BCIA TEST PREP - THE NEUROFEEDBACK BOOK - THOMPSON AND
THOMPSON ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Thorndike Effect - Law of Effect - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- A positive reward for a behavior is followed by
an increase in the probability of that behavior recurring.
What systems do we measure in biofeedback? - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Functioning of the autonomic
(i.e., sympathetic and parasympathetic) nervous system.
LORETA - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Low resolution electro-magnetic tomography assessment.
- Mathematical process that looks at surface EEG information and infers what activity is occurring in
areas a little deeper in the cortex.
- Data appears to correlate very well with MRI findings, but LORETA is very sensitive to many kinds of
artifact.
Advantages/Disadvantages of EEG - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Lacks spatial resolution of MRI or PET
- But, has best temporal resolution (you can see what the brain is doing over time very accurately)
- EEG is noninvasive, while other mapping techniques often involve injections of radioactive material.
Phase and Amplitude Changes - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Example: Two active sites in phase (i.e., both
rising and falling together)
- If first wave amplitude is +6 and the second wave amplitude is +4, the EEG amplitude will be 2 (i.e., 6-4)
Example: Two active sites NOT in phase (i.e., rising and falling at opposite times)
- If first wave amplitude is +6 and the second wave amplitude is -4, the EEG amplitude will be 10 [i.e., 6 -
(-4)]
- So, EEG amplitude changes can occur by changes in amplitude at either active or by a change in phase
of similar wave forms at the two sites.
- Lubar notes that, while it is harder to interpret what is causing the change, it also gives the brain more
ways of learning the task.
Event-Related Potentials (ERP) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- A measure of brain electrical activity that
occurs as a response to a specific stimulus (different from an EEG, which is a measurement of
spontaneous and ongoing activity in the brain).
, - ERP are time-locked, or show a stable time relationship to actual or anticipated stimuli.
- Example: Audiologists test hearing by measuring ERPs in response to a sound (ERPs should come at a
set time after the sound, and should be the same waveform).
Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Increased cognitive or sensitive
workload results in a decrease in rhythmic, slow-wave activity, and an increase in desynchronized beta
activity.
- Once a task is done, there is post-reinforcement synchronization (PRS), where the brain rewards itself
with a burst of alpha after completing a task.
- However, people can also shift to alpha when they are overwhelmed, which could be interpreted as
the brain giving up.
Richard Caton - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- First person to record electrical activity in the brain in 1875
Korbinian Brodmann - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- 1908 - He used meticulous dissections and cell staining
to examine the brain, the cortex, and the neocortex.
- Brodmann's Areas are still used to map the brain and its complex networks today.
Hans Berger - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- German psychiatrist who conducted EEG recordings in the 1920s
and made several observations that are still valid today (i.e., existence of alpha and beta waves as well
as the concept of alpha blocking). He also coined the word electroencephalogram.
Joe Kamiya - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- In 1958, demonstrated that individuals could identify when they
were producing alpha waves.
Barry Sterman - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- In the late 1960's, he demonstrated that brain waves could be
operantly conditioned (i.e., experiment where cats where trained to increase SMR).
Joel Lubar - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Pioneered neurofeedback treatment for children with ADHD and
identified theta/beta ratio as the key measure to differentiate between ADHD clients versus people who
do not have ADHD.
THOMPSON ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Thorndike Effect - Law of Effect - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- A positive reward for a behavior is followed by
an increase in the probability of that behavior recurring.
What systems do we measure in biofeedback? - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Functioning of the autonomic
(i.e., sympathetic and parasympathetic) nervous system.
LORETA - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Low resolution electro-magnetic tomography assessment.
- Mathematical process that looks at surface EEG information and infers what activity is occurring in
areas a little deeper in the cortex.
- Data appears to correlate very well with MRI findings, but LORETA is very sensitive to many kinds of
artifact.
Advantages/Disadvantages of EEG - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Lacks spatial resolution of MRI or PET
- But, has best temporal resolution (you can see what the brain is doing over time very accurately)
- EEG is noninvasive, while other mapping techniques often involve injections of radioactive material.
Phase and Amplitude Changes - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Example: Two active sites in phase (i.e., both
rising and falling together)
- If first wave amplitude is +6 and the second wave amplitude is +4, the EEG amplitude will be 2 (i.e., 6-4)
Example: Two active sites NOT in phase (i.e., rising and falling at opposite times)
- If first wave amplitude is +6 and the second wave amplitude is -4, the EEG amplitude will be 10 [i.e., 6 -
(-4)]
- So, EEG amplitude changes can occur by changes in amplitude at either active or by a change in phase
of similar wave forms at the two sites.
- Lubar notes that, while it is harder to interpret what is causing the change, it also gives the brain more
ways of learning the task.
Event-Related Potentials (ERP) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- A measure of brain electrical activity that
occurs as a response to a specific stimulus (different from an EEG, which is a measurement of
spontaneous and ongoing activity in the brain).
, - ERP are time-locked, or show a stable time relationship to actual or anticipated stimuli.
- Example: Audiologists test hearing by measuring ERPs in response to a sound (ERPs should come at a
set time after the sound, and should be the same waveform).
Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Increased cognitive or sensitive
workload results in a decrease in rhythmic, slow-wave activity, and an increase in desynchronized beta
activity.
- Once a task is done, there is post-reinforcement synchronization (PRS), where the brain rewards itself
with a burst of alpha after completing a task.
- However, people can also shift to alpha when they are overwhelmed, which could be interpreted as
the brain giving up.
Richard Caton - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- First person to record electrical activity in the brain in 1875
Korbinian Brodmann - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- 1908 - He used meticulous dissections and cell staining
to examine the brain, the cortex, and the neocortex.
- Brodmann's Areas are still used to map the brain and its complex networks today.
Hans Berger - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- German psychiatrist who conducted EEG recordings in the 1920s
and made several observations that are still valid today (i.e., existence of alpha and beta waves as well
as the concept of alpha blocking). He also coined the word electroencephalogram.
Joe Kamiya - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- In 1958, demonstrated that individuals could identify when they
were producing alpha waves.
Barry Sterman - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- In the late 1960's, he demonstrated that brain waves could be
operantly conditioned (i.e., experiment where cats where trained to increase SMR).
Joel Lubar - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Pioneered neurofeedback treatment for children with ADHD and
identified theta/beta ratio as the key measure to differentiate between ADHD clients versus people who
do not have ADHD.
