The Brains of Incredible Leaders and How Your Brain Can Level Up.

Your brain is “on” 24/7 No matter whether you’re asleep or awake, preparing the next business meeting, or taking a leisure stroll around town - as you think, dream, see and sense, your brain is constantly active.

It absorbs all information, compacts and re-wires existing data, and integrates everything into a consistent experience, both of yourself and of your surroundings. Your brain is one of the most intricate, complex, and fascinating elements of the universe. It allows you to remember past events, process all of the present sensory impressions, and project all of your thoughts, memories and estimations into the future.

Within the field of clinical neuroscience, it is well known that abnormal behaviors such as anger, frustration and memory decline can be signs of psychiatric or cognitive disorders, or a possible traumatic brain injury (TBI). But how can we ever know what the possible causes of such behaviors are? And better yet, how can we determine how well our brain is functioning without having a surgeon cut into our skulls to investigate it thoroughly?

This was a question I was faced with many years ago when I started working in the field of neuroscience and sports. I had many athletes visiting the clinic in search of answers to why they felt an inability to concentrate on the field or in practice, an inability to gain emotional control, and a sheer lack of productivity. Back in 2011, I made what is often a common assumption: to have a good look at the brain and rehabilitate it without use of prescription medications, our athletes would have to go into a hospital setting and undergo an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) study. Alas, after countless years of research I was introduced to EEG and I never looked back.

One of the most versatile brain imaging techniques is electroencephalography. In short: EEG. Literally, electro-encephalo-graphy means writing of the electrical activity of the brain. Electroencephalography records the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp. Measuring electrical activity from the brain is useful because it reflects how the many different neurons in the brain network communicate with each other via electrical impulses. A standard electroencephalogram (EEG) records electrical activity or brain waves that are representative of underlying cortical brain activity. 

A quantitative EEG (qEEG) applies sophisticated mathematical and statistical analysis to these brainwaves and compares them to age and gender controlled databases compiled from the EEGs of individuals with no known brain dysfunction. Both the EEG and qEEG give us valuable information about real-time function within the brain at the time of evaluation. The qEEG process allows us to create a brain map through this combination of precise measurement and quantitative comparison.

The eVox System is a medical device that measures brain health to aid doctors in the diagnosis of cognitive and behavioral disorders. By measuring brain function directly, physicians can enhance their clinical work-up beyond standard subjective patient questionnaires. eVox provides clinically actionable and objective biomarkers of brain health pertinent to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, and other cognitive disorders.

In this article I will discuss:

1. Why I believe every person should be rushing to their local physicians office to get a brain scan and why physicians should be using some form of qEEG and EEG analysis to gain a further insight into their patient’s brain.

2. I will give examples of how a patient with the above symptoms can benefit from getting a test and what you can do with the results

First let me say that the sort of qEEG assessment with event related potentials that I’m going to be talking about is used to aid in the diagnosis of OCD, ADHD and TBI. In addition it's also worth adding that only medical doctors can make diagnoses.

What is an EEG and qEEG?

There are several reasons why EEG is an exceptional tool for studying the neurocognitive processes underlying human behavior (Cohen, 2011). The qEEG procedure is also referred to as “brain mapping,” brain electrical activity mapping (BEAM), and topographic EEG. It uses more surface electrodes than a standard electroencephalogram (EEG), gathering data from 24 or more areas of the brain. The electrical measurements are then “mapped” onto a stylized picture of the head or brain with the values represented as different colors or shades of colors.

The FDA has cleared the software used for six qEEG systems as a Class II medical devices for clinical use by qualified medical or clinical professionals for statistical evaluation of the human electroencephalogram (EEG).

QEEG is particularly suitable for the evaluation of post-concussion syndrome, as it is empirical, objective, non-intrusive and has been shown to be highly accurate in identifying and discriminating various neurophysiological patterns of brain dysfunction associated with Minor TBI and post-concussion syndrome.

The qEEG is used by healthcare providers for the following clinical applications: evaluating effects of medications and predicting medication response, evaluating head traumas, assessing cognitive and psychiatric changes, and assessing peak performance training efficacy.

▪ The complex nature of the waveforms - EEG typically is not just one simple rhythm but a whole set of oscillations mixed together.

▪ The EEG varies across the scalp. An EEG assessment compares different parts of the brain (e.g. left to right, front to back) and indeed this is some of the most useful information. There are computational measures in the EEG (e.g. coherence) that indicate how well connected different brain regions are, how well they are communicating. What are ERP’s (Event Related Potential)

ERPs measure brain processing speed and efficiency. ERPs are highly sensitive to cognitive disruptions – even prior to symptom onset. ERP P300a reflects the brain’s ability to attend to new information; P300b reflects information processing and working memory. 

Brain Biomarkers.

Brain biomarkers are computational EEG metrics that provide objective insights into how the brain is functioning. 

Peak Alpha Frequency (PAF) reflects cognitive capacity. Slow PAF can be seen in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and dementia. Fast PAF can be seen in patients with anxiety, PTSD, chronic stress. 

Theta Beta Ratio is another brain biomarker and is cleared by the FDA to aid in the diagnosis of ADHD. High scores reflect inattention. 

Evoke Neuroscience, Inc. is the leading medical device company providing low cost brain electrophysiology equipment designed specifically to suit the needs of medical doctors and their patients. The eVox® system is an FDA 510(k) cleared medical device that assesses brain function to aid in diagnosis. It collects 19-channel EEG and event-related potentials (ERP) data via a portable and automated 19-channel amplifier to offer objective, brain- based biomarkers that aid in diagnosis of cognitive disorders.

1. Why you need a brain scan

Whether it’s memory, focus, sleep disorders, attention and a general curiosity, it is my belief that everybody should be aware of what is happening in their brain.

Do you know that chronic stress could be affecting a part of our brain known as the hippocampus — the seat of factual and declarative memory. The hippocampus is a pair of curved structures at the base of our brains and encodes memories of facts and events, such as names, phone numbers, dates and daily events that we need to run our lives.

New research now shows that even a brief period of stress can cause the hippocampus to start shrinking. This shrinking of the hippocampus — a change in the brain's structure — actually precedes the onset of a change in behavior, namely, the loss of memory.

This is why it is incredibly important for any person wanting to excel in any area of their life to go and see how well their brain is functioning.

2. What can the eVox test do for me?

The eVox test will give you and your doctor an easy to read neurocognitive report that breaks down your central and autonomic nervous systems and gives you a brain map & biomarkers that indicates any areas of dysfunction in the brain. It helps doctors better plan rehab strategies, it helps doctors boost peak performance, etc. 

It is often recommended that a re-assessment with eVox be taken in 6 months to look at objective changes in brain, progress of cognitive functions and to refine next phase of treatment. After all, what’s the point in progression if you cannot physically see the changes over time? 

3. Where can I get an eVox test done?

The majority of healthcare providers administering eVox tests are primary care doctors, internal medicine physicians, family practice and general practitioners, and neurologists. You can call your local physician or head to the eVoxBrainMap.com website to find out where you can get an eVox test done. 

To watch a video with more information on the eVox Brain assessment Click Here

References & further reading:

1. Cohen (2011). It’s about time. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5(2), 1–15.
2. Product classification: Normalizing Quantitative Electroencephalograph Software. FDA 510O(k) database, Feb 9, 2014.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019). Surveillance Report of Traumatic Brain Injury-related Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths—United States, 2014. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4. American Electroencephalographic Society (1994). American Electro- encephalographic Society. Guideline thirteen: Guidelines for standard electrode position nomenclature. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, 11, 111–113.
5. Astolfi, De Vico Fallani, Cincotti, et al. (2008). Neural basis for brain responses to TV commercials: a high-resolution EEG study. IEEE Transactions in Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 16(6), 522–531
6. Klimesch (1996). Memory processes, brain oscillations and EEG synchronization. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 24(1-2), 61-100.
7. Lainscsek, Hernandez, Weyhenmeyer, Sejnowski, & Poizner (2013). Non- linear dynamical analysis of EEG time series distinguishes patients with Parkinson’s disease from healthy individuals. Frontiers in Neurology, 04-200