EIGHT TO TWELVE HERTZ OCCIPITAL EEG TRAINING WITH MODERATE AND SEVERELY RETARDED EPILEPTIC INDIVIDUALS

Three retarded epileptic individuals, with a variety of seizure disorders, were provided with 8-12 Hz occipital EEG biofeedback training. While seizures were not totally eliminated in any of the subjects, the results of the study indicated that all subjects exhibited decreases in some aspect of their seizure activity. The inability of all of the subjects to increase 8-12 Hz activity may best be explained in terms of the differing degree of effectiveness of the feedback stimuli in terms of their function-ality as reinforcers. The results of the study indicate that changes in procedures will be necessary in order to determine if 8-12 Hz occipital EEG training is effective in reducing epileptic seizures. The effect of training various EEG central rhythm activities on seizure frequency appears questionable due to the lack of correlation between changes in seizure acti-vity and the specific EEG parameters trained. Stern-ran and Friar (1972) reported a reduction in seizure frequency by provid-ing a patient with sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) training. SMR activity was defined as a subdominant frequency of 11 to 13 Hz varying from 5 to 20 uv, which was recorded from an anterior lead positioned intermedi-ate between F3 and C3 (international 10-20 system) sites and posterior lead positioned between CR and Ps. The patient received feedback whenever SMR activity was pro-duced. Sterman, MacDonald, and Stone (1974) reported further data on four epileptics with varying types of seizure disorders. Feedback Requests for reprints should be sent to Eric Rud