How to reward mental imagination (internal visualisation) with sound?

General Discussion
1

Hello,

I would like to reward EEG where a mental image is successfully maintained by the ‘the mind’s eye’. This can be an object or a whole story e.g. landscape, tunnel, etc.

  1. where do I see this best in the EEG?
  2. how best could I reward with sound to help maintain the internal visualisation?

Thanks! k

2

Kris, hi. This is what pops up on a quick search,

https://www.google.com/search?q=eeg+correlates+of+sustained+attention

Not specifically visualization related, but I believe attention is involved. There are TWO attention networks in the brain, dorsal and ventral. Here is a great review paper,

Unfortunately, when you go to search on anything ‘imagery’ (or ‘imagination’) related, it pulls up tons of BCI papers on motor imagery. Not what you are looking for.

Also take a look at this thread on the OpenBCI forum,

The videos there show the neurofeedback protocols used for FA Focused Attention.

William

1 Like
3

Thank you William.

The plan at the moment is to use one of the Mindfulness NeuroMeditation protocols and reward increased theta and decreasing gamma. I like the idea of connecting this training with a ‘shamanic journey’ where the meditator listens to monotone drumming while trying to grab and sustain any internal story - which for me often feels like visuals (although it doesn’t seem to be like seeing with eyes).

I will study a bit…

Luc’s projects sounds great - maybe I should get in touch with him about findings.

Cheers! k

4

My understanding is that you would train central alpha for this because alpha is associated with a brake on attention to external sensory stimuli and corresponding shift to internal. And then you would also want to train focused attention to catch rumination. I don’t know how you would catch the visualization behaviour itself - that sounds a bit sophisticated for basic EEG.

1 Like
5

Thanks Paul,

alpha is associated with a brake on attention to external sensory stimuli and corresponding shift to internal

if alpha in general is associated with this break, why do you think it would be advised to reward central alpha, instead of alpha somewhere else?

Many thanks! k

6

Yeah, that’s a good question. I don’t think I can give a fantastic answer at my level of knowledge so you might want to take it up further with someone qualified. But I think the literature suggests that alpha training is a bit more complicated and risk-prone than some of the popular brain-hacking narratives suggest. Too much alpha in the wrong place can be bad. There’s a huge literature on it too, starting with Joe Kamiya in the sixties.

1 Like
7

Great. Many thanks Paul. I will read a bit more…

Thanks, k