Seeing colors during eyes closed training

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You have struck upon an important finding in neurofeedback that is often ignored or misinterpreted. You are treating the lateral expanses of the precuneous region (P3-P4) and the medial temporal regions (T3-T4). P3 and P4 share network functions with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) around Pz. Your client has vague recall of faces. Here is a suggestion from the current literature (2008) about what is happening:

"...the PCC and medial temporal regions have been associated with the retrieval of autobiographical memories."

Carhart- RL, Mayberg HS, Malizia AL, Nutt D: Mourning and melancholia revisited: correspondences between principles of Freudian metapsychology and empirical findings in neuropsychiatry. ls of General Psychiatry 2008,7:9 [ Free Full Text: http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/7/1/9 ]

Further discussion of the roles of these regions in retrieval of autobiographical memories can be found below.

With respect to the visualization of colors... I do not know of any solid literature. But I can tell you of experiences of a number of people who do EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprogramming) and craniosacral therapy (especially using the "fourth ventricle compression technique"). First recall that the colors in the visible spectrum, from lowest frequency to highest, can be remembered from the mnemonic Mr. ROY G. BIV. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. From my own experience I am comfortable in monitoring the changes in color in those who experience such things. Typically, brownish, murky, or red orange colors often correspond to a toxic metabolic or repressive state. As the client's metabolic and psychic efficiency improve it is not uncommon to note a change in the colors visualized, tending now toward the Blue, Indigo and Violet.

I would be cautious for my client. Getting glimpses of faces in backgrounds of reds, oranges and yellows, has, in my limited personal experience, been associated with beginning to recall situations in which the client was abused or terrorized, often as a child, and dissociated as a result. I believe this has never been as eloquently described as in the timeless classic by Alice , "The Drama of the Gifted Child." It can be a painful but valuable process to awaken one day (even at the relatively mature age of 70) to the fact that all the partners one has chosen have had certain key physiological or energetic similarities to one's early abuser. As Alice points out, we often seek to reproduce early overwhelming situations in order to try to solve them and prove our worthiness.

For me, seeing vague faces in a red background may lead to what I call a "red thread" reaction - i.e., reactivity to sudden recall of previous traumatic events. It is a crucial event that must be managed appropriately. Mismanagement of such reactions is probably the main reason why neurofeedback can lead to adverse reactions. Hammond and Kirk (2008) have written that the majority of adverse reactions in neurofeedback occur in the context of either low frequency T3-T4 bipolar neurofeedback or alpha-theta training (P3-P4). There are elements of both in your current approach to your client. I think your approach is most likely valid, and that your client is fortunate to have you exercise her default mode networks. I agree completely with Pete's advice to let the client enjoy the experience. With such a level of comfort, any recovery of memory of traumatic antecedants is likley to be well tolerated.

Best wishes,

Dailey, L.Ac., BCIAC, BCIA-EEG

Further discussion of the role played by these cortical regions (pre-cuneous and medial temporal) and their 10-20 portals can be found in:

Maddock RJ, Garrett AS, Buonocore MH: Remembering familiar people: the posterior cingulate cortex and autobiographical memory retrieval. Neurosci 2001, 104:667-676.Maguire EA, Mummery CJ: Differential modulation of a common memory retrieval network revealed by positron emission tomography. Hippocampus 1999, 9:54-61. JL, Snyder AZ, Fox MD, BJ, s JR, Raichle ME, Buckner RL: Coherent spontaneous activity identifies a hippocampal-parietal memory network. J Neurophysiol 2006,96:3517-3531.Gilboa A, Winocur G, Grady CL, Hevenor SJ, Moscovitch M: Remembering our past: functional neuroanatomy of recollection of recent and very remote personal events. Cereb Cortex 2004, 14:1214-1225.