NeuroFeedback, NeurOptimal and Electroencephalography

[Persej]

The only connection that I was able to find between brain and proanthocyanidins is NAD+.

Dietary proanthocyanidins boost hepatic NAD+ metabolism and SIRT1 expression and activity in a dose-dependent manner in healthy rats

Proanthocyanidins (PACs) have been reported to modulate multiple targets by simultaneously controlling many pivotal metabolic pathways in the liver. However, the precise mechanism of PAC action on the regulation of the genes that control hepatic metabolism ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Grape Seed Proanthocyanidin Extract Moderated Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cellular Senescence Through NAMPT/SIRT1/NLRP3 Pathway

Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cellular senescence is an important process in degenerative retinal disorders. Grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE) alleviates senescence-related degenerative disorders; however, the potential effects of GSPE intake ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

You can also increase NAD+ with NMN and NR.

NMN vs NR: The Differences Between These 2 NAD+ Precursors

Discover details about NMN and NR from their molecular size to their positions in the biosynthesis pathway.

www.nmn.com

You can also get a direct NAD+ treatment.

I Got a $600 Brain 'Reboot' and It Changed My World

It's good to be skeptical about wonder drugs, because often there's nothing wonderful about them at all. So when a finance worker friend of mine told me he'd discovered a miracle treatment that gives him a huge advantage over his colleagues, I was dubious. "No—I'm full of energy every day and feel like a new person!" he promised. "I don't need to drink eight cups of coffee every day now; this is so much better, and I just get a top up every few weeks!"

I suspected he may have just found out about Modafinil, or one of the other study drugs internet psychonauts have already been using for years. But I was wrong. He sent me a link to a pharmacy in South Kensington offering intravenous "Brain Reboot Infusions," which of course sound far too much like something from Minority Report to be genuinely real. But I decided to give my friend the benefit of the doubt and do a little research anyway.

The main ingredient in the intravenous cocktail is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or "NAD+." Discovered in 1906, it's a coenzyme found in all living cells that is "essentially responsible for converting food energy into cellular energy," according to Dr. Mark Collins, consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital, Roehampton.

The internet tells me NAD+ is popular among the "anti-aging community," thanks to a Harvard Medical School study that found it rewound "aspects of age-related demise in mice." It's also supposedly good for: detoxing from alcohol and drugs, increasing energy and focus, reducing chronic fatigue, increasing your metabolism, and improving your cardiovascular health.

It still sounded like bullshit, but the only way I could tell for certain was to put it to the test. I'd quit drinking that particular week, and—as I'd learned online—this treatment could apparently help to mitigate my booze cravings, so the timing was perfect: I booked an appointment for the following day.

Zen Healthcare, just around the corner from Harrods, specializes in the kind of things you might expect a Knightsbridge clinic to specialize in: "bespoke weight loss therapies," travel vaccinations for far-flung locations, botox, "vampire facials," and, of course, Brain Reboot Infusions—which will set you back about $600. (Full disclosure: I got mine for free.)

I arrived a little early, but a Dr. Yassine was there to meet me and explain some of the side effects I might experience while receiving the treatment.

"You will feel your chest tighten and may get a headache," he said. "But this will pass."

I signed some waivers and was escorted to a room where Yassine took my blood pressure. Which, you'll be happy to hear, was normal.

"Are you OK with needles?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine."

Yassine inserted the drip and, a moment later, the "Brain Reboot Cocktail" was flowing through my veins. As he'd warned, I began to feel my chest tighten. Thirty minutes in, I started to wonder what I was doing—my head was aching, the discomfort was becoming kind of alarming, and I was suddenly acutely aware that a foreign substance had by now probably completely flooded my bloodstream. I toyed with the idea of hitting the buzzer Yassine had provided me with should I want to end the treatment, but I decided to stay the course.

Fifty minutes in, I felt a calm sense of positivity envelope my body. Yassine came in and said I had ten minutes left, which flew by. Removing the IV, he asked me how I felt.

"Kinda dreamy," I said.

"A lot of people say similar. Be careful on your way home."

I thanked Yassine more than I needed to. It was time for me to go.

I walked outside, and it hit me: I felt a surge of energy, but no jitters or edginess. My mood had noticeably improved. I felt poised, positive, and pumped-up. I remember thinking, This is awesome, and then saying exactly that out loud. I hopped on the subway, which was as crowded as ever, but for once all the back sweat and the fact it was nearly getting in my mouth didn't bum me out at all.

I woke up the next day at 7 AM and didn't feel horrendous, which is unusual for me. In fact, I felt great. The dreamy feeling had gone, but there was a definite improvement in energy levels, focus, and mindset. This continued throughout the rest of the day, and then for the following eight or so days. But what of its supposed effects on my otherwise unwavering love for beer?

"It's been known for decades that a high dose of vitamin B3—the 'poor man's' way of elevating NAD levels—has a beneficial effect for alcoholics, both in terms of detoxification and, perhaps more importantly, in reducing craving and anxiety levels after detoxification," said Dr. Mark Collins in an email.

And it seems the theory still holds: In all the time I could feel the treatment's effects, I didn't crave the cold embrace of a freshly poured pint even once.

That said, my cravings were just that: cravings. It's not like I was in the midst of a full-blown Stella dependence; I just like alcohol. So to find out how useful NAD+ therapy really is when it comes to drug or alcohol addictions, I asked Dr. Yassine to take me through the theory of how exactly a Brain Reboot Infusion can help someone suffering from withdrawal.

"NAD+ has a significant role in reducing the withdrawal effects by restoring the neurotransmitter balance, which shifts significantly after the drug that's been withdrawn has been removed," he explained. "As a result, the patient experiences almost no withdrawal symptoms whilst and after completing the infusion cycle."

Of course, Dr. Yassine works at a clinic that offers this procedure, so it would make sense for him to talk up NAD+. Still, Dr. Collins—who specializes in addictions and has no real reason to sing the treatment's praises—is also complimentary, if a little cautiously. "I have now witnessed its use in many patients and am very impressed with the short-term results," he said in his email, adding that "what is clearly needed is more research, and in particular longer-term outcome studies."

Dr. Yassine put me in touch with some patients, on the condition of anonymity, to hear how the treatment has worked out for them.

"I've been taking codeine for the last few months," said Jeff*. "It started with a back pain, and I never realized I was going to be hooked up. Then I tried to stop, and it was hell. But having tried NAD+ infusions, stopping codeine has been easier; I didn't feel all the debilitating symptoms I'd experienced earlier."

Ian*, who had been using crack and heroin, had a similar experience.

"I'd be lying if I said the thoughts [about picking up] aren't in my mind, and in my mind often, but that deep 'urge' that addicts will know about isn't there any longer," he said. "I also see a therapist to talk through and figure out why I'm driven to such behaviors, but as of right now, I feel a sense of self-control that I've not felt in a long time. I still have more treatments to go, and I feel I'll always need therapy, but thank God I decided to tell some strangers my deepest problems. Things could have been very different."

Ian's point is important: NAD+ therapy—while seemingly useful, according to everyone I spoke to—is not a panacea. While it may well dull cravings in some patients, it might not for others—and clearly it can't be relied upon exclusively without additional therapy and other forms of treatment.

For me, the treatment did exactly what it said it would, and there are promising signs that it helps with drug and alcohol withdrawal. But as for NAD+'s supposed anti-aging properties, or its ability to improve your metabolism and cardiovascular health, it's very early days. As Dr. Collins pointed out, much more research needs to be done before anything can be said for sure.

I Got a $600 Brain 'Reboot' and It Changed My World

NAD+ therapy can supposedly increase your energy, focus, and metabolism, improve your cardiovascular health, and help you detox from alcohol and drugs. All this, of course, sounds incredibly unlikely—so I thought I'd see for myself.

www.vice.com

 

[Persej]

The interesting thing about ADHD studies with grape seed extract is that it worked on children, but not on adults. And if the connection with NAD+ is true, then it makes sense, because children have more NAD+ than adults, so a little improvement in NAD+ production with grape seed extract might be enough for them but not for adults. So the adults probably won't feel many benefits if they take grape seed extract alone. Fortunately, there are many other things that can also improve NAD+. And,
fortuitously, I was taking a lot of them together, which would explain some of my experiences which I couldn't replicate because I had no idea what was going on. But it seems that things are finally starting to make sense.

 

[Persej]

I found a guy on YT who experiments with different things and also does lab testing. He says that he had no improvement in NAD+ with grape seed extract.

 

[Persej]

In recent years, there has been a lot of research on using the 40 Hz light therapy to stimulate the brain. You can find one review of that research here: Gamma oscillations and application of 40‐Hz audiovisual stimulation to improve brain function

They basically use a stroboscopic, 40 Hz, 50% duty cycle, light for visual stimulation. Which is sometimes also followed by the same 40 Hz audio stimulation. The problem with this method is that it produces a very unpleasant flickering light. But there is one study that showed that the same effect, although less strong, can be produced using the invisible flicker: Novel Invisible Spectral Flicker Induces 40 Hz Neural Entrainment with Similar Spatial Distribution as 40 Hz Stroboscopic Light

There is also a study that shows that cognitive task during this light therapy can improve the outcome: Cognitive tasks propagate the neural entrainment in response to a visual 40 Hz stimulation in humans

We are surrounded by flickering lights that have a negative effect on our brainwaves, but what if some flicker can be used for our benefit?

 

[Persej]

This sounds exactly how NeurOptimal neurofeedback works.

Novel Neurofeedback Technique Enhances Awareness of Mind-Wandering

Summary: Researchers have developed a novel neurofeedback technique based on Pavlovian conditioning that detects when a person’s mind is wandering.

Everyone knows the feeling. You are trying to concentrate on driving or studying, or paying attention in a boring meeting, but suddenly, you realize that you are thinking about something irrelevant to the task at hand.

While mind-wandering is sometimes associated with mental problems such as depression, it also contributes to our creativity. Therefore, what we need is not to avoid mind-wandering, but to learn how to manage it.

The first step to control mind-wandering is to realize that it is occurring. Once we notice it, we are free to stop or to continue it. At ATR, we developed the first method, a neurofeedback technique, to enhance awareness of mind-wandering.

We performed a double-blinded test with 36 participants and demonstrated that awareness of mind-wandering was significantly enhanced after 20 minutes of neurofeedback. Participants were assigned by computer to control and experimental groups and those assignments were withheld from experimenters.

During neurofeedback, artificial intelligence was used to identify mind-wandering of participants performing a task that requires concentration.

In the control group, soft tones were presented at irregular intervals. In the experimental group, those tones were sounded when neurofeedback detected that a participant’s mind was wandering.

However, until debriefing at the end of the experiment, participants in both groups were told that tones were meaningless and were instructed to ignore them.

Since people become aware that their minds are wandering at the time their attention is re-directed back to the external environment, we hypothesized that this novel neurofeedback creates a state in which participants become cognizant of mind-wandering whenever it occurs.

This study had two unique features. First, participants in the experimental group did not know that they had received neurofeedback and they didn’t realize that their awareness of mind-wandering had been enhanced. Second, in conventional neurofeedback, participants obtain rewards when they control their brains well.

In contrast, our neurofeedback employed no rewards or punishments. Instead, it was based on traditional (Pavlovian) conditioning.

This study did not reveal how long effects of this neurofeedback persist, but probably they will not last long. However, future studies will examine whether repeated neurofeedback endures in daily life, and we will also explore training techniques to improve mood and mental problems and to enhance creativity.

Novel Neurofeedback Technique Enhances Awareness of Mind-Wandering - Neuroscience News

Researchers have developed a novel neurofeedback technique based on Pavlovian conditioning that detects when a person's mind is wandering.

neurosciencenews.com

Absorption in mind-wandering (MW) may worsen our mood and can cause psychological disorders. Researchers indicate the possibility that meta-awareness of MW prevents these mal-effects and enhances favorable consequences of MW, such as boosting creativity; thus, meta-awareness has attracted psychological and clinical attention. However, few studies have investigated the nature of meta-awareness of MW, because there has been no method to isolate and operate this ability. Therefore, we propose a new approach to manipulate the ability of meta-awareness. We used Pavlovian conditioning, tying to it an occurrence of MW and a neutral tone sound inducing the meta-awareness of MW. To perform paired presentations of the unconditioned stimulus (neutral tone) and the conditioned stimulus (perception accompanying MW), we detected participants’ natural occurrence of MW via electroencephalogram and a machine-learning estimation method. The double-blinded randomized controlled trial with 37 participants found that a single 20-min conditioning session significantly increased the meta-awareness of MW as assessed by behavioral and neuroscientific measures. The core protocol of the proposed method is real-time feedback on participants’ neural information, and in that sense, we can refer to it as neurofeedback. However, there are some differences from typical neurofeedback protocols, and we discuss them in this paper. Our novel classical conditioning is expected to contribute to future research on the modulation effect of meta-awareness on MW.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0893608022004658

 

[Persej]

These headphones claim to use the same approach as explained in the previous post, but they don't offer any real-time feedback. Maybe they will add it in the future.

 

[Persej]

What kind of magic is this?

I made an AI summary of the third video for those who don't want to watch it:

00:00:00​

Dr. Clark Elliott discusses his personal journey of recovery from a traumatic brain injury in the YouTube video "The Ghost in my Brain". He highlights the prevalence of brain injuries across various demographics and the challenges of misdiagnosis and dismissal faced by those affected. Through his experience, Elliott showcases the promising field of brain plasticity and the transformative effects of neuro optometric brain rehabilitation techniques. By sharing his struggles with daily tasks, cognitive deterioration, and sensory overload following his injury, he emphasizes the importance of raising awareness about new treatment possibilities and destigmatizing brain injuries in society.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Dr. Clark Elliott discusses the prevalence of head injuries and the long-term impacts it can have on individuals from all walks of life. He highlights the common misdiagnoses and dismissals faced by those suffering from brain trauma, ranging from military veterans to young soccer players and elderly individuals. Despite the historical lack of understanding and treatment options for brain injuries, Dr. Elliott emphasizes the promising field of brain plasticity, which posits that the brain is adaptable and can reassign functions to healthy areas. Through his own personal journey of recovery, he sheds light on the importance of raising awareness about new treatment possibilities and the need to destigmatize brain injuries in society.
• 00:05:00 In this section, Clark Elliott discusses his book "The Ghost in my Brain" and the three purposes behind it. He shares that the detailed account of his brain injury experiences has resonated with readers who felt relieved to know they were not alone in their struggles. Elliott receives numerous heartfelt messages from people worldwide, including military personnel, expressing gratitude for believing in them and acknowledging their experiences. He emphasizes the importance of neuro Optometric brain rehabilitation techniques, backed by hard science, and celebrates the remarkable capabilities of the human brain, highlighting its computational power compared to millions of desktop computers.
• 00:10:00 In this section, the speaker reflects on his unique position resulting from a brain injury that slowed down his processing speed, allowing him to observe and record the slow-motion processing of his brain, which later led to the publication of a book about his recovery journey. Despite being told he would not recover, he showed dramatic improvement within just 3 weeks of starting Optometric and cognitive restructuring treatments. The speaker describes the insidious nature of concussions, sharing personal experiences of struggling with daily tasks and cognitive deterioration, emphasizing the importance of simple treatments like paper and pencil exercises and prescription eyeglasses in aiding his full recovery after two years of dedicated effort.
• 00:15:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the challenges of diagnosing brain injuries due to the difficulty in recognizing the missing aspects caused by the damage. He shares personal experiences such as losing the right side of his world, inability to initiate actions like rising from a chair or walking through doorways, and struggling with balance problems. Additionally, he explains the complex relationship between the inner ear, visual system, and proceptive sense in maintaining balance, detailing how he had to rely heavily on his damaged visual system to compensate for his impaired inner ear function. The speaker also touches upon the importance of the visual system in processing sounds and creating visual images from speech, showcasing the intricate connections within the brain affected by his injury.
• 00:20:00 In this section, the speaker describes how his head injury affected his ability to use his visual system to interpret speech and maintain balance, resulting in intense nausea and pain when engaging in tasks requiring visualization. He also discusses the constant pain, decision-making difficulties, and inability to multitask commonly associated with head injuries. Despite struggling with tasks like copying a simple drawing or making decisions, the speaker found relief and regained function through working with a professional, showcasing the journey towards recovery after experiencing the challenges brought on by his injury.
• 00:25:00 In this section, the speaker shares how a head injury affected his ability to process auditory information, leading to difficulties like prolonged seizures and challenges with automatic processing of audio signals into meaningful symbols. He discusses the necessity to wear glasses in some cases to help with hearing difficulties, highlighting the importance of visual spatial processing in human cognition. Additionally, he reflects on the significant impact of losing the ability to understand time due to impairments in ordinality and ordering properties of numbers, citing examples of others with head injuries facing similar struggles. The speaker also describes the overwhelming experience of sensory overload without the ability to filter incoming stimuli, likening it to a state of constant sensory chaos that can feel like madness.
• 00:30:00 In this section, Clark Elliott discusses the intense alienation he experienced after a head injury, feeling like an exile from the human race and longing to be human again. Despite being told his brain injury was permanent and feeling hopeless, he was one of the few who experienced recovery through a treatment plan based on neuroplasticity. Using context-free visual puzzles and prescription eyeglasses, the treatment focused on building new cognitive pathways in his brain and avoiding damaged areas. By emphasizing healthy pathways to the visual cortex, his brain was able to reconfigure and adapt, allowing him to regain visual-spatial reasoning abilities necessary for his work as a professor of artificial intelligence.
• 00:35:00 In this section, Clark Elliott describes his journey of relearning basic visual-spatial concepts through intensive cognitive exercises with a therapist. Starting from identifying simple shapes like triangles and squares, he gradually progressed to complex visual puzzles that required cognitive processing and constraint recognition. He also underwent optometric treatment involving Neurodevelopmental Brain Techniques, where his optometrist altered the input to his retina to reconfigure his brain's processing paths. Through prism glasses and various tests like the Padula visual midline shift and the King-Devick test, his brain was trained to improve visual-spatial processing, ultimately impacting his overall cognitive functioning. Additionally, he highlights a case where a student struggled with physics due to visual processing difficulties, showcasing the importance of addressing underlying visual-spatial challenges in cognitive tasks.
• 00:40:00 In this section, Clark Elliott discusses the importance of depth perception in relation to the balance between the processing abilities of our eyes. He explains how when one eye lags behind the other in focusing and adjusting angles, it can result in a loss of depth perception, making it difficult to understand spatial relationships in tasks like mental rotations required for studying Physics. He also delves into the three categories of retinal input, including non-image forming pathways that play a significant role in our spatial awareness, emotions, and overall grounding in the world. Elliott highlights the impact of glasses on these pathways, emphasizing the importance of considering these aspects when addressing visual processing issues to fully comprehend human perception.
• 00:45:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the profound impact of receiving treatment for brain injury using prisms to correct visual issues. The treatment resulted in a remarkable transformation as the individual regained lost abilities and memories, symbolized by the metaphorical return of his former self. While reflecting on the potential scientific and spiritual explanations for his experience, the speaker expresses immense gratitude for the individuals who helped him regain his life. The speaker emphasizes the importance of neurodevelopmental optometry in addressing the effects of head injuries, highlighting the successful results and broader acceptance of this approach in the medical community. Additionally, the speaker outlines the impact of cognitive restructuring and visual puzzles in treating certain classes of mild traumatic brain injury, underscoring the urgency of addressing the epidemic of head injuries in the United States.
• 00:50:00 In this section, Clark Elliott discusses the significant changes in his brain state when wearing prescription eyeglasses, even with his eyes closed, due to the impact of non-image forming retinal processing pathways that operate in low light conditions. He also explores the potential applications of neurodevelopmental optometry in assisting stroke victims, emphasizing the importance of addressing processing problems to make individuals more comfortable. While he acknowledges the scarcity of practitioners specializing in this area, he mentions the Neuro Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA) as a resource to find neurodevelopmental optometrists across the United States. Although Clark Elliott highlights the unique approaches of practitioners like Deborah Zalinsky and Donal Lee, he also notes the need for more professionals trained in this field to help the millions of individuals who could benefit from such interventions.
• 00:55:00 In this section, Clark Elliott discusses the importance of neurodevelopmental Optometry in understanding that humans are visual-spatial beings, highlighting the newness of this concept in the fields of Optometry, Neuroscience, and Medicine. He reflects on his personal experiences dealing with challenges resulting from a head injury, including struggles with decision-making and rule-following. Elliott shares a humorous anecdote about being in "rule following mode" and not being able to enter a store despite a sign inviting him in, illustrating the complexities he faced. When asked about the potential impact of brain plasticity treatment on individuals who are visually impaired from birth, Elliott explains that even those who are completely blind still have internal visual-spatial representations of the world around them, suggesting that there may be possibilities for adaptation and response to such treatments.

01:00:00​

Clark Elliott, the speaker in the video "The Ghost in my Brain," recounts his journey with prescription eyeglasses that improved his cognitive functions post-traumatic brain injury, emphasizing the importance of peripheral processing and balancing brain activity. Despite setbacks like losing a pair of glasses, he found that even wearing them briefly in the morning could reset his progress. Elliott's experience led him to deepen his understanding of the connections between perception, cognition, and consciousness, drawing on his spiritual beliefs for guidance during his recovery. Additionally, he reflects on the brain as a visual spatial device and touches on the complexities of human memory and cognitive abilities, raising questions about human consciousness and emotional experiences. Lastly, Elliott discusses the profound changes in his spiritual life and sense of connectedness to the universe after his brain injury, acknowledging the transformative impact of such trauma on one's perception of the world.

• 01:00:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the unique visual spatial processing abilities of individuals who are blind or have impaired vision, highlighting the importance of understanding the brain as a visual spatial device even in the absence of retinal input. The speaker touches on the plasticity of the brain and its ability to adapt and change throughout life, drawing parallels with their own experience of using neurodevelopmental glasses to improve visual processing. They emphasize the significance of addressing peripheral and non-image forming processing in addition to prescription glasses to optimize visual functioning post-injury or impairment. The speaker also shares their personal journey of trying multiple pairs of glasses with various adjustments to enhance their visual perception.
• 01:05:00 In this section, Clark Elliott recounts his journey with different pairs of prescription eyeglasses that helped improve his cognitive functions following a traumatic brain injury. By wearing glasses that emphasized peripheral processing and balanced the activity between the left and right sides of his brain, he experienced significant improvements in his ability to solve complex problems and visualize spatial information. Despite losing a pair of glasses and experiencing regression, he found that even wearing them for a short time in the morning helped reset his progress. Through this process, Elliott gained a deeper appreciation for the connections between perception, cognition, and consciousness, drawing on his spiritual beliefs for guidance throughout his recovery.
• 01:10:00 In this section, the speaker reflects on a moment of dissociation he experienced after a brain injury, comparing it to reading a technical manual with no emotional connection. He delves into the idea of the brain as a physical device, discussing the complex nature of human memory and cognitive abilities. Through a thought experiment involving replacing brain cells with computers, he raises questions about what defines human consciousness and emotional experiences, ultimately highlighting the limitations of equating the brain to a mere physical entity.
• 01:15:00 In this section, Clark Elliott reflects on the profound changes he experienced in his spiritual life and sense of connectedness to the universe after sustaining a physical brain injury. He highlights that these shifts were eye-opening for him, as they brought to light the stark contrast between his previous beliefs and the reality he faced post-injury. Elliott acknowledges the undeniable impact a brain injury can have on one's perception of the world, citing the disappearance of spiritual concepts and connectedness as evidence of the profound effects of such trauma.

But the AI skipped the part where he talks about how he saw a ghostly thing behind his back slowly coming closer to his body until it finally merged with him. He thinks that it was his soul that merged with him once his brain became healthy again. He thinks that the brain is a tool that connects us to something greater than ourselves, and that connection, which he lost after the car accident, was restored with this therapy.

 

[monotonic]

The part about glasses is interesting.

ADHD Glasses: A Comprehensive Guide to Improving Focus and Reducing Visual Stress

Discover how ADHD glasses can improve focus, reduce visual stress, and support individuals with ADHD in daily life. Explore their benefits today!

neurolaunch.com

It seems to be about reducing visual stress and improving visual processing. Rose tinted glasses are a real example.

After learning about glasses and customizing my prescription, I will say that another way to achieve something similar would be to get glasses with low lens distortion, or altering the prescription to prioritize spatial accuracy (rather than fully correcting astigmatism for instance). Lenses have residual demagnification and disrupt the depth-convergence relationship we use to judge distance. Minus lenses (for nearsightedness) make everything look further away, especially things up close. This can create a sense of detachment, like watching your life through a screen (some people seem to be addicted to minus lenses, hence the epidemic of "over-minusing" by optometrists, or at least they blame patients for this). Of course everything being blurry also creates detachment, so there is a balance to be reached.

 

[Persej]

Treatment And Commentary

To address the neurological issues revealed by the neurodevelopmental optometric testing and Dr. Zelinsky’s clinical evaluation, I was given six different pairs of therapeutic prescription eyeglasses over the course of four years. By the end of the period with the first three prescriptions, I was all but fully recovered, with only minor tweaks for mental haziness to follow.

Deborah Zelinsky, OD writes:

Clark’s first prescription 02/05/2008

Manifest:
OD -1.25 sphere 20/20
OS -1.50 sphere 20/20

Prescribed instead a pair of therapeutic lenses:
OD +0.12 sphere 0.5 Base IN
OS +0.12 sphere 0.5 Base OUT

Rationale: This first therapeutic pair had two components—one for the body directly (through the directive lateral yoked prism), and the other for peripheral awareness. Although Clark’s central eyesight was not clear until -1.25 units of power were used, that prescription would only compensate for his blurry central eyesight (nearsightedness). Clark had a fragile connection between his central and peripheral eyesight systems. The more the central system was sharpened, the more distorted his peripheral system became. Clark was having trouble perceiving global context within visual scenes and was therefore prescribed lenses designed for peripheral stability. The “delayed gratification” of seeing clear central targets was discussed with Clark and he was OK with the slight blur at the beginning of his rehabilitation process. The yoked prisms were designed to make Clark‘s body more comfortable; the amount and balance were based on Z-Bell testing of Clark’s non-image-forming retinal pathways. That testing determined which lenses provided the most solidly synchronized eye and ear systems for perceiving the spatial 3D world around him.

My Commentary: I had no expectations that glasses and working with puzzles would help me. I had been to many specialists without any result for almost a decade. Yet with this prescription I experienced a profound change in my well-being, and by my estimate was about seventy percent recovered within the first month of wearing the glasses. I felt as though I was re-discovering my body and its relationship to the world the way a six-month old baby would learn about his. During this period I could not always manage the traditional body synchronization of walking, and would sometimes have to dance down the hallways at the university on my way to lectures and back. I went through profound changes in re-learning the deep meaning of concepts like center (discussed above), and less than / greater than that allowed me to again apprehend the meaning of higher level concepts like sequence, ordering, and planning. There was a profound change in my ability to understand spatial soundscapes, and to make the meaningful placement of objects in the 3D world of my hearing such that I could form clear internal visual-spatial representations of them, and their relationships to other objects. I was once again able to form the internal images that allowed me to understand speech in the normal way. Above all I felt a return of my ability to represent the rich internal and external world of normal cognition, and that because of this I now had the representational power to support being a real person again; my long-alienated self could return at last from what felt like its eight-year exile from the human race.

I often felt frustrated with these glasses and complained to myself “I can’t see!” although from a conscious perspective my vision seemed fine. In relearning physical tasks that involved body movement, I was generally contorted and inefficient, but had the strong sense that I was making good progress toward again becoming comfortable with movement. I had a large increase in the number of calories I was consuming, as though my brain were starved for food. I noticed that I regressed when taking the glasses off for sleeping, so within days I took to wearing them twenty-four hours a day. (Even through closed eyelids the glasses modified input to my non-image-forming retinal pathways which still operated at night with the very low levels of light that passed through the filtering of my eyelids.) This had the added benefit of improving my sleep, and also gave me the feeling that my dreams (which are highly visual in nature) were less chaotic, and more productive.

I experienced these glasses as opening up the left side of my visual “working memory” space such that I could place symbols in that part of my spatial field and once again manipulate them in the usual way for solving problems. Thinking associated with this space felt creative rather than logical.

Dr. Zelinsky continues [etc. hereafter]:

Clark’s second prescription, 02/262008:

OD -0.50 sphere 0.5 Base IN
OS -0.75 sphere 0.5 Base OUT

Summit ECP +1.25 add

Rationale: At a follow-up visit less than a month later, testing showed that Clark’s central/peripheral balance was more stable and therefore he was able to withstand a small increase in the amount of nearsightedness prescription, and also a reading component. Although he could be made to see targets even more sharply, he would not have been able to tolerate the additional clarity which would again distort his periphery. The directive, lateral yoked prism remained. The prescription was slightly different in each eye now, similar to his original measurements.

My Commentary: I was comfortable with these glasses and not as frustrated in trying to see. I experienced them as opening up the right side of my spatial field and that they had the cognitive/emotional feel of letting me operate in a logical and down-to-earth way. In the five months I wore them exclusively, and the year following when I traded off with my next pair, I made steady further progress toward being symptom-free. Cognitive tasks became easier and I was much less easily overwhelmed by sensory input. I was walking and moving normally. I did not experience the extreme cognitive and movement slowing of the previous eight years.

Clark’s third prescription 05/01/2008:

OS -1.00-0.25 x 105
OD -0.75-0.50 x 075

Summit ECP +1.75 add

Rationale: Now Clark’s central/peripheral balance was much more stable, and although he would have to work at adjusting, he did not need to continue wearing the yoked prisms for posture stability. In addition, he was able to now handle a slight amount of astigmatism correction to be able to see targets more clearly. This would require Clark’s brain to adjust to the change between the two eyes. Clark found this prescription a challenge, and I instructed him to alternate between his second prescription and this one, until he could wean himself off of the prisms, and adjust to the astigmatism correction.

My Commentary: I found these glasses difficult. I immediately missed the comfort the prisms afforded. I felt that the glasses were unbalanced, and that when changing my gaze from near to far, or vice versa, I experienced a slight lag in ability to comprehend the visual scene from one eye to the other. I traded off with my second pair for a year, then during a summer break from teaching wore them full time for a month, after which I was comfortable enough to use them exclusively. It was as though I had to “grow up” and give up the crutch of the prisms in the second pair, learning to be comfortable on my own. At the end of this period I was all but fully recovered in all practical ways.

Clark’s fourth prescription, 10/23/2009 (Dr. K):

OD -1.00-0.25 x 130
OS -1.00-0.25 x 065

Hoyalux ID +2.00 add

Rationale: He had spent the past year and a half alternating between the third pair of lenses which had the slight astigmatism and no prism, and the second pair which had no astigmatism correction and a slight directive prism. He was prescribed lenses that were equal in each eye, with a small amount of balanced astigmatism and a slight change in axis. The equal prescription should be easier to handle.

My Commentary: I was immediately calm and comfortable with this pair. Cognitively / emotionally they were very down to earth and sort of pedestrian in nature. I continued to make minor progress in small ways with cognition. At the end of a year and half I returned to Dr. Zelinsky and complained that while now leading a normal life I was a little fuzzy in my thinking and that it was as though I were looking at the world through dirty windows on a hazy August afternoon.

Clark’s fifth prescription, 06/22/2011:

OD -0.50-0.25 x 130
OS -1.25-0.25 x 050

ID lifestyle +1.75 add

Rationale: Another year and a half later, the right eye didn’t require as much prescription for clear eyesight and the left needed a small tweak so that the axes were balanced to 180. Again, Clark was accurate on the Z-Bell testing. My Commentary: With this prescription cognitive vibrancy returned, and the haziness was immediately reduced. I was effective and creative at work and in my personal life. After a year I returned to Dr. Zelinsky and— almost embarrassed to mention it—told her that for my work as a professor I felt there was another small tweak we could make: my upper right spatial quadrant was not as sharp as I thought it might be for forming mental imagery. When working on difficult problems as part of my research this area of my “mental working space” was not as clear as the rest.

Clark’s sixth prescription, 06/09/2012

OD -1.00-0.25 x 110 0.5 Base DOWN
OS -1.50-0.25 x 065 0.5 Base DOWN
+2.50 add

Rationale: Clark was able to adapt to an axis change on his right eye, and his left axis returned to that of the fourth prescription. Directive prism was again added, but this time inducing an anterior/posterior shift.

My Commentary: With these glasses I immediately felt calm, smart, intuitive, and creative and that my upper right spatial quadrant was now precisely in focus, allowing me to optimally work on the hard symbolic problems that were part of my work at the university. I continue to wear these glasses for at least a few hours a day, and under the most emphatic insistence of Drs. Zelinsky and Markus (below) have not tested what would happen if I stopped wearing them.

http://clarkelliott.com/Oxford2017-Movement-JFNE-Final.pdf

Dr. Zelinsky gave me a special prescription for eyeglasses that angled the light to different parts of my retinas, and in this way found healthy pathways through which the incoming retinal signals could travel. She routed the signals away from the damaged parts of my brain. In this way, she created something we might metaphorically think of as a dirt road through this healthy brain tissue. Dr. Markus Donalee gave me long sets of paper and pencil puzzle exercises that started quite simply, but built up to very sophisticated problems that exercised these newly awakened parts of my brain to teach me how use them to be human once again: how to feel and think and see relationships in the world. She turned the dirt road into a superhighway once again, that allowed me to think like a professor once more.

The part where truth is in this case more marvelous than fiction is that the bulk of this phenomenal transition back to being a real human being again took place over the course of the first three weeks of my treatment. The brain is a sublime device, well able to reconfigure itself if we can sometimes just jump start it in the right direction. At the end of that first month, I was about 70 percent restored, and after six months with the puzzles and a couple of years with the glasses, I was fully recovered in all ways.

Prof. Recovers From Debilitating Concussion 10 Years Later [Part 2]

the bulk of this phenomenal transition back to being a real human being again took place over the course of the first three weeks of my treatment. The brain is a sublime device, well able to reconfigure itself if we can sometimes just jump start it in the right direction. At the end of that...

www.opednews.com

 

[Persej]

Deborah Zelinsky mentioned this article, and in it, they showed the glasses that they used in the experiment. You can see it here in Table 4.

They basically just put some tinted tape on parts of the glasses.

The lenses had varying positions and shapes of Bangerter foils. Bangerter foils block light and their occlusion ranges from .1 to 1.0 where lower numbers, appear more opaque. Application of a partial occlusion foil blocks entering light signals from striking a hypersensitive area of the retina can alleviate symptoms by lessening the effect of incoming stimuli. Application of a partial occlusion foil blocks entering light signals from striking a hypersensitive area of the retina and can alleviate symptoms by lessening the effect of incoming stimuli.

A brief and very simplified overview of the visual pathway will facilitate comprehension of the effect of Bangerter foils used on AM’s various lenses had on visual processing. For example, light signals entering the eye from the inferior visual field (superior retina) travel through the optic nerve, optic chiasm, lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and optic radiations and generally interact with parietal lobes; light signals from the superior visual field (inferior retina) generally interact with temporal lobes. The temporal visual field, processed by the medial retina, courses to the opposing cerebral hemisphere at the optic chiasm and LGN. (The tract then splits to optic radiations in the parietal region and temporal region (Meyer’s loop). Hence, the left temporal visual field is processed by the medial retina which traverses to the right cerebral hemisphere. The nasal visual field of each eye is processed by the temporal retina, that travels to the ipsilateral cerebral hemisphere. Ultimately, they course to the visual cortex for additional processing.

Noteworthily, QEEG coherence measured similarly during eyes open, and eyes closed with conditions of comparison between no lenses and “A” lenses, suggesting retinal stimulation and visual processing occurs with eyes open and closed. AM tended to sleep in “A” lenses for improved sleep quality which reflected on the Insomnia Severity Index scores, from 25 (severe) to 9 (mild).

Could taping the glasses in this way be used as a form of brain exercise? Clark Elliott said that now he only needs to wear these glasses a couple of minutes per day.

 

[Persej]

In the above study, the best results were accomplished with binasal occlusion. I found another doctor who is using it in his practice. Here is what he has to say about it:

Further Adventures With Binasal Occlusion

I have been using very narrow binasal occlusion for a variety of patients with a variety of visual problems for many years. The technique and the reasons for my modifications of it are covered in this article for Optometry & Visual Science, the exciting new journal published online by the Optometric Extension Program Foundation and the Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists. The article discusses three individuals with significant visual issues and dramatic relief of associated symptoms thanks to the application of this fairly simple technique.

I have written previously about the use of binasal occlusion in an article that described an interaction early in my career. I had no idea what to expect when I decided to try my binasal occlusion approach on an unsuspecting subject during an in-service presentation for occupational, physical and speech therapists at a local hospital. Since that time I have used binasal occlusion in a wide variety of situations, and yet, I probably don’t explore their potential benefit with as many people as I should.

The subject of my previous article was Gina, a bright and delightful woman in her mid-thirties confined to a wheelchair by cerebral palsy. She was unable to sustain an upright head posture for any significant length of time and during the demonstration at the in-service. I had to ask her if she could straighten her head (which she was able to do fairly accurately) at least once per minute. Gina said that this was a constant issue for her and that people were always asking her to straighten her head. She never realized that her head was practically resting on her left shoulder unless someone brought it to her attention. This had been going on for most of her life. After placing her glasses back on her face, now with binasal occlusion, Gina’s head instantly straightened and remained that way for the rest of the presentation and for another half hour or so while we had lunch. She immediately liked the binasal occlusion and when I asked her why, she said, “I can tell where things are now.” This certainly got my attention and I have been a proponent of this technique ever since.

Binasal occlusion has been used for over 100 years (ancient Egyptian masks notwithstanding), starting with Louis Jacques who used it primarily for esotropes. The occlusion went from one nasal pupil border to the other to eliminate any benefit derived from one or both eyes turning toward the nose. Most of the literature on binasal occlusion continues to recommend occlusion from nasal pupil border to nasal pupil border, if not wider than this. This strikes me as overly forceful. I am not, nor have I ever been an esotrope, though I had some issues with esophoria when I was younger. When I tried this technique on myself, I found it very disturbing. Even so, I did immediately notice a greater awareness, what struck me as a widening, of my temporal peripheral fields. I decided to try reducing the width of the occlusion until I no longer felt the annoyance of the occlusion, but still could still appreciate the enhanced awareness of my peripheral fields.

I have always felt that this widening of the periphery was one of the factors in the positive effects of binasal occlusion, perhaps analogous to the magnification inherent in low plus lenses, which may be a factor in their positive effects. I also think that obscuring a very small amount of the nasal field, even though this may not enter conscious awareness, is beneficial since this is where some amount of stress on the inefficient binocular system likely resides. Removing this part of the field, where the integration of the two inputs is possibly the most challenging, may reduce the workload. This seems to be particularly true of a struggling visual system in my experience.

Lastly, I have always felt the most important aspect of binasal occlusion is that it provides an anchor for the interface between the external environment and the internal visual process. Binasal occlusion places a marker in the environment, one that is consistent in size and in its placement in the field relative to both oculocentric and egocentric localization. The person needn’t be consciously aware of the occlusion for this effect to manifest. Perhaps this is similar or related to the concept of using a fixation target to help stabilize balance.

I rarely use binasal occlusion wider than the space between the inner canthi. That is not to say that other approaches are inappropriate. It is important to adjust aspects such as width, angle and wearing schedule size and location on a case-by-case basis, especially since this is completely non-invasive and easily modified. Nothing works all the time, but I have very rarely had any negative feedback using the occlusion in this manner. I have in fact had a considerable number of immediately happier people.

I think that one of the underlying themes in what we do, especially in regards to lenses, prisms, and occlusion is disruption. We sometimes need to disrupt the inefficient patterns of the past as we help people develop new patterns that are more broadly appropriate and have less undesirable side effects associated with them. I try to avoid the use of force in my lenses, occlusion, and vision therapy even when I find a need to implement this kind of disruption. I prefer to be more gently persuasive in guiding people to change their behavior patterns. Sometimes more is better, sometimes not. My preference with binasal occlusion is to have the person be totally unaware of the presence of the occlusion when looking straight ahead.

My intention is always to find the least intrusive external device that will enable the person to make the internal changes that best suit their needs and support their continued visual development. I have seen this minimalist binasal occlusion have immediate and dramatic effects with some people, and of course I have also seen it have no effect whatsoever. Sometimes the effects take more time to develop. The bottom line for me is to start small, give the person a reasonable period of time to respond, see what happens and then make any necessary adjustments from there. Binasal occlusion is an extremely safe intervention technique.

Binasal occlusion was first used in the treatment of esotropia. The thinking was that by occluding a sizeable portion of the nasal field(s) the inwardly deviating eye(s) would be deprived of any benefit gained by turning in. The occlusion would eliminate the ability of the eye to see when it turned sufficiently (which wasn’t very much at all) to end up behind the blockage – originally black tape that went from one pupillary border to the other. This, it was hoped, would ultimately force the eye to stop turning in due to frustration. I imagine this must have worked in some cases though I have never attempted to use binasal occlusion in this manner. I do not like to be this forceful in my visual training and I do not like to use such drastic measures when prescribing.

As stated earlier the original binasal occlusion went from nasal pupil border to nasal pupil border. I rarely use binasal occlusion any wider than the distance between the inner canthi. Yes that’s right – inner canthi. This may not seem a sufficient span to cause any change or provide any benefit, but time and time again, this small amount provokes a very desirable response. This is the same width I used with Gina and the same used in the three cases that follow. I have found that Scotch brand “Magic Tape” works just as well as black material, with added benefit of being less cosmetically imposing. This material is also useful as central occlusion because it is all but opaque to the wearer, but an outside observer can see what the eye behind it is doing with considerable ease. Some prefer using stippled nail polish instead of tape - I prefer the tape which is easily removed, though the nail polish approach is useful for more long-term use.

https://vision-therapy-pa.com/published-articles/further-adventures-with-binasal-occlusion

And some further explanations here:

https://vision-therapy-pa.com/published-articles/binasal-occlusion

 

[Arwenn]

Very interesting research about ADHD glasses, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. I have come across Irlen lenses for a type of dyslexia (scotopic sensitivity syndrome), which is mentioned in the article monotonic posted above (it’s the third point). I have referred a few patients to an Irlens clinic with fairly good results- they were prescribed tinted lenses or were given coloured overlays to use for their school work.

Not too sure about prisms for ADHD. There a huge research into peripheral defocus lenses for controlling myopia (short-sightedness) in young children to stop its progression, but can’t say I’ve heard anything about it for ADHD.

As for the binasal occlusion, now that I have come across many years ago when I attended a Natural Vision Improvement seminar. One of the speakers was legally blind (vision was less than 6/60) but he still managed to drive on a restricted licence. One of the ways he managed this was to improve his peripheral visual field & he demonstrated this by getting us to put a strip of paper across our nose, walk backwards and wave our hands in our peripheral vision, to stimulate it. Was quite amazing once that strip came off as to how much I was aware of everything around me (not just in front of me).

Which reminds me of McGilchrist’s work about how the right hemisphere attends to the entire visual field, while the left hemisphere attends to the right field only. So perhaps binasal occlusion (blocking the central field) engages the right hemisphere mode of attention which is more global.

From The Master and his Emissary (bold emphases mine):

The right hemisphere alone attends to the peripheral field of vision from which new experience tends to come; only the right hemisphere can direct attention to what comes to us from the edges of our awareness, regardless of side…Since efforts of will focus attention and deliberately narrow its range, it may be that cessation of the effort to ‘produce something’ — relaxation, in other words — favours creativity because it permits broadening of attention, and, with the expansion of the attentional field, engagement of the right hemisphere.
The right hemisphere is concerned with the whole of the world as available to the senses, whether what it receives comes from the left or the right; it delivers to us a single complete world of experience. The left hemisphere seems to be concerned narrowly with the right half of space and the right half of the body — one part, the part it uses.

The right hemisphere sees the whole, before whatever it is gets broken up into parts in our attempt to ‘know it. Its holistic processing of visual form is not based on summation of parts. On the other hand, the left hemisphere sees part-objects…Certainty is also related to narrowness, as though the more certain we become of something the less we see. To put this in the context of the neurophysiology of vision: the fovea of the human eye, a tiny region in the retina at the centre of gaze, is the most pronounced of that of all primates. Here resolution is about 100 times that at the periphery. But it is only about 1° across. The part of the visual field that is actually brought into resolution is no more than about 3° across. This is where the narrow focussed beam of left-hemisphere attention is concentrated: what is clearly seen.

Gazzaniga et al. did some interesting studies with regards to visual field apprehension in split brain patients, below is one study:

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physiologyonline.1997.12.5.226

All of this is to say that perhaps these glasses are actually tweaking something other than just central vision correction, by affecting the peripheral visual field and therefore engaging the right hemisphere.

 

[Persej]

Very interesting research about ADHD glasses, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. I have come across Irlen lenses for a type of dyslexia (scotopic sensitivity syndrome), which is mentioned in the article monotonic posted above (it’s the third point). I have referred a few patients to an Irlens clinic with fairly good results- they were prescribed tinted lenses or were given coloured overlays to use for their school work.

Not too sure about prisms for ADHD. There a huge research into peripheral defocus lenses for controlling myopia (short-sightedness) in young children to stop its progression, but can’t say I’ve heard anything about it for ADHD.

Deborah Zelinsky was asked about Irlen lenses, and she said that she worked with them but that if lenses are designed for peripheral vision you often do not need a tint.

All of this is to say that perhaps these glasses are actually tweaking something other than just central vision correction, by affecting the peripheral visual field and therefore engaging the right hemisphere.

It could be, but what is particularly interesting to me is that this thing works even with the eyes closed. Why would it work with the eyes closed, when you are not using your vision, neither central nor peripheral?

 

[Arwenn]

Why would it work with the eyes closed, when you are not using your vision, neither central nor peripheral?

Yes that is curious. I’d have to look into it more- perhaps some plasticity occurs with wearing the glasses initially that then allows retinal stimulation & visual processing to still occur with closed eyes.

 

[monotonic]

Even if you close your eyes they may be focused on something. I had a habit of focusing close in when I'm just trying to rest, instead I imagine seeing through the walls to some trees in the distance or something.

Having the glasses on means the body is ready to use the visual system in the state of wearing those glasses, so it makes sense to me.