Voluntary Control of Patterns of EEC Parietal Asymmetry: Cognitive Concomitants

This experiment addressed two questions: is training for EEG parietal asymmetry using pattern biofeedback accompanied by predictable cognitive concomitants? and 2 are the cognitive concomitants of training for simultaneous bilateral activation of the hemispheres a simple additive combination of the two asymmetry patterns, or do they represent a unique to cognitive gestalt not readily predictable from the two asymmetry training conditions? Bilateral parietal EEG was recorded from 20 right handed subjects and filtered for 8–13 Hz activity. The four possible EEG patterns were quantified on line. All subjects received 12 min of EEG symmetry training (Lα^offRα_on ‐Integration) and 12 min each of EEG asymmetry training (Lα^offRα_on and Lα_onRα^offDifferentiation). Significant regulation of all three patterns was obtained. Analysis of post feedback questionnaires revealed that Lα^offRα_on. regulation was associated with significantly more verbal cognitions, while the L α^offRα_on pattern was associated with more visual cognitions, EEG symmetry regulation (Lα^offRα_on) produced a third pattern of cognitions different from both asymmetry conditions. The data suggest that feedback stabilized cortical patterning is associated with predictable cognitive concomitants and that puttern biofeedback procedures can be used to uncover the relationships between brain processes and subjective experience.