Abstract
This paper reviews the efforts of workers in the 1960s–1980s to demonstrate voluntary control of exogenously evoked (event-related) potentials in visual, somatic sensory, and auditory systems in rats, cats, and humans. The first part of the paper reviews the conceptual foundation and development of the work — it actually arose from traditional sensory coding and neural correlates of behavior studies. The second part summarizes recent applications of the method in the area of pain control. In reviewing these matters, the major effort is directed at revealing how the ideas unfolded in very human, day-to-day, anecdotal terms. There is not much of an attempt to formally review the literature, which is cited for consultation elsewhere. In the same spirit, many possible future experiments are suggested by way of elucidating the key remaining questions in the area.
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Some of the research reported here was supported by NIH grants DE05204 and GM23696. I have tried to make this material of interest to the general readership of this journal by emphasizing how, on a day-to-day basis, we thought about and planned our studies. Thus, I've tried to tell a true story of where the ideas came from and how some of them got executed, rather than write a formal review (several of which can be found in the references for this paper). I would really appreciate your comments. If nothing else, a postcard from you will give me an idea about how many people are reading this paper, and I'd like to know.
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Rosenfeld, J.P. Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback of event-related potentials (brain waves): Historical perspective, review, future directions. Biofeedback and Self-Regulation 15, 99–119 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00999142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00999142