Treating Brain Networks Gains Support

The recent report from the University of Cambridge has reinforced the longstanding view of many clinicians and researchers in the neurofeedback community that improving neural connectivity is critical to improving cognitive, behavioral and other functions. Their research on children with learning challenges demonstrated the importance of modifying neural connection hubs rather than specific locations. 

 “Scientists have argued for decades that there are specific brain regions that predict having a particular learning disorder or difficulty, but we’ve shown that this isn’t the case,” said Dr Duncan Astle, senior author on the study. “In fact, it’s much more important to consider how these brain areas are connected – specifically, whether they are connected via hubs. The severity of learning difficulties was strongly associated with the connectedness of these hubs, we think because these hubs play a key role in sharing information between brain areas.”

Neurofeedback and neuromodulation techniques including photobiomodulation have shown that intervening at the network level can produchttps://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/learning-difficulties-due-to-poor-connectivity-not-specific-brain-regions-study-shows significant improvements across many different areas of functioning. The research now being done at Quietmind Foundation in collaboration with their study partners at Baylor Research Institute in Temple, TX has demonstrated this to be the case for helping reverse both motor, mood and cognitive functioning in older adults with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Future trials will integrate targeted light stimulation with neurofeedback training of specific brain networks to see how this may improve the robustness of clinical outcomes compared to light therapy alone.

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/learning-difficulties-due-to-poor-connectivity-not-specific-brain-regions-study-shows