Abstract
A basic question in EEG feedback training of epileptic patients is whether the decrease in seizures is specifically due to the training or to other factors. Questions may also be raised as to what EEG changes are involved. Preliminary results in five patients suggest that seizure reductions can occur with training which are not due to placebo or nonspecific effects or to changes in medication compliance. These changes occurred rapidly during EEG-contingent feedback training but not when feedback was random in relation to the EEG. Reliable changes in the EEG were also observed, but the question of which mechanism accounts for these results has yet to be answered.
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Read at the Symposium on EEG Operant Conditioning in the Treatment of Epilepsy: Research Methods and Clinical Findings, held at a meeting of the Pavlovian Society, Los Angeles, November 1975.
Supported by the West Haven VA Hospital (MRIS 3185-01), by NIMH Grant MH-05286, and by a Predoctoral Training Grant to W.N.K. from the Epilepsy Foundation of America. We thank T. C. Fisher and J. Jasiorkowski for assistance. Drs. R. Mattson and P. D. Williamson provided invaluable assistance and advice regarding clinical aspects of the study.
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Kuhlman, W.N., Allison, T. EEG feedback training in the treatment of epilepsy: Some questions and some answers. Pav. J. Biol. Sci. 12, 112–122 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03004498
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03004498