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Neurofeedback: What Does It Mean to “Train” Your Brain?

The phrase brain training can sound a little futuristic.

In reality, the basic idea behind neurofeedback is fairly straightforward: your brain is constantly producing electrical activity, and neurofeedback allows that activity to be measured and reflected back in real time.

That feedback gives the brain information about what it is doing.

Over repeated sessions, the goal is to reinforce more useful patterns of activity and help the brain become more flexible in how it responds.

Your brain learns through repetition

The brain is remarkably adaptable.

When a particular neural pattern is used repeatedly, that pattern can become easier for the brain to return to. This is useful when the pattern supports focus, regulation, or an appropriate response to stress.

It can be much less useful when the brain has become very practiced at remaining on alert.

Imagine walking through the same patch of grass every day. Eventually, a path appears. The more often you use it, the easier that route becomes to follow.

Neural pathways can work in a similar way.

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to adapt and reorganize. Neurofeedback uses that capacity by repeatedly giving the brain information when its activity moves toward a desired pattern.

It isn't forcing the brain into a particular state. It is giving the brain feedback it can learn from.

Where does qEEG brain mapping come in?

At Atlanta Therapy and Neurofeedback, neurofeedback begins with a quantitative EEG, or qEEG, brain map.

Sensors placed on the scalp measure electrical activity across different areas of the brain. That information creates a picture of brainwave patterns that can then be evaluated alongside a person's symptoms and clinical history.

The important distinction is personalization.

Two people may both describe difficulty concentrating, for example, while the patterns underlying those difficulties aren't necessarily identical. Beginning with a brain map allows training to be informed by the individual's own neurological activity rather than starting with the assumption that everyone with the same complaint needs the same protocol.

What happens during a neurofeedback session?

Despite all of the equipment involved, the training itself is relatively passive from the client's perspective.

Small sensors monitor brain activity while you sit comfortably and interact with visual or auditory feedback. The equipment is reading activity rather than electrically stimulating the brain.

As the software detects movement toward the activity being trained, the feedback responds.

You aren't consciously trying to produce the "right" brainwave.

Instead, the brain receives repeated information about its own activity and gradually learns from that feedback.

It's a little like learning balance. Someone can explain balance to you, but your nervous system ultimately learns it through repeated information about when you're stable and when you're not.

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