Exercising the prefrontal cortex- HEMOENCEPHALOGRAPHY (HEG) biofeedback: The Migrane Example. Arnon Rolnick , Ernesto Sholomo Korenman, The Israeli Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Jeff Carmen Private Clinic , Manlius, New York

HEG – Frontal Lobe Blood Flow Sensor in the last 4 years, I have been in close contact with Dr. Jeffrey Carmen, who developed an infrared sensor to assess blood flow in the frontal cortex. Such a measurement can help us identify various problems associated with hypoactivity of the frontal lobe: attention deficit, anger and borderline personality disorder, and some types of anxiety disorders

The HEG Sensor

Background: When the frontal lobes are injured, surgically destroyed, or reduced in activity or volume, it gives rise to many pathological and psychiatric symptomology.

HEG – Frontal Lobe Blood Flow Sensor HEMOENCEPHALOGRAPHY refers to a special type of neurofeedback. It uses physiological signals from the brain, but these signals are based on blood flow dynamics rather than electrical activity. This has the distinct advantage of being free from electrical artifacts that can distort brain wave based neurofeedback.

DISORDERS OF RATE AND MAGNITUDE OF RESPONSE RELATED TO FRONTAL LOBE DYSFUNCTION ADHD MIGRAINE ANGER ANXIETY DEPRESSION

The Migraine study Method: 100 (36 males 64 females) Migraine sufferers subjects completed at least 6 sessions of half an hour. Results: 90 subjects reported significant improvement in their headache symptoms. It has been shown that passive infrared (pIR) HEG training is particularly effective in the treatment of migraine. For this, subjects are trained to increase the readings, (i.e. to “exercise” related brain function), monitored by the pIR HEG camera placed over the central part of the forehead (approximately Fpz) during approximately 30 minute sessions

NORMAL INFRARED IMAGE OF FOREHEAD (NO MAJOR SHADING VARIATIONS) (12 year old male)

ANXIETY AND ASSOCIATED CONDITIONS

ANGER AND DEPRESSION

ADHD (and some depression)

ASPERGER’S / AUTISM (with some depression)

Exercising the prefrontal cortex Exercising the prefrontal cortex seems to improve many auto-regulation functions of the brain. This may account for the recorded improvement in headache activity. Infrared forehead images captured to examine changes in prefrontal cortical brain activity show sustained increases in frontal lobe emission concomitant to positive therapeutic outcome.