Re: alternative method for training down theta? [1 Attachment]

[Guest guest]

Of course the very first thing to be aware of is that every time you blink or move your eyes, you're very likely to produce a burst of slow activity that looks like theta or delta.  If that's what is happening, you may end up training yourself not to blink, but you won't have much effect on brain activity.

Second thing is that theta around 7 Hz is actually a GOOD frequency, since it involves connection with the hippocampus or memory center..Looking at one thing in one place and deciding what to train is probably not the best way to decide on a training plan.  What are you noticing as a problem in your performance/mood/etc that you think is related to this theta?  Or have you just read that theta is " bad " ?

If you are training in a very small area as you are describing, aside from the fact that you have 4 channels and really want to use them all, I can't see any benefit to 4C over 1C.

Pete-- Van Deusenpvdtlc@...http://www.brain-trainer.comUSA 678 224 5895

BR 47 3346 6235The Learning Curve, Inc.

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 12:13 PM, Zumbach <zumbach@...> wrote:

 

[Attachment(s) from Zumbach included below]

Hey everyone,I realized recently that I have a great deal of theta popping up between FC3 and F3 and decided to start training it down.  I have some experience using bipolar montages but have decided that I am against using them.  Everywhere I read about bipolar setups (here, the Othmers, quantitative EEG textbook) it seems apparent that no one actually knows what is happening during the training.  We may be training the signal up at the active point or down at the active point, down at the reference or up at the reference, changing the phase relationship at either location in one direction or another, but in the end we have literally no idea what is going on other than a vague conception that the electrical activity at one site is now more similar or more different than the activity at the other.  

For this reason I have created a new design based on, of all things, the alpha-synchrony design that Les Fehmi uses.  The logic is that I can put four electrodes between FC3 and FP1 and then sum the theta at these locations.  I then set a threshold around 85% and set it to " decrease " so that when, for example, there is a burst of theta in my left frontal region pacman stops moving.  I find the inhibit only strategy appealing because once you train theta down the remaining activity will be whatever frequency of beta my brain is most comfortable making, as opposed to trying to get my brain to make a particular frequency of beta.

What are people's thoughts on this strategy and my rationale?  I would really appreciate any feedback at all. Zumbach