NeuroDynamic Activator™ |
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For Peak Performance and Meditation |
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About Us |
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To contact us: Phone: 323.292.2550 E-mail: roshicorp@roshi.com |
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Mr. Davis, began writing the computer code for ROSHI in 1988. Originally, he named his invention TALOS4 MindWorks, but changed it to ROSHI after a visit to Japan where he net a Zen master referred to as ROSHI. If one remembers, TALOS4 in Star Trek was the land of Illusion. When he learned about the master’s ability to keep his student’s in the “now” or present, he decided to create a computer program that would imitate the master. Similar to being coached by a Zen master, the computer program was designed to train one’s brain and “toughen you up.” Most of the feedback modes embedded in the and subsequent programs are based on ideas and previous research of the following persons: Ochs (1992), Patton (1993, 1995), Peniston and Kulkowsky (1991), Lubar (1991), Green, Green, and Walters (1970), Pfurtscheller and Aranibar (1977), Cade and Coxhead (1989), Fried ( 1989), Tansey (1984), Tachiki, Ochs, and Weiler (1994), Gevins et al. (1979). The authors apologaize if others have been inadvertently omitted form this list. There have been three generations of ROSHI instruments and procedures. First Generation In 1992, a company know as Advanced Neurotechnologies, Inc. was involved with training of Olympic and professional athletes using its BrainLink neurofeedback system, which incorporated the so-called Patton Protocol (Patton, 1993). This process, with its associated hardware and software, was licensed to RoshiCorp of Los Angeles for the manufacture and distribution of a fully integrated unit that would automatically implement the Patton Protocol. The resulting ROSHI system (ROSHI I) utilized an Amiga desktop computer and carried the BrainLink logo. It was featured in hundreds of publications, radio shows, and television programs worldwide. ROSHI/BrainLink training protocols for developing peak performance were used with athletes from many sports including karate, golf, baseball, ice-skating, and kayaking, and several controlled research studies were completed. In addition to the Patton protocol, there were some 20 other preprogrammed protocols that could be explored, including enhance or inhibit protocols for beta, theta, alpha/theta, and synchrony training. In particular, as the ROSHI/Amiga software was some of the earliest interhemispheric neurofeedback training software, which included the fasted response times available, Dick Patton felt that this software would be a perfect platform in which to embed his BrainLink peak performance training protocol. This protocol entailed the use of three proprietary frequencies that had to give feedback within 16 msec of crossing a given training threshold, putting this training beyond human volition, that is beyond human ability to consciously thwart its effects. In 1995, ROSHI/BrainLink began to investigate EEG in relationship to chaos theory and complex chaos “audio-visual stimulation.” This came to involve EEG coupled with photostimulation (light) or electromagnetic stimulation (EM). We now refer to this as “neurofeedback enhanced by light or electromagnetic closed-loop EEG” Ibric, 2001, 2002a,b). As initially used in the ROSHI I, this involved what we term the “discrete adaptive modality” of stimulation. The latter term was first used by Len Ochs (1992). It refers to modification of brain electrical activity by use of program, which detects, follows, and discourages the dominant EEG frequency by use of photostimulation. The coauthor created and used a modified version of this in the ROSHI I. In that version, training was accomplished by following the dominant frequency and switching light frequency up and down a few Hertz from the dominant one every fifteen seconds. In this manner, the dominant frequency was inhibited. Since the glasses (goggles) used in presentation of the light stimuli had LEDs on each side, it was possible to also program phase relationships between the right– and left-side lights such that appropriate entrainment of phase relationships (synchrony) within a client’s EEG could occur. Although this type of training has been reported to be effective (e.g., Hammond, 2000), the author has found that it produces adverse reactions in some clients with posttraumatic brain injury symptoms. Instead of the discrete adaptive, the complex adaptive modality came to be preferred. This complex adaptive modality was the coauthor’s brainchild. It involves extracting the error aspects of one’s EEG, for example, features such as transients, from the wideband EEG, and feeding back to the client nonerror features of his or her brain electrical activity in the form of light flashes very much in real time. This is referred to here as “NF (neurofeedback) closed loop EEG” because the EEG activity of the client is delivered back in a closed loop mode to his or her eyes and brain as light flashes and electromagnetic waves respectively. The computer can be set to enhance or inhibit, as appropriate, any particular frequency of frequency band, thus encouraging of discouraging some particular feature of the EEG. A similar process is true for phase conjugation protocols. Phase synchrony is closely associated with “coherence,” or point-to-point information transfer and agreement within the brain’s neurology. This type of procedure proved to be very powerful and is usually readily accepted by clients. Second Generation The Standalone/ROSHI II and II+ had a new configuration, which allowed the equipment to be used with or without the ROSHI compute-driven software. In 2000, under the coauthor’s supervision, the chief engineer at Photosonix was contracted to move what we refer to as complex (adaptive) routines to the then new EEG-driven ROSHI II unit. ROSHI II+ differs from the ROSHI II in that the system contains one complex (adaptive) and one discrete modality, instead of two complex (adaptive) modalities. The discrete was set to stimulate only the 40 Hz frequency. Third Generation The newest in the ROSHI line is the pROSHI/BB (personal ROSHI/Brain Brightener). It was created by the second author as an entraining/disentraining instrument. Following the idea that a “good “ brain should be a flexible brain. Its algorithms are based on a concept of chaos theory. Light of EM waves ae presented to the client in a standardized complex (adaptive) mode as mentioned earlier for purposes of entrainment/disentrainment. This is designed to encourage the brain to imitate the sequence of frequencies presented by the pROSHI in a flexible, yet not abnormally variable manner. Therefore, the pROSHI uses the very advanced concept that the brain itself can become its own neurofeedback device, correcting its own internal errors, given the proper external (proprietary) neurostimulus. ROSHI is the first neurofeedback instrument that used EM as closed loop-EEG-EM. Among the “Roshinis,” the author is believed to have been the first to use EM for prolonged times. Specifics of several application and protocols have been presented at conferences (Ibric, 1998,199,2000,2001, 2004). Applications have included drug resistant sleep disorders, addictions, head injuries, and tremor. We now use EEG-EM at low energy levels. Initially, we tried following the work of Reuven Sandyk who used picoTesla levels of pulsating transcranial stimulation, and reported good results in cases of Parkinson’s disease (Sandyk, 1997), multiple sclerosis (Sandyk, 1997), and central pain (Sandyk, 1995). However, we noted while monitoring clients’ brain electrical activity during training on the ROSHI I that the higher EM fields disturbed the activity. By lowering the EM field and keeping it between 2 and 10mGauss, such disturbance was not noted, yet positive effects were found. For example, the tremor of one patient was observed to subside Furthermore, use of EM at these levels was noted to coincide with stabilization of coherence measures. Since 2001, the author has had an opportunity to apply closed loop EEG-EM in several cases of Parkinson ‘s disease and sleep disorders. Such electromagnetic-enhanced neurofeedback seems to produce structures of the brain such as the basal ganglia, interior olive, or pineal gland is called for, and where light stimulation proved insufficient to produce significant change. Excerpted from “Handbook of Neurofeedback”
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