biofeedback is like a new mirror

[gusl]

I love this definition of biofeedback:

<< Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately "feed back" information to the user. The presentation of this information — often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior — supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument. >>

That is, without biofeedback, we are (even more) blind to the what is going on in our bodies and brains. And just as people who are blind from birth fail to develop certain skills (e.g. posture), people without biofeedback are missing out on greater levels of self-awareness.
One could argue that you should be able to do all this through introspection, but the fact is that introspection is too narrow as a channel... the brain is most unaware of itself. However, by encoding the brain's (or the body's) activity as image and/or sound, we have a decent channel in which to observe it at work, and thus learn to control it better.

Just as motor learning relies on visual/tactile feedback, neural control relies on neurofeedback.


This is really cool: R. C. deCharms et al - Control over brain activation and pain learned by using real-time functional MRI

<< If an individual can learn to directly control activation of localized regions within the brain, this approach might provide control over the neurophysiological mechanisms that mediate behavior and cognition and could potentially provide a different route for treating disease. Control over the endogenous pain modulatory system is a particularly important target because it could enable a unique mechanism for clinical control over pain. Here, we found that by using real-time functional MRI (rtfMRI) to guide training, subjects were able to learn to control activation in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), a region putatively involved in pain perception and regulation. When subjects deliberately induced increases or decreases in rACC fMRI activation, there was a corresponding change in the perception of pain caused by an applied noxious thermal stimulus. Control experiments demonstrated that this effect was not observed after similar training conducted without rtfMRI information, or using rtfMRI information derived from a different brain region, or sham rtfMRI information derived previously from a different subject. Chronic pain patients were also trained to control activation in rACC and reported decreases in the ongoing level of chronic pain after training. These findings show that individuals can gain voluntary control over activation in a specific brain region given appropriate training, that voluntary control over activation in rACC leads to control over pain perception, and that these effects were powerful enough to impact severe, chronic clinical pain. >>

It's just like motor control, but it's purely neural control.

Comments

[stepleton.livejournal.com]

I've often thought that if trained monks can exercise conscious control over their blood pressure and heart rate, then with practice I could do the same for my frustrating seasonal allergies. Perhaps fMRI is the key.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

That would be cool! But probably a stretch, since (to my knowledge) your immune response is probably many steps removed from your brain.

Now I can't tell if you were joking about the potential of fMRI to treat allergies...

[stepleton.livejournal.com]

your immune response is probably many steps removed from your brain

Maybe. But I bet there are CNS mechanisms for inhibiting the release of histamine or activity of histamine receptors. Turning on the fight or flight response is a pretty good way to temporarily clear up a stuffy nose, at least in my experience...

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

how do you turn on your fight-or-flight? do you try to pick fights with angry people on the street?

[stepleton.livejournal.com]

Oh okay, a really good startle is enough, like say a close surprise encounter with some big insect, or having someone pop in on you in a dark room when you weren't expecting it.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

(as is sex)

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

even the self-inflicted type?

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Mos def. As an absent-minded asthmatic, I've often found myself wheezing in the middle of the night with no drugs to turn to, and it's certainly helped to resort to whatever's at hand.

Proper sex is better if I can manage it, I think because it gets the lungs good and revved up at the same time as relieving inflammation.