Dr. David Mitnick Speaks to Parents

Dr. Mitnick described neurofeedback as “brain training”, a process of repetitively engaging the brain in newer, more adaptive patterns by using operant conditioning to regulate brain activity. Dr. Mitnick displayed tracings of different EEG frequencies and showed how children can learn to increase specific frequencies by playing video games such as Pac Man and Space Race. Although Dr. Mitnick noted that neurofeedback was most effective in fear reduction and general affective mood regulation, he nevertheless described a series of quantitative EEG studies designed to establish the relationship between bioelectric patterns in the EEG and developmental deficits.