left hemisphere training

Interhemispheric EEG Training

Early clinical experience in this field with what has been commonly called beta/SMR training, as opposed to alpha/theta, primarily involved training on the central (sensorimotor) strip. Our initial EEG training beginning in 1988 followed the work of Margaret Ayers, Barry Sterman, Joel Lubar and Michael Tansey by training either beta (nominally 15-18 Hz) or SMR (nominally 12-15 Hz) left, right or center on the central strip. Our experience with training left and right hemispheres separately with different reward frequencies actually led us to resist interhemispheric training for some time. Even though we were aware of the work of Quirk and Von Hilsheimer with C3-C4 SMR, we could not see how two hemispheres that needed to train at different frequencies could be trained together effectively with one reward frequency. Over time we developed the approach of balancing left-side beta and right-side SMR training for each individual in every session. It was clear that left-side training was more effective and more comfortable with a slightly higher frequency reward than that for right-side training. There emerged an identification of left-side deficits with under-activation and right-side deficits with overarousal. Since there was also an arousal shift for the entire physiology as we rewarded higher (beta) or lower (SMR) frequencies, we found that we needed to balance left-side activation with right-side calming for each individualaccordingtoarousallevel,symptomsandsensitivitytotraining.