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A new study has been carried out that involved the tests subjects being able to view their own brain activity and change after just one or two neurofeedback sessions. They were able to quiet the activity that occurred in the amygdala (the brain region that deals with processing fear and similar emotions) after receiving simple auditory or visual hints that corresponded to the activity level there.
Co-author of the study, Dr. Talma Hendler, is hopeful this technique could soon be used in the future as an alternative, inexpensive treatment for those suffering from stress or anxiety, or mental health related problems. She sees it as a potential substitute for children or those who are best not to receive medication for one reason or another.
It’s not a new discovery for scientists to see that people have the ability to shape their own brain activity and has been proved in the past. One example of this can be seen in meditation. It has been proven many times that meditation has the power to help with a number of ailments and illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and back pain and Buddhist monks are more proof that control over one’s mind can, in fact, be learned.
During the study, Hendler and colleagues had participants sit inside an fMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine while wearing an EEG (electroencephalogram) hat. While the fMRI showed which brain regions were active, the EEG measured the activity in the amygdala. It was then time for the patients to receive neurofeedback by either listening to a sound or by watching a movie of someone riding a skateboard. However, the test subjects were unaware that the loudness of the noise they heard or the speed of the person on the skateboard was determined by their amygdala’s electrical activity.
Results from the tests showed that people who are given clues as to the activity in their amygdala are able to reduce easier the amount of activity occurring in that particular region. Hendler commented, “It’s actually quite amazing that this plasticity takes place after one session or two sessions. Other psychotherapy techniques aimed at treating PTSD or anxiety often takes six, eight, or ten sessions.” However, it must be noted that these people were all healthy.
Next, participants were asked to try and mentally make the sound get quieter, or the skateboard gets faster. If they were successful in doing these tasks, what it really meant was that they were controlling the activity within the amygdala. From the studies, the team is hopeful that in the future wireless, sensors could be used by patients at home similar to the set up at the testing facility, and this could be used as an at-home treatment device for certain patients.
Google has been working on software that uses similar techniques to detect images by utilizing an artificial brain. Engineers used artificial neural networks to train it to detect and draw an image. This software can correctly identify patterns by having been fed millions of images by Google engineers. Now, through machine learning it has the ability to recognize images and patterns and can start to replicate them in an instant. Google engineers are hopeful that one day the software could become a tool for artists and could even provide more insight into the whole creative process itself.
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