1. Understanding The Brain/Body
Connection
An Overview of Brain Mapping and
NeuroIntegration Technology

2. The Amazing Brain
• Average number of
neurons in the brain:
100,000,000,000
• Length of myelinated nerve
fibers in the brain: 93,210
miles to 111,800 miles
• There are forty quadrillion
potential patterns of
connection in a single brain
• The brain is approximately
78% water
• Time until unconscious
after loss of blood supply to
brain 8-10 seconds

3. The Brain IS…
• …the most complex
structure in the known
universe.
• …like an ecosystem—
dynamic and
adaptable.
• …capable of learning
and re-organizing at
any stage of life.
• …the greatest
consumer of glucose
and oxygen in the
body.
• …in control of the
body.

4. The Brain is NOT…
• …the Mind.
• …hard-wired after
a certain age.
• …the sole product
of either nature or
nurture.

5. Divisions of the Nervous System
Central Nervous System
• Processes incoming
information from PNS
• Monitors, controls co-
ordinates
• Issues the command
Peripheral Nervous
System
• Gathers information
from the environment
• Executes the
command

6. The Cortex
• 80% of human brain
• 6 cell layers
• It is the grey matter that covers
the outermost layer of the brain
like a nutshell
• White matter underneath is the
wiring that connects the cortex
for long distant communication.
• Cells live in columns
• Top layers: ‘inter-office’ memos
• Middle Layers: the ‘in box’
• Bottom Layers: the ‘out box’
• Most of the EEG we capture
from the scalp is from the top
layers

7. Brain Regions & Their General Function
Frontal Lobes
• Higher cognitive functions
• Reasoning
• Parts of speech
• ST memory
• Attention
• Emotional inhibition
Parietal Lobes
• Movement & body
awareness
• Orientation & location
• Recognition & association
• Arousal & perception of
stimuli

8. Brain Regions & Their General Function
Occipital Lobes
• Visual processing
• Arousal
Temporal Lobes
• Memory
• Comprehension
• Major convergence zone
Cerebellum
• Balance
• Motor sequencing
Brain Stem
• Primary arousal
• Consciousness

9. Limbic System
• Thalamus
• Amygdala
• Cingulate Gyrus
• Hypothalamus
• Hippocampus

10. Thalamus
• Sensory way station
• Preliminary
processing and
integration of all
sensory inputs

11. Amygdala
• “The amygdala provides
a preconscious bias to
every stimulus you
come into contact with,
even before you actually
pay attention to it. It can,
and does, operate
outside consciousness.”
JJ Ratey, M.D.

12. Cingulate Gyrus:
Executive Secretary & Gear Shifter
• Regulates what information is passed to the
orbitofrontal cortex—gateway to consciousnes
• Extensive connections throughout brain—regulates
and co-ordinates other regions involved in attention
• Attention, emotion, memory, somatic and autonomic
motor responses, motivation, pain
• Area of action of cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine,
marijuana, chocolate, LSD, Ritalin, amphetamines—
causing dopamine release

13. A Single Neuron
• The cell body receives
information from other cells
connected to its dendrites.
• The other cells’ signals vote on
whether this cell should fire a
signal.
• The cell body develops an
electrical charge or signal in
response to the votes.
• The signal travels down the
axon to other cells to vote as
well.
• The waxing and waning of
these voting charges creates
the EEG.

14. Microscopic and Macroscopic

15. Neurotransmitters
• Epinephrine: important for
motivation, energy &
mental focus
• Norepinephrine: important
for mental focus, emotional
stability and endocrine
function
• Dopamine: responsible for
feelings of pleasure &
satisfaction, muscle
control, muscle function
and GI issues; modulates
pain
• PEA: important for focus and
concentration
• Glutamate: primary excitatory
neurotransmitter, necessary
for learning and memory
• Seratonin: plays important
role in mood, sleep &
appetite.

16. Basic EEG Morphology
• Beta waves 15-36hz
– High beta is associated with
anxious hyperactive thinking
– Low beta is associated with alert
active things
• SMR 12-15 hz
– Associated with external focus
• Alpha waves 8-12hz
– Associated with relaxed
awareness
• Theta waves 4-7hz
– Associated with internal focus
• Delta waves .5-4hz
– Associated with deep, dreamless
sleep

17. Arousal Theory & EEG
• Alpha Waves
- Thalamus
- Attention & self awareness
• Beta Waves
- Cortex
- Processing
• Theta Waves
- Limbic System
- Memory & emotions
- Coordination of processing
• Delta Waves
- Brain stem
- Continuity & sleep

18. Functional Organization
• Hierarchy of brain function. The
human brain is organized from the
most simple (e.g., fewest cells:
brainstem) to most complex (e.g.,
most cells and most synapses: frontal
cortex). The various functions of the
brain, from most simple and reflexive
(e.g., regulation of body temperature)
to most complex (e.g., abstract
thought), are mediated in parallel with
these levels.
Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.

19. NeuroPlasticity
• ‘Neurons that fire together
wire together.’ (D.O.Hebb -
1949 “Hebbian Learning”)
• Our brains are constantly
changing.
• Every experience, thought,
action and emotion
actually changes the
structure of our brains.
• There are more possible
ways to connect the
brain’s neurons than there
are atoms in the universe.

20. Plasticity and Use Dependency
• The brain is plastic.
– It responds to demand by
increasing efficiency
– Habit formation
• Use it or lose it.
– Decline in the variety of
stimulus, drives a decline in
use, which drives a decline
in capacity.
– Years in formal education
directly correlate to a
reduction in age-related
cognitive decline independent
of age, birthplace occupation,
income or native language.

21. Conditioning
• I Pavlov and his DAWGS
• B F Skinner: reward-based reinforcement
learning can explain much of behavior
(Skinner – 193; Thorndike – 1911; Pavlov - 1905)
• Skinner showed that reward governs
much of human and animal behavior
• He discovered operant conditioning

22. Brain Imaging & Mapping
• SPECT (single photon
emission computed
tomography)
• MRI (magnetic resonance
imaging)
• fMRI (functional MRI)
• QEEG (quantitative EEG)
• PET (positron emission
tomography)
• CAT scan (computer axial
tomography)

23. QEEG - The Brainmap
• The brainmap is much
like a weather map
• It provides information
about what frequencies
or component bands
are high or low at
different locations

24. Brain Too Fast
• The red
shaded area
shows the
front of the
brain as being
overactive and
producing too
much beta.

25. Brain Too Slow
• The red
shaded area
shows the
front of the
brain as being
underactive
and producing
too much
alpha.

26. Distributions of Disorder
• LD often appears as posterior
elevated delta
• ADHD often appears as
elevated frontal theta
• Depression often appears as
elevated central or frontal alpha
• Anxiety often appears as
elevated frontal beta often in
conjunction with diminished
alpha
• Depression often also appears
as more slowing on the left,
while anxiety appears as
increased activity on the right

27. Discriminants
• Discriminants indicate
probability of a problem
present
• Discriminants are not
indicators of severity of
a health challenge
• We match symptoms
and behaviors to
discriminants
• Discriminants are for the
purpose of NFB training,
not medication or
medical intervention

28. Cognitive Analysis
• Cognitive analysis indicates probability
of a processing problem present
• We match subjective complaints to
formal scientific categories

29. Emotional Analysis

30. Before and After
• “Normal” known
• Most conditions have a
typical pattern of
departure from normal,
which is the cause of the
subjective experience
• Train to return to normal
• As function normalizes,
perception and
experience change and
symptoms lessen
Pre Map with high theta
Post map with normal
theta

31. Stress
• Cortisol binds to receptor sites
in the hippocampus, which is
central to memory formation
• Cortisol destroys brain cells;
increases metabolism so cells
essentially overheat and die
• Cannot learn complex tasks if
running stress response
• Improved tolerance to stress
in CNS is only way to
underwrite hormonal
restoration—the brain issues
the signal!

32. Background on Closed Head Injuries
and TBI
• On average, 1.4 million
people sustain a TBI
each year in the United
States
• TBI is caused by a bump,
blow or jolt to the head
• TBIs can be mild,
moderate or severe

33. Closed Head Injury
• Reduction in local
perfusion
• Drop in metabolic
capacity of tissue
• Drop in net frequency
and amplitude
• Less access to higher
frequency activity
• Reduction in higher
level processing
• Birth trauma

34. Signs of Closed Head Injuries
• Low-grade headache that
won’t go away
• Having more trouble than
usual remembering things or
paying attention
• Slowness in thinking or
speaking
• Getting lost or easily confused
• Feeling tired all of the time
• Change in sleep patterns
• Loss of balance, feeling light-
headed or dizzy
• Increased sensitivity to lights,
sounds, distractions
• Loss of sense of taste or
smell
• Ringing in ears
• Change in sexual drive
• Mood changes

35. Neurotoxins
Biological
• Bacteria
• Candida
• Fungus
• Molds
• Mycoplasmas
• Viruses
Environmental
• Metals
• Pesticides
• Alcohol
• Drugs
• Cigarettes

36. Neurotoxins in Pregnancy
Nicotine
• 50% greater incidence of
mental retardation
• 3x more ADD
• Reduces blood placental
blood flow, CO
• Interrupts neural
migration
• Deregulates dopamine
system
Mercury
• One of the most toxic
substances on earth.
• WHO: “unsafe at any
level”
• Affinity for lipids—myelin
• Causes structural
proteins to break apart
…cross the placenta and accumulate at higher concentrations in the
fetus.

37. Alcohol Abuse
Normal
38 y/o: 17 years of heavy
weekend use

38. Marijuana
Normal Underside
28 y/o: 10 years of mostly weekend
use; underside surface view decreased
pfc & temporal lobe activity

39. ADD
• “The first evidence for the brain being under
stimulated was introduced with the use of more
advanced… EEG… by Joel Lubar from the
University of Tennessee. He demonstrated that
when ADD children and teenagers performed a
concentration task there was an increased amount
of slow brain wave activity in their frontal lobes,
instead of the usual increase in fast brain wave
activity that was seen in the majority of the control
group.”
Dr. Daniel Amen

40. ADD Spect Studies
ADD at rest: note mild
decrease prefrontal area
ADD at concentration: note
marked decrease prefrontal
cortex and left temporal lobe

41. Autism
• Unable to process quickly changing or intense stimuli
• Fragmented sensory input as unable to keep up
• Sensory dis-integration; cannot integrate information
from more than one sense—thalamus
• Delayed processing; miss social cues—smile
• Difficulty in sorting information from noise
• Behavior aimed at shutting off sensory overload
• Less cell die-off, greater representation internally of
external world—too much information to process or
threshold for stimulation set too low
• Teething often sets pain perception thresholds

42. Parkinson’s Disease and the
Dopamine Deficiency Pandemic
• Electro-chemical
condition
• Motor cortex disturbance
exacerbated by stress
• Increasing in USA; also
increasing ADHD,
addictions, reward
deficiency and culture of
instant gratification! (from
article: “Is Google making us
stupid??”)

43. 1,000.0
1.0
1980
1970
100.0
10.0
1975
1960 1990
1985 1995
1965
0.1
Figure 5. Age-adjusted death rates for selected leading causes of death:
United States, 1958-2005
standard population
ICD-7 ICD-8 ICD-9
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis 1
Malignant neoplasms 1
Accidents (unintentional injuries) 1
Cerebrovascular diseases 1
Diseases of heart 1
1 Circled numbers indicate ranking of conditions as leading causes of death in 2005.
NOTE: Age-adjusted rates per 100,000 U.S. standard population, see “Technical Notes.”
2
3
5
7
1
Alzheimer’s disease 1
13
1958 2000
ICD-10
Hypertension 1
Parkinson’s disease 1
9
14
2005

44. Why EEG Neurofeedback?
• Interacts directly with
behavior of cortex
bypassing consciously
held agendas
• Utilizes the principles
by which the brain
learns: engage, reward,
repeat and re-enforce
• Drives plastic change
• Easy to participate
• Lasting change: THE
BRAIN LEARNS!

45. NeuroIntegration Technology

46. Sterman’s Research On Alpha & Arousal
• Pilots who were able to
consistently return to a
resting alpha state after
engaging a task had greater
stamina and performed
better than pilots who did not
(Sterman, 1995)
• Arousal should vary and
adjust with task complexity
• Withdraw Sensorimotor
Inputs:SMR appears
• Withdraw Cognitive
Processing: Alpha appears
• Withdraw vigilance: Theta
appears (Sterman, 1994)

47. Creating a Healthier Brain
Water
Exercise
Diet
Meditation
CranioSacral Massage

48. Nutritional Support
Essential Fatty Acids
• ProEFA
Multi Vitamin
• BioBalancer
• BioMatrix
Antioxidants
• PhytoRad Antioxidant
• CoQ10

49. Homeopathic and Herbal Support
Homeopathics
• ReHydration
• Circulopath
• Hypothalmapath
• Inflamma-Chord
Herbal
• Core Gingko Blend
• Core St. Johns Wort

50. Targeted Amino Acid Support
• Seratran
• Travacor
• AdreCor
• Kavinace
• 5-HTP Spray
• EndoTrex
• EndoPlus
• Calm PRT

51. Resources
• Dr. Richard Soutar
Doing NeuroFeedback
• Dr. Daniel Amen
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Healing ADD
• John Demos
Getting Started with Neurofeedback

52. Remember
• The function of your brain
determines your level of
consciousness and your
experience of the world.
• YOU are not your brain, not
a product of its collective
function nor its learned and
habitually expressed
patterns of behavior—these
will change over time.
• YOU are the uniting
principle behind all these
things.
• You should be running your
brain, not the other way
round!