The effects of bilateral EEG biofeedback on verbal, visual-spatial, and creative skills in learning disabled male adolescents

Utilizing Electroencephalography Measurements for Comparison of Task-Specific Neural Efficiencies: Spatial Intelligence Tasks

Spatial intelligence is often linked to success in engineering education and engineering professions. The use of electroencephalography enables comparative calculation of individuals' neural efficiency as they perform successive tasks requiring spatial ability to derive solutions. Neural efficiency here is defined as having less beta activation, and therefore expending fewer neural resources, to perform a task in comparison to other groups or other tasks. For inter-task comparisons of tasks with similar durations, these measurements may enable a comparison of task type difficulty. For intra-participant and inter-participant comparisons, these measurements provide potential insight into the participant's level of spatial ability and different engineering problem solving tasks. Performance on the selected tasks can be analyzed and correlated with beta activities. This work presents a detailed research protocol studying the neural efficiency of students engaged in the solving of typical spatial ability and Statics problems. Students completed problems specific to the Mental Cutting Test (MCT), Purdue Spatial Visualization test of Rotations (PSVT:R), and Statics. While engaged in solving these problems, participants' brain waves were measured with EEG allowing data to be collected regarding alpha and beta brain wave activation and use. The work looks to correlate functional performance on pure spatial tasks with spatially intensive engineering tasks to identify the pathways to successful performance in engineering and the resulting improvements in engineering education that may follow.

Clinical Neurophysiology in the Schools

Criticisms of many commonly used psycho-educational tests have stimulated interest in development of more objective and culturally less biased assessment procedures. The disciplines of neuropsychology, electrophysiology and psychophysiology use procedures which could be of value in this regard. Potential contributions of each of these disciplines are discussed. Brief descriptions are given of representative assessment tools used by clinical neuropsychologists and psychophysiologists. Several approaches to computer scored measurement of electrical activity of the brain in assessment of school learning problems are described.

Biofeedback and gifted children: an initial investigation

37 intellectually gifted students were given a 15-min. training session in EMG frontalis biofeedback to determine its effectiveness for reduction of stress. While differences across sex in biofeedback training were not found, these highly able students significantly reduced their levels of tension.