Brain Mapping
Brain Mapping
Everything You Need to Know About QEEG:
A Map That Reveals Insights About Your Brain
A QEEG is an elaborate, personalized map of your brain. It shows you which areas of your brain may be overactive or underactive, contributing to poor or high attention, memory, or processing speed, and highlights your brain’s strengths and weaknesses.
But most importantly, it enables you to seek appropriate interventions or therapies tailored to your specific brain activity patterns. This can lead to more effective and targeted interventions, ultimately improving your overall wellbeing. And it's all thanks to QEEG (quantitative Electroencephalography).
QEEG is a technique that involves recording and analyzing the electrical activity of the brain using electroencephalography (EEG). But what does that mean exactly, and how does QEEG work?
What Is QEEG Exactly, and What Does It Measure?
In your brain, there are patterns of electrical activity.
These patterns are called brainwaves (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma), and are associated with different states of consciousness, including alertness, relaxation, and sleep.
These brainwave frequencies can be measured through sensors placed on your head, often using a technique called electroencephalography (EEG). EEG enables you to see your brain activity as it unfolds in real time, at the level of milliseconds.
For QEEG, which is an FDA-approved tool, your EEG recordings are processed using sophisticated mathematical and statistical methods. They can then be compared to known brain performance markers calculated from a normative database consisting of recordings from other brains.
These markers take into account factors such as age, gender, whether your eyes were closed or open when the measurements were taken, and sensor locations. QEEG data can even be used to create visual representations in the form of brain maps.
How is a Brain Map Interpreted?
The brainwaves are measured from multiple brain regions, and, for each region, they are compared to measurements from other individuals within the same age range and of the same sex.
Each comparison generates a color indicating how far the measurement is from the norm. For example, in the image below, red indicates above the norm whereas green means right within the norm, and blue means far below the norm.
It's important to remember that different colors do not necessarily equate to "good" or "bad" results. The interpretation of colors such as red or blue in a brain map can vary depending on many things, such as the brainwave and region being analyzed. Therefore, it is best to consult a trained professional to get the most accurate results and understand what the different colors and ranges signify.
What Can a QEEG Tell You About Your Brain Health?
01.
Discover the underlying cause of your psychological or physiological symptoms: Specific functions may be better performed by a given brain region when associated with specific brainwave levels. For example, after a QEEG, your provider may find frontal alpha brainwave asymmetry. These findings can help explain symptoms such as impulsivity.
02.
Create a data-driven therapy plan for the best results: Theoretically, your healthcare provider could use QEEG to ensure you're headed in the right direction when it comes to your therapy approach. For instance, you might struggle with irritability, but your QEEG brain map might also show patterns depicting an individual with depressive traits. This insight into your brain functionality may lead them to a different understanding of your psychological state and help them achieve a therapy outcome that's more beneficial for you.
03.
Train your brain with neurofeedback: Neurofeedback is a type of personalized and guided brain training that uses real-time feedback to enable you to regulate your brain activity. QEEG brain mapping findings could help a healthcare professional create a personalized neurofeedback protocol that targets the specific areas of your brain that are causing your symptoms.
One of the key insights that QEEG can provide is the identification of brain regions that demonstrate abnormal brainwave activity as compared to the norm (i.e., other age-matched brains), as well as overactive or underactive areas in your brain.
These important measurements can also potentially enable healthcare professionals to:
How Is QEEG Performed?
You go to your provider’s office or in some cases, do it from home with your mobile device. Whether at the office or at home, you sit in a relaxed position, wear a head device to measure brainwave activity, and stay as still as possible.
You are given directions, such as to open your eyes or to take deep breaths, although specific instructions may vary based on the objectives of the QEEG. This recording takes about 20 to 30 minutes.
After data collection, the recorded brainwave patterns are processed and analyzed using specialized software, the measurements are compared to normative values, and a visual topographic map, otherwise known as a brain map, is created.
What Is QEEG Used For?
Neurofeedback uses real-time feedback to enable you to regulate your brain activity. The real-time feedback of your brainwave activity is provided using visual (games/videos) and/or auditory (sound effects/music) cues on your computer or a mobile screen.
These cues let you know when your brain is not in the target state – whether you're unfocused, anxious, stressed, etc. – the volume may decrease, or the images on the screen may become less focused or more difficult to see.
Over time, with practice and consistency, your brain can learn to associate the target brain activity with the reward, thereby regulating it to be in an optimal state – to improve focus or reduce stress and anxiety. Eventually, the ability to regulate brainwaves can have a great impact on everyday situations.