Describing the Energy Brain

Neurons are constantly receiving and sending information. Hundreds of chemical messages are arriving from other neurons in its networks at any moment. In response, an electro-chemical charge builds up in the cell body until it reaches a critical level.

Perhaps the most important question for anyone interested in changing brain activation patterns would be: Do they relate to how I think, feel, learn, and perform? Can changing one change the other in lasting ways? Let’s start there.

Energy Systems

A brain is not a heart, but both operate with electrical pulses.

Ideally a brain can sustain a state of slow dominance when, for example, listening to music, watching a movie or looking for a new idea. Ideally it can shift out and stay out of the state when there are tasks at hand.

When a brain is using a slow-dominant state—or when locked in it—we can describe how that person is likely to appear or feel.

In the prior section, we pointed out that slow frequencies are broadcast from sets of nuclei near the center of the brain. Neurons in the cortex don’t “make” theta or delta rhythms. They can resonate to them when they are not performing a task, as you might tune in to a transmission on radio, television or internet.

There is one middle frequency called Alpha that appears in all areas of the brain. Another, which only occurs in a specific area, is called Sensory-Motor Rhythm (SMR). Like slow frequencies, middle frequencies are broadcast by rhythm generators in the middle of the brain. Unlike the slow frequencies, which appear globally, middle frequencies are Regional.

So now we have looked at how each band of frequencies can affect what we do and how well. We’ve seen that fast and slow processing speeds and middle awareness frequencies each do certain things well and others not so well. Ideally, we understand that the brain has the ability to shift up and down the range, rest in the middle states and do all things at least fairly well.

Today we are going to talk about something other than the ideal…

Gamma is defined as a brain frequency ranging from about 25 Hz to 100 Hz or higher, though it is most strongly seen around 40 Hz. The discussion of Gamma and what it is and does has appeared fairly recently, since analog EEG readings don’t measure above 25 Hz. Even in the development of digital EEG, though Gamma had been identified in the 1960’s, the amplifiers used in recording EEG only registered into the low 30 Hz bands. As a result, Gamma is not included in most of the databases used today to determine what a “normal” EEG looks like.

Now that we’ve looked at the different frequencies of brain activity and how they relate to the states of our experience, it’s time to begin talking about the location of these frequencies and what effect that has, especially on our moods.
We’ll look at symmetry within two major frequencies: Alpha, the resting awareness state; and Beta, the active processing state. We won’t be comparing Alpha vs. Beta. Rather we’ll compare Alpha in one area against Alpha in another and the same for Beta. Read more…

Our brains are essentially powerful systems for producing and distributing energy. Work done with computer programs that emulate neural networks has shown that they have a tendency to run away with themselves. It is the brain’s control circuits which allow it to focus on useful functions.

One of the measures of the EEG that helps to identify areas where training may be helpful is variability. Read more…

As with any other part of the body, it is important for us to know how things change in the brain between resting, idling and activated states. When we assess brain activation, it is common look at eyes-closed, eyes-open Baseline and task conditions.

Ordinarily we expect to see the brain with eye closed at rest, though not sleeping. In most cases this appears as a brain dominated by the Alpha frequency, especially in the rear. Read more…