HEG neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback training based on
the study of blood flow to areas of the brain. This translates into heat in
corresponding sections of the brain, picked up by infrared sensors during the
training.
HEG, or hemoencephalography, allows the person undergoing
the neurofeedback training to see exactly when overstimulation of certain areas
of the brain is occurring and allows them to increase the blood flow to other
areas of the brain.
The prefrontal cortex, also known as the PFC, is home to the
executive functions such as the ability to organize, to make decisions, to
focus, and to feel empathy for others. It is also the part of the brain that
can temper overstimulation in other sections. This is important because
disorders such as anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and out of control anger
are connected to exaggerated responses to stimuli. By learning to optimize the
activity of the prefrontal cortex through HEG neurofeedback training, that
overreaction to external stimulus can be tempered.
Here’s how that training might look: the patient is allowed
to view an emotional movie or images meant to evoke a strong emotional reaction
in the limbic system; when the heat sensors detect activity in that portion of
the brain, the image disappears. In order to bring the image back, the patient
is taught to move blood flow into the prefrontal cortex through visualization
of energy or warmth flooding that area of the brain. When the PFC is engaged,
it tempers the over stimulated limbic system.
With a fully activated prefrontal cortex, the patient is
more likely to remain in an alert state with top mental functioning. This also
means he may be less susceptible to an over stimulated limbic system and the
disorders that can result.
By harnessing the science of hemoencephalography through HEG
neurofeedback training, it is possible to bring relief from the symptoms of
many troubling emotional disorders.
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