areas are not. Neurofeedback technologies are then used to help the brain “correct” it’s own idling rhythms in much the same way a first time bicyclist corrects his/her balance errors, in order to gain mastery.
How does brain correct itself?
Remember, our brains are constantly changing frequencies throughout the day and evening, as we focus, let go, calculate, relax, sleep, and have various emotional states. We do not, however, have the ability to specifically (on demand) change the frequency patterns in our own brains because, after all, how does a person know if and when their brains are producing too much delta or beta brain wave activity ? We don’t.
The Process of “Neurocorrection”
However, a sensor (half the size of a dime) can be placed on the head, at a designated location that has been previously been found to be under or overactivated. This information is instantly analyzed by sophisticated computer technology. This is mathematically converted into a simple visual/auditory graph (line graph, etc.) on a computer screen that the patient watches. The patient continuously watches this activity, in real time, as it provides instantaneous information about fluctuations in his/her brain activity. It is at this point that the person’s brain can learn exactly what it needs to do to produce a better pattern than the pattern it has, for whatever reason, been stuck producing. For one patient, their brain may need to get better at increasing beta brainwave power in the frontal lobe, because a lack of beta in this region leads to inattentiveness. For another patient, their brain may have been found to less able to reduce beta activity in the temporal lobes, as excess beta in this region can cause depression and irritability. ). If you show a person when their brain is “doing it right”, the brain will “get the hang of it” and be able to produce the exact biological response with greater and greater ease.
When paying attention becomes automatic
Eventually, neurofeedback helps the brain produce a better brain wave pattern, which then typically becomes automatic. This is referred to as “automaticity” and is a type of biological-neurological learning that takes place when we are learning any motor (e.g., walking, balancing on a balance beam) or sensory (e.g., being able to recognize a musical note in a sequence of sounds, adjusting your movements to a power-steering wheel when you had previously driven a car without power steering) skill. This becomes “incorporated” into the brain’s capabilities. Just think if every morning we had to consciously re-learn how to drive our cars as we had to at the age of 16! The brain’s job is to make capabilities automatic as fast and efficient as possible and replace old patterns with new and more effective patterns. Research indicates that after a course of neurofeedback treatment, the brain just keeps producing the new and improved brain wave patterns. This happens in much the same way as a person, who used to live on the east coast and had an “accent”, gradually loses some, or all, of this accent after moving to another part of the country. Their brain “adjusts”, so to speak.
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