a brief history of the 40 hertz rhythm

5/27/2018 A Brief History of the 40 Hertz Rhythm

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A Brief History of the 40 Hertz Rhythm

My purpose here is to give you some background on the 40 Hertz rhythm that will show itsimportance and also support the ideas that it is a system designed to optimize the brainsprocessing of new discoveries. This is by no means an exhaustive review, or even an academic

one.

One indication of the importance of the 40 Hertz rhythm is that it is the most highly correlatedwith the rate of brain metabolism (Oakes et al, 2004), suggesting that there is probably a goodreason for such energy expenditure. Relatively few EEG studies of the 40 Hertz rhythm have beenperformed in comparison to its neurophysiological importance because of some methodologicalproblems. In addition to the EMG (muscle contraction artifact) contamination issue, earlyresearchers had to deal with another daunting methodological problem when measuring above 32Hertz (cycles per second). The old style pen and paper strip physiological recorders couldnt easilygo that fast without catching paper or spitting ink across the room. Most of the current research isrecorded by computers and analyzed quantitatively or printed out by newer, faster technology. Itis also well known that the higher the frequency of any EEG wave, the greater the percentage ofits energy is lost coming through the scalp and meninges, so the 40 Hertz rhythm appears very

small and therefore unimportant when it is measured from the scalp. On the surface of thecortex, it is much larger. The Neureka! Protocol compensates for this problem.

There are several strands of scientific work that I will weave together to sketch in this briefhistory. They appear to be somewhat independent in origin, because two different techniqueswere used, electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The third strandconcerns the relationship between 40 Hertz and memory. The fourth strand focused on the studyof meditation and other altered states such as hypnosis, using EEG. The story begins there, back inthe mid-1950s.

The original study on the EEG of meditators was by Das and Gastaut back in 1955. They reported(in French) high amplitudes of 40 Hertz rhythm from seven trained yogis, recorded from the

occipital lobe (in the back of the brain) during the samadhi state. Banquet (1973), studying 12subjects practicing transcendental meditation and recording from left occipital and frontal leads,also observed 40 Hertz during the third deep stage of meditation.

A recent study of Buddhist meditators who are followers of the Dalai Lama recorded theirbrainwaves as they performed an objectless meditation practice, enhancing unconditional lovingkindness and compassion. It demonstrated increases in the 25-42 Hertz band at a number oflocations on the scalp, including the prefrontal locations surrounding the middle of the forehead(Lutz et al, 2004). Subsequently, at a meeting sponsored by the Mind and Life Foundation (2005),Davidson reported that there were strikingly significant correlations between these amplitudesand the monks reported clarity of their meditation, on a moment to moment basis, but only forthe EEGs recorded from the prefrontal sites.

For the technically minded: Davidson also reported that there was enhanced long-range synchronyof the brainwaves between sites in these meditators. Synchrony is a very confusing word forneurophysiologists, open to a number of different interpretations. The basic idea is that it is ameasure which responds to the similarity of the shape of waveforms that come from two differentsources. Actually, the waveform that is measured by the Peak Achievement Trainer comes fromtwo different sourcesthe front tips of the right and left cerebral hemispheres. These twowaveforms are superimposed or added together before we measure them. I prefer the termsuperposition. Some of the founders of neurofeedback, particularly Lester Fehmi, would call


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this synchrony. In a sense, then, the Neureka! Protocol responds to long-range synchrony, sincethe actual fiber connections between the tips of the hemispheres take a long route through thecorpus callosum. Also, Davidsons paper calls this gamma synchrony, but this takes someliberties with the term, since gamma generally refers to brainwave frequencies above 30 Hertz. Idont find gamma precise enough to use here.In general, when I refer to the 40 Hertz band, Imean approximately 35 to 45 Hertz.

There is also some evidence that high hypnotizable subjects produce greater 40 Hertz amplitudeswhile they are hypnotized than low hypnotizable ones (de Pascalis, 1993). The same researcherdid some very interesting work on the relationship between memory and 40 Hertz. The idea thathypnosis leads to its life-changing effects through an effect on memory mediated by the 40 Hertzrhythm is a fascinating one.

The second strand is the work of Dulio Giannitrapani and Daniel Sheer. Giannitrapani (1966) foundthat increases in 35-45 Hertz occurred immediately prior to answering in tasks such asmultiplication questions (Hammond, 2000), suggesting the Aha! response to a new discovery.Sheer thought that 40 Hertz was a particular type of focused arousal (Sheer, 1984), basically ahigh frequency beta mechanism. He did not realize that a large part of the 40 Hertz signals he

so carefully isolated from EMG had a different origin. Sheer (1974) found that normal childrenproduced more 40 Hertz in their parietal cortex as they solved problems, while those with learningdisabilities did not. His group (Bird et al., 1978a, b) demonstrated that people could be trained toselectively enhance their 40 Hertz rhythm and to develop conscious control over it--bothincreasing and decreasing it when requested--and five out of six subjects could repeat this (Fordet al., 1980) when tested one to three years later! Sheer was not interested in the 40 Hertzrhythm from the prefrontal cortex, presumably because he was so concerned about demonstratingthat the effects he saw were not due to muscle artifact. Most neurofeedbackers were even moreconcerned and opted not to do 40 Hertz brainwave feedback anywhere on the scalp for manyyears. I sincerely hope that the Neureka! Protocol will help to reverse this trend.

According to Hammond (2000), Giannitrapani also found that the 40 Hertz rhythm seemed tosynchronize and coordinate neurons that process incoming sensory stimuli. Theres not much of aleap from there to the idea that it enhances awareness, as we have found from directobservation. Some have called it the event binding rhythm. Other researchers have found thatactivation of this rhythm will not occur with meaningless words, but does occur in response tomeaningful stimuli, even when you arent paying attention to them (see the review by Hammond,2000). Thats just what you would expect from a brain system that is designed to respondbutonly to meaningful discoveriesby increasing your awareness of them and the surroundingcontext, remembering them, and then rewarding you with a brief moment of satisfaction.

In an elegant series of experiments combining animal tissue work, implanted electrode studies andhuman MEG (magnetoencephalography), Llinas and his coworkers (1998) developed evidence forthe hypothesis that there were actually two different brain systems that carried information atabout 40 Hertz. Both of these systems involved feedback loops between (different) layers of the

cerebral cortex and the thalamus, the organ shaped like two flattened eggs, one in eachhemisphere, with a thick bridge between them in the center of the brain. Information, in the formof somewhat repetitive patterns of nerve excitation, resonates--travels back and forth--betweenthe thalamus and the cortex at about a 40 Hertz frequency in both of these systems. One system,the specific sensory and motor relay system, relays information from the external world throughthe outer nuclei (technically called the extralaminar nucleii, those located outside a fiber bundleor lamina dividing each egg) of the thalamus to the cortex. It is the system in which most all ofthe activity related to the Focus and Alertness measurements takes place. The 40 Hertz activity inthis system may not be that different than the activity in other frequency ranges, focused


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arousal as Sheer argued. The other, non-specific, thalamocortical system is uniquely set up toscan all the regions of the cortex and collect information back from them, using a beam thatresonates near a constant 40 Hertz frequency. It scans the brain from front to rear 40 times asecond, and delivers this information back to a more central location, the intralaminar nuclei,where it can be integrated and analyzed, combining or binding the different neural aspects of theevent together. Hence, the name event binding rhythm. Next, the scanning function can be

refined for the next pulse, modulating our awareness to emphasize the important new discoveries.This location is very close and well connected to the hypothalamus, the control center for many ofthe bodys important functions.

Llinas argues that consciousness is actually a result of the simultaneous neural firing produced bythe coherence (I prefer superposition) of the inputs from the specific and non-specific systems onthe layers of dendrites in the cortex. The specific system would then provide the content thatrelates to the external world, and the non-specific system would give rise to the context.Together, they generate a single cognitive experience. My perspective is that consciousness is notinherent in the brain, but rather exists in a field that is co-located with and simultaneouslyexternal to it, a multidimensional electroholomorphic field. In a paper I gave at the firstISSSEEM meeting in 1990, published informally in Megabrain (1993), and that is now being revised

and in press for Subtle Energies, I argued that the brain is actually able to holographically projectthis dendritic excitation pattern into this electroholomorphic field by using the coherent radiation(a brain laser) that is emitted by these thalamocortical systems.

I believe that the Neureka! Protocol actually isolates the output of the non-specific scanningsystem that increases awareness and contributes the context to the cognition. Outside of myknowledge of the proprietary method by which it is calculated, the evidence for this is largelyempirical. The Neureka! F--Neureka! Triggers and Enlarges DVD Research Version.bxd designshows correlations between Neureka! and both Focus and Alertness. Our preliminary testing showsthat these correlations are never more than 0.06 if they are allowed to stabilize for at least threeminutes. This indicates that the measures are independent of each other.

There are several lines of evidence that indicate that the 40 Hertz rhythm profoundly enhanceslearning and memory. Sheer speculated about this relationship in 1970 on the basis of his studiesof the olfactory bulb. There are studies which show that stimulating cortical cells at more than 7Hertz enhances long term potentiation of their ability to transmit information across synapses(Sterman, 2006). This process is triggered by calcium entering the cell every time the synapse isstimulated (Malenka and Nicoll, 1999). It would seem reasonable that faster stimulation speeds,such as 40 Hertz, would increase the amount of calcium entering the cells per second and speedup this process. Long term potentiation of a group of cells connected together (a cell assembly)forms a long term memory. The clearest experimental evidence for the specific role of the 40Hertz rhythm in learning was published by Miltner et al. (1999) in Nature. They measured theEEGs of a group of young women who were learning the association between a colored light and ashock to one hand, examining those regions of the cortex that were known to be stimulated by thelight and the shock to the hand. They found that there was more 40 Hertz activity in those regions

of the cortex, as well as some surrounding regions, during the trials than at other times.Furthermore, they examined the coherences between the 40 Hertz outputs of the specific areasinvolved and compared them with other regions and other times when the specific color and shockwere not paired as controls. They found clear evidence that associative learning involvedincreased connectivity (coherence) between these brain regions in the 40 Hertz band, and thatthis coherence dropped off very quickly as they examined higher or lower frequencies. In a studyof epileptic patients with electrodes implanted right on their cortical surfaces, Sederberg et al,2003 found that their short-term memory for words was related to the gamma output of electrodesites in their frontal and temporal areas, particularly near the 40 hertz band. There are several


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recent studies which feature relationships between gamma and theta bands, learning andmemory. There is also one study which indicated that quicker reaction times are related to thefaster appearance of the 40 Hertz band at relevant brain sites (Haig et al., 1999).

Our Studies

The study that lead to the discovery of the Neureka! Protocol produced some remarkable resultsthat puzzled me for quite some time. I believe that they can best be understood as an indicationof the power of the Neureka! Protocol in improving learning and memory. This was a small pilotstudyan undergraduate thesisperformed by Marcus Perman under the supervision of Dr. ArturPocswardowski at St. Lawrence University; the results are in Appendix A. Briefly, three groups offive young ladies were given the IVA (Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test)and our Concentration Protocol (without instructions) as pretests before training. These tests wererepeated after the fourth and eighth (final) testing session. One group was given training on theConcentration Protocol, one on the Neureka! Protocol (both from our older software) and one wasa control group given no training. To our surprise, the Neureka! group showed a very large gain(1.5 standard deviations of their original scores) in just four sessions on the IVA Full ScaleAttention Quotient, and outscored the Concentration Protocol group. They also did as well as the

group trained on the Concentration Protocol in learning how to concentrate, despite a lot lesspractice. Is it possible that they learned the pre-tests more quickly during their Neureka! practiceright afterwards due to its effects on memory?

One overall reminder about interpreting these studies is that unless I have specifically stated thatthey were done in the prefrontal area, they may not be clearly applicable to the Neureka!Protocol.

To investigate the quality of our feedback for the Three Dimensions of Mental Processing (Focus,Alertness, and Neureka!), I surveyed 10 biofeedback experts who did a demo in our booth at theInternational Society for Neurofeedback and Research by asking them to fill out the ThreeDimensions of Mental Processing Questionnaire #3. For each dimension, a 7 point scale was used toanswer the question: "How strong do you think the relationship between your definition of single-pointed Focus and the Peak Achievement Trainers measurement of [the Dimension] is? Make a /anywhere along the line." Responses were permitted anywhere along a continuous line from 1(Extremely Strong Negative) to 7 (Extremely Strong Positive). Each of the Dimension's ratings wassignificantly different from Neutral (4), p


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The study also showed that Transcendental Meditators with over 10 years experience couldenhance this brainwave pattern associated with good feelings much more powerfully than subjectswho did not meditate, although both groups learned to increase this pattern in just one session.

Both meditators and controls were asked to try to create particular positive and negativeexperiences by following a description for two minutes each, while they were looking at the

Neureka! feedback signal, and to rate the relationship between momentary changes in theexperience and the Neureka! measure along a -100 to +100 scale, with 0 representing norelationship, 20 a mild relationship, 40 a moderate association, 60 a strong one, 80 a very strongrelationship, and 100 an extremely strong connection. Eleven of the 16 adjectives showed verystrong positive relationships, with the probability that they occurred by chance


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I was not able to find any other literature which substantiated the relationship between the 40Hertz rhythm and these feelings. There is the potential overlap with the kindness and compassionthat characterize the states of Davidsons meditators. Kindness, compassion, satisfaction andgratitude are somewhat similar emotions. All of those feelings will often briefly enhance Neureka!

It is intriguing that those who practice HRV (heart rate variability) feedback also find thatgratitude and acceptance are related to success. Perhaps there is a brain to heart connectionwhich involves the 40 Hertz rhythm.

To summarize, I believe the big picture is that the Neureka! Protocol reflects the moment tomoment activity of a scanning system, based in the center of the brain and looking outwards,which creates the awareness of events as wholes, in their context. It is activated particularly atmoments of new discovery (the Aha! experience) or the anticipation of one and results in theenhanced learning, memory, and satisfaction of accomplishment.

References

Arias-Carrion, O. and Poppel, E. (2007): Dopamine, learning, and reward-seeking behavior. ActaNeurobiol Exp 67:481-88.

Bird, B. L., Newton, F. A., Sheer, D. E., & Ford, M. R. (1978a). Biofeedback training of 40 Hz. EEGin humans. Biofeedback & Self-Regulation, 3(1), 1-12.

Bird, B.L., Newton, F. A., Sheer, D. E., & Ford, M. R. (1978b). Behavioral andelectroencephalographic correlates of 40-Hz. EEG biofeedback training in humans. Biofeedback &Self-Regulation, 3(1), 13-28.

Banquet, J. P. (1973). Spectral analysis of the EEG in meditation. Electroencephalography &Clinical Neurophysiology, 35, 143.

Cowan, J. (1993). Mind as the Projection and Reception of Electroholomorphic Fields by the Brain:A Proposed Mechanism. Megabrain Report 2(2), 23-30.

Davidson, R.J. (2005). Paper presented at the Mind and Life XIII Symposium: The Science andClinical Applications of Meditation, Washington, 2005.


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Das, N. N., & Gastaut, H. (1955). Variations de lactivite electrique du cerveau, du coeur et desmuscles squellettiques au cours de la meditation et de lextase yogique. Electroencephalography& Clinical Neurophysiology, Suppl. 6, 211.

De Pascalis, V. (1993). EEG spectral analysis during hypnotic induction, hypnotic dream, and ageregression. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 15 (2): 153-66.

Ford, M., Bird, B. L., Newton, F. A., & Sheer, D. (1980). Maintenance and generalization of 40-HzEEG biofeedback effects. Biofeedback & Self-Regulation, 5(2), 193-205.

Giannitrapani, D. (1966). Electroencephalographic differences between resting and mentalmultiplication. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 22, 399-405.

Goleman, D. (1988). The Meditative Mind. Los Angeles: Jeremy Tarcher.

Haig, AR, De Pascalis V, & Gordon, E. (1999): Peak gamma latency correlated with reaction timein conventional oddball paradigm. Clinical Neurophysiology, 110 (1): 158-65.

Hammond, C. (2000). Clinical Corner: The Role of 40 Hertz Activity and Training. Journal ofNeurotherapy, 4(2): 95-100.

Knutson, B., Fong, G., Bennett, S., Adams, C., & Hommer, D. (2003): A region of mesial prefrontalcortex tracks monetarily rewarding outcomes: characterization with rapid event-related fMRI.NeuroImage, 18, 263-272. More references at http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~span/pubs.htm.

Llinas, R., Ribary, U., Contreras, D., & Pedroarena, C. (1998): The neuronal basis forconsciousness. Philosophical Society of the Royal Society of London B, 353: 1841-1849.

Lutz, A., Greischar, L.L., Rawlings, N., Ricard, M., & Davidson, R.J. (2004): Long-term meditatorsself-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences, 101(46): 16369-16373.

Malenka, R.L. & Nicoll, R.J. (1999): Long-Term PotentiationA Decade of Progress? Science 285:1870-1874.

Miltner, W. H. R., Braun, C., Arnold, M., Witte, H., & Taub, E. (1999). Coherence of gamma-bandEEG activity as a basis for associative learning. Nature, 397, 434-436.

Oakes, T.R., Pizzagalli, D.A., Hendrick, A.M., Horras, K.A., Larson, C.L., Abercrombie, H.C.,Schaefer, S.M., Koger, J.V., & Davidson, R.J. (2004). Functional coupling of simultaneouselectrical and metabolic activity in the human brain. Human Brain Mapping, 21, 257-270.

ODonnell, P. (2003) Dopamine gating of forebrain neural ensembles. Eur J Neurosci 17:429-435.

Peterson, R.L. (2007): Inside the Investors Brain: The Power of Mind Over Money. Hoboken, NJ,John Wiley and Sons.

Sederberg, P.B., Kahana, M.J., Howard, M.W., Donner, E.J., & Madsen, J.R. (2003): Theta andGamma Oscillations during Encoding Predict Subsequent Recall. Journal of Neuroscience 23 (34):10809-10814.


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Sheer, D. E. (1974). Electroencephalographic studies in learning disabilities. Chapter in H.Eichenwald & A. Talbot (Eds.), The Learning Disabled Child. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Sheer, D. E. (1975). Biofeedback training of 40-hz EEG and behavior. Chapter in N. Burch & H. I.Altshuler (Eds.), Behavior and Brain Electrical Activity. New York:Plenum.

Sheer, D. E. (1984). Focused arousal, 40-Hz EEG, and dysfunction. Chapter in J. Elbert et al., Self-Regulation of the Brain and Behavior. Berlin: Springer.

Sterman, M.B. (2006). EEG Oscillations and Synaptic Reorganization: A Model for the Mechanism ofLearning Through Operant Conditioning. Paper presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of theAssociation for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

Tart, C. (2001). Mind Science: Meditation Training for Practical People. Novato, CA: WisdomEditions.

Zweig, J. (2007): Your Money and Your Brain: How the Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help MakeYou Rich. New York, Simon and Schuster.

Brainwave Basics for Peak Achievement Training

The Three Parts of the Peak Achievement Learning Process

The training process starts by teaching you to do something so fundamental that you will beastounded that you dont already know howto pay attention to how you pay attention! Theconscious awareness of the way you pay attention is a fundamental skill that few people havemastered or even tried to learn.

The second step is to direct it--to develop a more controlled cycle between focusing andrecharging. Recent Air Force studies of the pilots in the B2 bomber, who are very carefullyselected peak performers, show that they are constantly cycling between concentrating oncockpit tasks and taking brief recharging breaks, which we call microbreaks. The Peak


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Achievement Training program teaches you how to focus and to recharge separately, and thencombines them into a cycle. The figure shows several cycles in which Focus (yellow) and Alertness(orange) are interrupted by microbreaks. There are vertical bars every five seconds.

The third step in training is to learn to apply this cycle to enhance skills and experiences that areimportant to you. You will be able to identify the cycles in many of your activities, to pay

attention to the cycle and understand how you do it, to video yourself and discover the sequenceof your brainwave patterns as you perform important skills, and then to enhance your skills byrefining the sequence.

Brainwave Basics for Peak Achievement Training

When the Air Force designed the B-2 Bomber, they knew that it would be a highly complexairplane to fly, with many different tasks to do, despite the many automated systems. Theysponsored a number of complex studies of the human factors involved in optimizing pilotperformance, many of them performed by Dr. Barry Sterman of UCLA and the Sepulveda VeteransAdministration Hospital. In a brilliant series of studies, Dr. Sterman, who is a pioneer in EEG

(brainwave) biofeedback research, measured the brainwaves of pilots and others, while evaluatingtheir performance in tasks that simulate aspects of flying. He discovered that various parts of thepilots brains were constantly cycling between a processing mode and an idling or rechargingmode, in which the brain conserved energy and refreshed its stores of vital nutrients.

If you wish to understand his fascinating findings and the fundamentals of Peak AchievementTraining, we need to review a few fundamentals about brainwaves and the brain. Ill try tosimplify this as much as I can, by making some broad generalizations. However, if you are in ahurry or just not technically minded, you can skip ahead to the section titled Fundamentals ofPeak Achievement: A Summary.

Dr. Sterman broke down the complex brainwave patterns he saw by analyzing how strong theoutput was at various frequencies. The term frequency refers to the number of times thewaveform goes up and down (cycles) per second (called Hertz, or Hz.). You can take anywaveform, no matter how complex it looks, and break it down into the amount of energy that ithas at each frequency. This figure shows the filtered brainwave pattern from the prefrontal partof the brain (middle of the forehead) with a time scale of five divisions per second. You can see alarge, almost regular pattern near the end. This idling rhythm at 9-11 cycles per second, usuallycalled the alpha rhythm, occurs more frequently when someone is relaxing with the eyes closed. Itis much more prominent when you are recording from the back of the head.

This figure shows the frequency breakdown that the Peak Achievement Trainer performs on theraw brainwave. As the Spectrogram scrolls from the right (now) to the left (past), each coloredvertical bar shows the analysis of a short period of the brainwave pattern. It separates out the


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amount of energy at each frequency (on the vertical axis), and shows a color corresponding to itsintensity. As the scale at the bottom of the figure shows, more intense energy produces moreintense color. Generally, brainwave patterns will show the most energy from 0 to 7 cycles and ahigh energy alpha brainwave stripe at 9-11 cycles.

Dr. Sterman divided the frequencies into chunks, so that he could look at how much energy outputhe could detect from 1-3 Hz., 3-5 Hz., 5-7 Hz., and so on, by every 2 Hz. He did not use thetraditional Greek letter analysis of brainwaves, which includes delta (0-4 Hz.), theta (4-8 Hz.),alpha (8-13 Hz.) and beta (13-30 Hz.), because he thought it was too inexact. The relationshipbetween these Greek letters and various states of consciousness, such as sleep, daydreaming orreverie, relaxation, and focusing is now known to be very imprecise, and in some cases,misleading, so Ill only use them to designate these frequency ranges.

The Prefrontal Cortex

One of the major complications here is that brainwaves and their frequencies correspond todifferent experiences as you look in different locations on the scalp. For our purposes, the mostimportant distinction is between the frontal lobe and the back of the brain, which includescentral, parietal, temporal, and occipital locations. Very roughly, you can think of the frontal lobeas the part of the cortex, the outer layer of the brain, forward of the lines from the front of theears to about an inch in front of the very top of the head. The prefrontal lobe, which extendsbehind your forehead and then folds to lie on top of the roof of your mouth, is the part of thebrain that is responsible for integrating various aspects of your experience and making decisionsabout how you act on them. The back of the brain is primarily involved in processing specificinformation, such as the sensory inputs from your eyes, ears, and body. The two systems, specificand non-specific, are each primarily connected to different parts of the thalamus, an egg-shapednucleus in the middle of the brain, which relays information to the cortex.

The central part of the prefrontal cortex is strongly influenced by a network of nerve fiberscarrying messages which help us to consciously focus on interesting and/or important experiencesthat are useful for survival. These fibers contain the key neurotransmitter, dopamine.


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The Executive Attention Network

Recent studies of the brain by researchers using powerful new technologies such as PET and SPECTscanning and f-MRI have led to the discovery of the Executive Attention Network, the part of thebrain that is most involved in directing where we focus our attention. In other words, itchoreographs the dance of the brain, by turning on and off various parts of the brain that are

necessary to direct our attention to certain aspects of our experience. According to a ScientificAmerican Library book, Images of Mind, by Dr. Michael Posner (a cognitive psychologist) and Dr.Marcus Raichle (a PET scanner), the Executive Attention Network is located in the cleft or fissurebetween the two hemispheres of the brain, right below the midline of the scalp, an inch or twoforward of the vertex, the very top of the head. This part of the anterior cingulate cortex mayactually be the central part of the brains master delegator, somewhat like the executive assistantto the Chief Executive Officer of a corporation, responsible for carrying out the CEOs orders bycoordinating the resources of the corporation.

The Peak Achievement Trainer uses brainwave Sensors located a little forward of this pointin themiddle of the forehead--to detect what is happening in the central prefrontal cortex and theExecutive Attention Network.

When the Executive Attention Network encounters an experience that the brain judges to beunfamiliar, an experience that cant be easily categorized on the basis of prior experience, itturns on the prefrontal cortex, along with many other regions of the cortex. As a result, webecome aware or conscious of this new information. The processing of this new information isspread widely across the cortex at first, producing a lot of high frequency messages from one partof the cortex to another.

The Cortex Idles to Save Energy

However, continuing this high frequency processing indefinitely is not a very efficient way to runthe brain, since it takes a tremendous amount of energy. Even with the energy conservationmeasures it uses, the brain takes about 20% of the bodys blood flow and up to 65% of itsmetabolic energy. Taking any more energy than it absolutely needs would be a real disadvantageto our survival.

The major energy conservation measure that is implemented by the Executive Attention Network,in collaboration with the thalamus, is to place parts of the brain that are not needed into idlemode. As it sorts out the parts of the cortex that arent necessary for a particular task, it sendsthem a message to slow down or turn off the energy consuming, high frequency processing. Withadditional similar experiences, the Executive Attention Network forms habitual ways ofinformation processing that save energy by idling more and more of the cortex via these messages.When it is in idling mode, the brain performs a number of system maintenance tasks that canimprove subsequent memory and information processing. However, there are virtually no EEG

studies of the role of the midline prefrontal cortex in learning and memory. Since the richnetwork of dopaminergic fibers is centered there, it may behave very differently than otherregions of the cortex.

The EEG Detects Idling Rhythms

These messages to the cortex that put it in idling mode are rhythmic brainwavesidling rhythms--that can affect large portions of the cortex at the same time. In fact, they are a very large portion


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of what we see in the visible EEG. Furthermore, since the waveforms of many of these idlingrhythms are irregular (not smooth sine waves), they have overtones, which show up on the PeakAchievement Trainer as higher frequency (beta and above) brainwave outputs.

The higher frequency brainwaves that are produced when regions of the cortex are turned on aremuch harder to detect with an EEG instrument for three reasons:

1. There are several layers of tissue that surround the brain, and then the scalp and the skin.Higher frequency brainwaves find it much harder to go through these various layers.

2. About 95% of the input to any cortical cell comes from other cortical cells, either locally orvia longer fibers. Impulses travel in one direction and then loop back. Since the timing anddirection of these loops is random, the net effect is that most of the activity is offset byother random activity, producing very little electrical voltage on the surface of the scalp.

3. The EEG is most sensitive to currents that run in the direction of a straight line betweenthe electrodes (ear and forehead), roughly in the direction that the idling rhythms run,from the thalamus in the center of the head outwards.

Therefore, the brainwaves that are monitored by the Peak Achievement Trainer are primarilyidling rhythms rather than indications that important information processing is going on in thecortex underneath the Sensor.

The Peak Achievement Trainer Detects the Absence of the Idling Rhythms

The Peak Achievement Trainer is designed to detect the absence of the idling messages ratherthan the high frequency activity. Although there is evidence that there are organized brainwaverhythms in the beta range, and that they may represent messages from one part of the cortex toanother, the empirical finding is that when you focus intensely, the brainwave Sensor near theExecutive Attention Network almost always shows less output voltage at all the frequencies from 1

to 37 Hz. This decrease in output was originally labeled as Concentration in the older software. Inthe new FocusedAlert protocols, we have chosen to create a measurement of Focus that (moreintuitively) increases as you concentrate more, by applying the formula:

Focus = 100 Concentration

Aspects of Focus

The word focus can be confusing, since it may be used in several different ways: 1. Denoting the object of your attentionthat is, what you are paying attention to.2.

Changing the clarity of an imagethat is, by turning a camera lens.3. The degree of single-pointedness of attentionnarrow vs. broad.

4. The duration of paying attention to a particular object.

It would probably be clearest if I indicated the particular use of focus each time I used it, butthis would lead to many long and awkward sentences. Since most of the uses of focus in thisManual will refer to the third meaning, I will adopt the convention that when focus is used aloneas a noun, it refers to the degree of single-pointedness of attention--the narrower it is, the more


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focused. Capitalizing Focus will refer to the particular measurement we defined previously,unless its at the beginning of a sentence. The word concentration in lower case will besynonymous with this meaning of focus. In upper case, Concentration refers to themeasurement in the older software. As a verb, focus or concentrate used without furtherdescription will refer to making your attention single-pointed.

The first definition will be indicated by using focus on. The second definition will rarely be usedhere. When it is, I will substitute clarifying. When the fourth definition is needed, I will useFocus Time to refer to the duration, as formalizedby our measurement.

Lessons From Peak Performers: The Air Force Pilots

When Dr. Sterman examined the brainwaves of pilots doing simulated landing tasks, he found thatthe idling rhythms were suppressed in the parts of the brain that were being used at the time. Hewas able to fine-tune his findings by looking at these brainwaves in various control conditions, inwhich the pilots did only part of the task. To make a long story very short, Sterman concludedthat in the back of the brain the processing of sensory inputs was associated with decreases in the

idling rhythms from 11-15 Hz., while more complex thinking decreased idling rhythms from 8-12Hz. The harder the task was, the more that these rhythms were suppressed.

In fact, Dr. Sterman was able to pick the best 6 pilots--those who were eventually selected as B2bomber instructors--by measuring how well they suppressed the idling rhythms in the parietallobe. This approach turned out to be more accurate, by itself, than all the other measures thatthe Air Force used in making this selection.

The Focusing and Recharge Cycle

Studies of pilots in the cockpit, as they actually flew their planes, showed that there was a short

burst of idling rhythm between the individual tasks that they performed in the cockpit. The betterpilots needed a shorter rest period before starting to focus again. We call this recharging period amicrobreak.

In fact, there is evidence that this kind of cycling between concentration and the microbreak is abasic way in which the brain functions. For example, there are studies that show that when weread, there is a brief idling rhythm in the visual cortex when we come to the end of a line andmove on to the next.

Dr. Sterman performed a study which showed that these idling rhythms decrease right after aperson is presented with a target to respond to, and then increase again when they finishprocessing their response to the stimulus. In the back of the brain, this idling rhythm was an 8-12Hz. (alpha) burst that increased as they became more familiar with the task, and it became

habituated. As he looked at sites that were further forward in the brain, he saw that there wasalso an idling rhythm at 5 to 7 Hz.

There are also good, common sense reasons to believe that the brain is set up to cycle betweenfocusing and taking a recharging microbreak. Even the best of us cannot concentrate forever. Weneed our breaks. They are built in to our work and school day. The concept that each of us has anattention span that increases as we mature from child to adult, and then decreases in old age isa clear reflection of this well accepted concept. People who fail to regularly take these necessarymicrobreaks between tasks set themselves up for stress-related diseases because they accumulate


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the tension and anxiety from the continuous effort in their minds, brains, and bodies.

The most fundamental lesson of Peak Achievement Training is that we all need to cyclecontinuously between focusing and taking a recharging microbreak in order to consistently be atour best without overtaxing our brains.

The Prefrontal Cortex and Executive Attention Network, New Learning, and the Cycle

The prefrontal cortex is also capable of alternating between focusing and idling. When things arefamiliar to us, it can idle, and let the other parts of the brain carry out their habitual ways ofprocessing inputs, turning on and off in well established sequences. When they are unfamiliar, theprefrontal cortex and the Executive Attention Network get turned on. They have the role ofbringing these new experiences into conscious awareness and figuring out how to process them byactivating other centers of the brain. Dr. Stermans research indicated that the brainwaves of thefrontal lobe, including the sites near the Executive Attention Network, also show cycles when theindividual is continually involved in detecting a series of targets. Right after a target is presented,the idling rhythm is suppressed, only to return in about half a second. After an event, the frontal

cortex finishes its processing and goes into idle before the back of the brain does. The prefrontallobe idling rhythm is primarily in the mid-theta range, between 5 to 7 Hz.

By using the multiple displays of the previous Peak Achievement Trainer software to examine thebrainwaves of my students, I have been able to see their patterns as they focused and did anumber of other things. At first, I looked for the relationship between concentration and the

decrease in 5-7 Hz. rhythms at the midline site close to the hairline. I found that this was theclearest indicator of concentration that I had observed in my clinical experience. The Spectrogramdisplay permitted me to look at the voltage output at each frequency. From 2 to about 20 cycles, Isaw clearly that as I and others focused, the voltage output decreased across the board, at allfrequencies. This was less clearly true from 1 to 37 Hz. For example, the far left side and the rightside of this figure is focusing, while the right side is recharging.

Dr. Sterman had actually noticed the same thing, from about 5 to 15 cycles, all the frequenciesthat he measured, at virtually all the brainwave recording sites he tried. Technically, this is called


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event related desynchronization. In the frontal lobe, this suppression is followed by the returnof the theta (5-7 Hz.) idling rhythm in about half a second, particularly after we see a target,rather than an unimportant control stimulus.

When people learn to suppress the idling rhythms, their attention problems clear up. Several largestudies, now being submitted for publication, show that the suppression of theta and or alpha

(depending on age and recording site) is largely responsible for the success of other brainwavetraining protocols in treating people with attention deficit disorder. Most all of the brainwavetraining protocols for treating attention deficit disorder have rewarded students for decreasingtheta and/or alpha at central or frontal sites. These decreases were much more consistentlyrelated to successful treatment than the changes in higher frequencies that were also evaluated.Using a protocol that teaches the student to enhance beta may actually slow down training,because the feedback is less precise and more confusing than that provided by the PeakAchievement Trainer. It takes about ten sessions for a typical student to understand that type ofbrainwave biofeedback; almost everyone will understand this type of neurofeedback during thefirst few minutes.

There is a common misperception that increases in alpha rhythms denote peak performance.Actually, this comes from studies of the back part of the brain, which actually show that as peoplemaster a particular skill, alpha increases. However, this is actually a reflection of the brainstendency for efficient operations, shutting off more and more unnecessary processing as the skillbecomes a habit.

Interest or Absorption in Events Decreases Idling Rhythms

It is clear that interesting or important events also cause this decrease in the idling rhythm in theprefrontal cortex and the Executive Attention Network. In Stermans study, the targets produceda larger rapid decrease in the 5-7 Hz. idling rhythm than the control stimuli that they didnt needto respond to. In working with my students, I have found that anytime I can entice them tobecome more interested in what they are doing, they generally respond by decreasing theirbrainwave output across the board from 1-37 Hz.

Becoming absorbed in a particular experience is closely related to being interested in it. In fact,absorption can be thought of as being a result of one-pointed focus on the experiencea focus sointense that other inputs, ideas, or conversations with others or yourself are ignored. In workingwith students, I find that it is this type of single-pointed focus and interest that is most successfulin inhibiting the idling rhythms.

Measuring and Training Alertness

These FocusedAlert protocols also allow you to measure and train what we believe is another

dimension of attention: Arousal or Alertness. We have chosen to use the word Alertness for thisdimension. We believe it is fundamentally independent from the single-pointed Focusmeasurement. In particular, it responds to the state of higher alertness/arousal in which intenseeffort marshals your resources to react--for example, when the ball is coming right at you.

Although at this time we intend to keep the precise formulas we use as trade secrets, we can saythat we mathematically eliminate the effects of Focus on the brainwave pattern, and thenmeasure the effects of the stimulation from the Reticular Activating System (RAS) on thepacemaker cells in the reticular nucleus of the thalamus, which produce the EEG idling rhythms


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we observe at the cortical level. The two measures are mathematically independent, and we haveseen instances where they function independently: You can increase or decrease one withoutchanging the other. However, it is clearly true that most people will usually increase theirAlertness in order to enhance their Focus. There are many circumstances in which it may be usefulto train people to concentrate more calmly, minimizing the increase in Alertness.

It appears that it is much more difficult to sustain Alertness than Focus--the peaks last for a muchshorter time. Alertness may be related to the release of adrenaline, noradrenalin, and dopaminefrom nerve terminals; when these are exhausted, restocking them may take time. Trying toincrease Alertness may also release adrenaline from the adrenal medulla. Since this adrenaline hasto travel through the blood stream, it may produce an increase in the Alertness measure with alonger latency and slower decrease, which will add to the effects of the RAS-mediated activation.

Since the neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, and hormones necessary to support Alertness arein limited supply, one of the major goals of training may be to teach people to conserve theirAlertness by minimizing its expenditure when it isn't needed.

Another way to think about this is that we want to find the optimal point on the Yerkes-Dodsoncurve--the inverted-U shape curve relating performance to arousal--for performing at theparticular moment.

This basic truth was recognized many years ago from experiments with animals. The highest pointof the inverted U is at the middle levels of arousal. They found that the location of the peakvaries depending upon how complex the task is. Simple tasks, such as assembly line work, whichcan be accomplished with a succession of narrow foci of attention, produce a higher optimum.


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More complex tasks, such as writing, which require integrating a wider variety of information, arebest performed at lower levels of arousal.

This presumes that higher levels of arousal (Alertness) are generally related to a narrower focus ofattention. Actually, this isnt always true, as our experience with Peak Achievement Training hasshown us. Although it is sometimes difficult to do so, the two can be controlled rather

independently, so that, for example, you can learn to focus more intensely at lower levels ofAlertness and conserve mental energy. This is the combination we need in order to successfullysurvive hours of lectures and business meetings.

When you become too stimulated or aroused, another problem developsyour attention becomesharder to control. It shifts around, focusing on one thing and then another, but you cant sustainits focus on any one thing for very long. Often, emotional events receive the bulk of yourattention. We experience this as distraction, anxiety, or, in an extreme, a panic reaction. Whenthis happens, we may say that it is hard to focus, but this problem is really quite different thanthe problem we have when we dont have enough energy to move from a wide, diffuse focus to anarrow one. It is a problem caused by high energy, rather than low vigor or arousal. This is theother reason why the Yerkes-Dodson curves decrease at high arousal or Alertness.

Since you dont want to be at either extreme for optimal performance, but rather someplace inthe middle, the FocusedAlert protocols are designed to reinforce the optimum range between anupper and a lower limit.

Attention as an Adjustable Flashlight Beam

One analogy is particularly useful in understanding attention. Try thinking of it as being like anadjustable beam flashlight, which you can tune between a wide, diffuse focus on many differentaspects of your experience at a particular moment, and a narrow, single-pointed focus on oneaspect of the experience at that moment. You can focus this beam in a number of differentdirections, or in its widest mode, use it to attend dimly to many things at once. When you focusmore diffusely, as you do during a microbreak, you are not conscious of any particular aspect ofthe experience, but rather take in all of it at once.

You can also adjust the brightness or intensity of the beam of this special flashlight. We generallydo this by turning the energy consumption controlthe Alertness or arousal level, which enhancesour capacity to pay attention. During new, interesting, or demanding experiences, the beam is onhigh intensity. This generally tends to make your focus more narrow and absorbed, but it can alsoproduce a brighter beam that is somewhat wider. The Executive Attention Network has stoppedidling and turned on the higher frequency processing of the surrounding frontal lobe and otherareas of the brain in order to find an appropriate response.

In contrast, when you respond habitually to an experience, the prefrontal cortex and the

Executive Attention Network is not involved, large portions of the cortex are idling, and very littleof your attention is used to form the response. The flashlight beam is on a lower intensity. Thisresponse is not sensed to be as conscious as is your reaction to a new or important experience.

At higher levels of arousal, you start to lose control of the flashlight beam, as anxiety and possiblypanic cause it to shift quickly from one object of attention to another.

Fundamentals of Peak Achievement Training: A Summary


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1. The Peak Achievement Trainer responds to single-pointed focus, interest, and/or absorption inany experience by changing its visual displays and the sounds that it produces. It detects whenyour prefrontal cortex and Executive Attention Network are not producing idling rhythms.2. You will learn to use these signals to enhance your ability to cycle between focusing and briefperiods of recharging or idling, called microbreaks. We all need to cycle continuously in order tobe at our best consistently without overtaxing our brains.

3. By strengthening your ability to concentrate, to recharge, and to easily and flexibly switchbetween them, Peak Achievement Training will enhance your functioning, decrease your stress,and improve your mental and physical well being.4. Many of your important activities have built-in cycles of focusing and microbreaks; byunderstanding these cycles and strengthening your abilities, you will learn to do them moreeffectively.5. Learning to control your Alertness allows you to more consistently reach the optimal zone for aparticular activity. Alertness is used here to indicate the degree of arousal and the amount ofmental energy needed to sustain it. Enhancing your capacity to maintain Alertness by practicingand learning how not to waste your mental energy will enhance your reserves and decreasefatigue.

Types of Peak Achievement Training

Even without the Neureka! protocol, there are twelve different and complementary types of

training which are possible using the Peak Achievement Trainer:

1. Strengthening the ability of the Brain's Executive Attention Network to momentarily focus

attention.

2. Strengthening the ability of the midbrain to momentarily intensify alertness/arousal.

3. Strengthening the ability of the Executive Attention Network to sustain focused attention.

4. Strengthening the ability of the midbrain to sustain alertness/arousal.

5. Simultaneously increasing Focus and Alertness to meet a heavy demand.

6. Keeping Focus up while lowering Alertness/Arousal to decrease stress.7. Focusing attention on parts of the body that the coach wishes to work with.

8. Train the user to take brief, relaxing microbreaks which recharge the brain.

9. Find the best possible degree of alertness/arousal to perform particular activities optimally.

10. Perform arbitrary sequences of concentration, alertness, and microbreaks.

11. Discover and enhance performance of the sequences that are optimal for particular activities.

12. Perform these sequences despite distractions such as self-talk and crowd noise.

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