EEG like the machines used in hospitals, measure magnetic fields in the brain. Neurofeedback, or biofeedback with an electroencephalogram(EEG), is a potentially revolutionary technology. You can use it to train your brain for increased focus, improved meditation, and to alleviate various medical conditions including: substance abuse, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, OCD, learning disabilities, bipolar disorder, migraines, chronic pain, autism, and sleep disorders. Wow! It can really do a lot.
While neurofeedback is not a cure, it's definitely a great treatment. The gist of the treatment Nancy showed us included cycling your brain through various modes of operation, or various magnetic field frequencies. It's like weight training, where the different frequencies are the different machines in the gym. Cycling through them works out the different areas of the brain and gives you a total brain workout. Great!
So where can I sign up? Nancy Milnes runs a private Neurofeeback Psychotherapy practice with offices in Chicago and Homewood Illinois. She observed that after an average of ten sessions there would be a noticeable difference in brain activity. However if you don't like going to the doctor there's some other options that might fit your needs.
For those gamers out there the Emotiv Epoc is a PC game controller based on the EEG principals used in neurofeedback. It is available now from their website for $299 and has 3 available games: Emotipong, Cererbral Constructor, and Jedi Mind Trainer, along with a photo viewing app.
For the hacker/maker crowd there is the OpenEEG project. Which intends to make plans and
software freely available for you to make your own EEG machine and controller.
One day we'll be writing papers with our brains. Until then, I'll keep typing.
Pumping Station: One event
The OpenEEG project
Emotiv website
Emotive Epoc video demo
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