Moved - Discussing Merits/Legitimacy of Mid-Brain Activation

[Mandabplus3]

We use the music as background music, usually while the kids are doing home work and preferable for 10 minutes before they start their homework/ after schooling stuff. If I play it before they do piano they can focus better and learn their music faster also. The alpha and theta music can be used as relaxation or meditation  but it isn't necessary. I am sure the theta music would be much more beneficial if it was being used during rest time,( or as a meditation before sleep)  rather than study time but the alpha and subliminal music can be used anytime with complete success.
I can feel it in my head as a kind of pressure behind my temples and I need to be careful not to overuse them or I get a head ache. Doesn't seem to effect my kids or my hubby at all though. It just means I don't hit repeat on the iPod!    I think the alpha music is a must have in any house hold. It is retry calming and has an overall positive effect on the home and people in it.

Bella I will Dropbox it as soon as I have a minute

[bella]

thanks manda , One of the therapies we did for isa to try to overcome her spasticity is neurofeedback , where her head is hooked by electrodes to a machine , to he computer ,A software is played on the computer showing brain waves , sometimes games , she will need to concentrate to bring her brain waves to alpha ot relax , she doesn't need to use her hands , just do it in her mid and whenever she could achieve it the software will play  an sound as an affirmation of her success , it is like training he brain to relax , and you can see thanks to the electrodes everything going on your brain , on the screen .
Athletes use this kind of neurofeedback and biofeedback in their training .
viv

[Wolfwind]

I've never even considered any of this, but it's been interesting to read!  Some people mentioned Brain Gym, so I got that book out of the library.  I can see why TmT said she wrote it off the first time she saw it, because it didn't impress me much, but I'm willing to try things out.  Is anyone actually doing it with a toddler?  I can't figure out how to get my 2 1/2 year old involved.  Do you do one exercise at a time throughout the day?

Manda, what alpha music do you use?  That sounds like it would be fun to add to our day.

[Mela Bala]

Hi Wolfwind,
I've been introducing brain gym to my son with scooter and me dvds
http://www.move-with-me.com/store/scooter-me-active-play-social-skills-program-9-yoga-movement-story-video-classes
Was given a book at the local Power Brain Training center called Power Brain Kids-here is a link on amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Brain-Kids-Lessons-Potential/dp/1935127357
I usually pick one excercise and demonstrate and then help guide his form.  It's fun when Dad is home so he can watch his form while I guide him.  He has a lot of fun with it and at the oddest times (like at the circus) you can catch him practicing. 
The above links I posted are working well with him and as he gets older I will introduce more complex excercises. http://www.drjnorris.com/downloads/braingymactivities.pdf

[Mandabplus3]

I have a couple of different alpha music CDs and MP3s. The one from rightbrainkids ( tweedlewink company) is lovely to listen to.
We had a few in the house when I was growing up, mum used to play them to calm us kids down. We were pretty full on kids and there were 4 of us. She said it worked most times but sometimes she gave up and sent us down the back paddock to run it out! 
Another one I got  as a download is very good. I can tell when they are good, pressure in the brain.  it is a deep alpha one that I have although the theta one is available also. The alpha one is good for study or relaxation but it will stop you from falling asleep so not so great for bedtime music. They do sell a couple of sleeping ones if you need help relaxing kids to sleep.
The alpha and theta ones tell you how many ...... How low the brain waves go?
Anyway this website also sells the accelerated learning music as subliminal messages and you can click through to find out what those messages are. We play one of these each day at home and then something educational in the car ( because you arnt supposed to get too relaxed while you are driving! )
http://www.innerpeacemusic.com/prod/best-selling-cds.html

[Mandabplus3]

Silly stories for photographic memory.
I have complained in the past that all the products available for silly story's or memory linking don't go far enough. They are too short, too slow and too easy to master. I also complained that it was really difficult to make your own. Gee I wine alot hey? 
Ok so I found a solution 
When my hard drive crashed, my file recovery effort extracted ALL the image files from my computer separately to whatever content they were embedded in. So I ended up with a ( quite rediculous) large amount of pure images. Most in cartoon style. I have no idea where they all came from BUT I selected about 200 images and right clicked them then printed them ( like you would print off photos) multiple images to a page. The perfect size for us seems to be 9 to a page or wallet size. Then I just cut them up.
I spent a few days showing the cards and making up stories for my kids and now they make up their own stories for each other. They have so much fun making up stories I need to remind them to actually guess the pictures too,  
I think ( though I haven't tried yet) it would be quite easy to isolate just images on any computer and print of your own cards this way just by searching only for images. Or Jpeg files.
Making up silly stories seems FAR more daunting than it appears. I encourage you all to have a go at it. If I am doing the story and I just can't think of anything fast enough to keep the flow I just put that card to the back and use the next one. My kids like them done fast and funny. They usually race each other to say the answer when we work as a group to guess. I always try to find time one on one but with three kids "guessing" 100 cards is an easy achievement and they get a kick out of doing so many.  It is easy to self test yourself making up your own stories first and holding the cards upside down but don't let your kids self test they just can't help but peek! 

[Tamsyn]

I found the video that I saw a couple years ago that I instantly thought of when I learned about midbrain activation.  I have a hard time believing that he can play video games by sound alone, we just don't know how else to explain how a boy without eyes can "see".

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/AiBeLoB6CKE&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/AiBeLoB6CKE&rel=1</a>

[Ruwan]

Here is the full copy of Frederick Pierce's book.  You can even download it as a pdf.  Forgot to say its free too.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t0qr5nb5j;seq=11;view=1up

That link does not work - have you downloaded a copy ?

[robbyjo]

Midbrain area is where dopamine (or "reward hormone") is processed. Basically, when dopamine is released, our body will feel good. There is strong evidence that dopamine is involved in cognitive function, especially learning and memory. However, to date, the structure or how the dopamine system works is still largely unknown, especially in humans (as of Feb 19, 2014). This means that we still do not know how to "activate" such system at will for the benefit of cognition growth or what not. I would imagine that such activation will implicate a lot of systems (like appetite, motivation, emotion, addiction, etc.) and it would be really hard to narrow the focus of such activation only to cognitive purposes without side effects. Moreover, wrong activation (using Pavlovian Conditioning) would cause problems.

There are Pavlovian Conditioning and Instrumental Conditioning in learning. Both are recently (as of Jan 2014) shown to activate dopamine. I would say that such conditioning methods could be considered as "midbrain activation" methods---although that term is somewhat foreign to me.

That's actually the scientific side of midbrain "activation". I was flabbergasted to read claims about "scientifically proven" fantastical midbrain activation methods in some articles. Let's just say that I am highly skeptical of any of those claims. If the methods actually hold water, I would like double-blind randomized trial.

Don't get me talking about alpha-wave brain activation, etc. I can supply scientific evidence from that side too.

[robbyjo]

Oh, also... The left brain vs. right brain "difference" is a myth. Here is an article explaining why such myth won't die. I hope I am not perceived as disrespectful, I am just stating the facts.

[CVMomma]

Midbrain area is where dopamine (or "reward hormone") is processed. Basically, when dopamine is released, our body will feel good. There is strong evidence that dopamine is involved in cognitive function, especially learning and memory. However, to date, the structure or how the dopamine system works is still largely unknown, especially in humans (as of Feb 19, 2014). This means that we still do not know how to "activate" such system at will for the benefit of cognition growth or what not. I would imagine that such activation will implicate a lot of systems (like appetite, motivation, emotion, addiction, etc.) and it would be really hard to narrow the focus of such activation only to cognitive purposes without side effects. Moreover, wrong activation (using Pavlovian Conditioning) would cause problems.

There are Pavlovian Conditioning and Instrumental Conditioning in learning. Both are recently (as of Jan 2014) shown to activate dopamine. I would say that such conditioning methods could be considered as "midbrain activation" methods---although that term is somewhat foreign to me.

That's actually the scientific side of midbrain "activation". I was flabbergasted to read claims about "scientifically proven" fantastical midbrain activation methods in some articles. Let's just say that I am highly skeptical of any of those claims. If the methods actually hold water, I would like double-blind randomized trial.

This makes me curious to know if any studies have been done to see the effects of midbrain "activation" on conditions such as Tourette's and Parkinson's, both of which seem to be related to the dopamine hormone.  I haven't read recent research on either of these, but several years ago when I happened to have 3 students at the same time with Tourette's, I remember finding it interesting that both Tourette's and Parkinson's were somehow affected by dopamine, although scientists didn't really understand how. 

By the way, it looks like congratulations are in order, Robbyjo!  A new little learner!  Wonderful!

[andreasro]

This makes me curious to know if any studies have been done to see the effects of midbrain "activation" on conditions such as Tourette's and Parkinson's, both of which seem to be related to the dopamine hormone.  I haven't read recent research on either of these, but several years ago when I happened to have 3 students at the same time with Tourette's, I remember finding it interesting that both Tourette's and Parkinson's were somehow affected by dopamine, although scientists didn't really understand how. 

Hi, I have to catch up to the entire discussion but this post reminded me of a recent show I listened to and great insight from a man who had Parkinson symptoms and they withdrew with adequate treatment (meaning NOT usual medical treatment for Parkinson which in turn makes things worse - John also says why this happens). Here is the website for more information. Note: He is talking about dopamine, ADHD, Parkinson and more. He also gives free access to a book.
http://www.marsvenus.com/blog/john-gray/download-john-grays-new-book-focus-natural-solutions-for-adhd

What puzzled me and I didn't know was that you can reverse Parkinson symptoms! Also that addiction and dopamine are related either we talk about drugs, sugar or other things... Hope the above link is helpful.

Andrea

[robbyjo]

This makes me curious to know if any studies have been done to see the effects of midbrain "activation" on conditions such as Tourette's and Parkinson's, both of which seem to be related to the dopamine hormone.  I haven't read recent research on either of these, but several years ago when I happened to have 3 students at the same time with Tourette's, I remember finding it interesting that both Tourette's and Parkinson's were somehow affected by dopamine, although scientists didn't really understand how. 

By the way, it looks like congratulations are in order, Robbyjo!  A new little learner!  Wonderful!

CVMomma, I doubt that the advertised midbrain "activation" would follow any of the conditioning methods known to science since the scientific conditioning/methods require some time to "sink in" (i.e., much longer than 2 days). Since I do not have any curriculum or material for these advertised methods, I am not acquainted to any of them. So, really, I cannot comment. Even if immediate measurable effects are not readily apparent after the 2 day workshop, I am still doubtful to any qualitative benefits, such as "mindfulness" or whatnot. I tend to attribute such qualitative benefits to placebo effects.

Tourette and Parkinson are not my area---but I think you're right that these are affected by dopamine. I think it is still way too early to see how, especially that some activation might do harm instead.

Thank you for the congratulation!

@andreasro: I don't think that Parkinson can be reversed just yet. There's an indication that it is a diabetic-like disease, as is Alzheimer, but it is still under intense investigation (as of Jan 2014). Caveat: This is not my area, so I might be wrong.

I highly doubt that a casual research by someone has no relevant scientific publications would result in "natural cure" for ADHD among other things. I respect John Gray for his Mars book, but he really should not offer medical advice. His wikipedia states that he obtained his Ph.D. from a correspondence university should speak volumes about his academic credentials. I don't think that his "cure" would hold in a rigorous clinical trial. His webpage is appropriately adorned with the following paragraph:

The statements and products referred to throughout this site have not been evaluated by the FDA. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. They are the expressed opinion of John Gray for the sole purpose of educating the public regarding their health, happiness and improved quality of relationships. Individual results may vary. Seek the advice of a competent health care professional for your specific health concerns.

In other words, Mr. Gray doesn't want to be held accountable for non-results or harm resulting from his advice.

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