<p></p>
<p><br><img src="@@PLUGINFILE@@/Sue%20and%20Siegfried%20Othmer.jpg" alt="Sue and Siegfried Othmer" width="400" height="266" class="atto_image_button_left"><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Siegfried and Sue were among the very first practitioners to persue neurofeedback, and, as Siegfried writes "The early days of the field of neurofeedback are rich in ironies, human foibles, and stumbles in the darkness of ignorance, and were accompanied throughout by the specter of a resolutely oppositional--or uninterested--academic mainstream." Here is a video where he describes their challenging entry into the field.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p>This couple originally became involved in the field of neurofeedback in an effort to help their son, Bryan (March 5, 1985). Their entire family soon had neurofeedback sessions, and all experienced profound effects. With Margaret Ayers, Siegfried and Sue
    pursued the development of a neurofeedback device with an engineer named Edward Dillingham. Here is the story in Siegfried's own words:</p>
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<p>After this invention (and destruction of a business partnership), Margaret Ayers launched a State and Federal patent lawsuit, having filed Ed Dillingham's instructional materials on the new system, which was later declared invalid. During this time, where
    they were in legal straits with Margaret, their son Bryan died of a nocturnal seizure, he was a senior in college studying mathematics and computer science.</p>
<h3>EEG Info and The Othmer Method</h3>
<p>Like many practitioners, the Othmers had a challenge starting their neurotherapy business, especially given that this modality was virtually unheard of at the time, here it is in Siegfried's words:&nbsp;<a href="https://vimeo.com/517287548">https://vimeo.com/517287548</a>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Their court case with Margaret ended in arbitration and they began a new instrument company: "Neurocybernetics," they also began training other professionals in 1990.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the beginning, their methodology involved operating at "Optimal Response Frequency," which has been called "sweet spot training" colloquially. This was tied into the arousal model and hemispheric balance. Sue Othmer made the later discovery of infra-low
    frequencies (below 0.1Hz)<sup>1</sup>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Slow cortical potentials are slow event-related direct-current shifts of the electroencephalogram. Slow cortical potential shifts in the electrical negative direction reflect the depolarization of large cortical cell assemblies, reducing their excitation
    threshold. They change periodically from being electrically positive to electrically negative. They are described as a phasic tuning mechanism related to activities in the brain stem reticular process, the thalamus and the basal ganglia. <b>These DC shifts are reflected in the superficial cortical layers and represent synaptic activities in the apical dendrites in those layers</b>.
    Negative shifts represent increased probability of firing while positive shifts represent decreased probability or inhibition. Negative shifts are described as related to the utilization of resources for attention, memory, and other related cognitive
    mechanisms.
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<p><img src="@@PLUGINFILE@@/Apical%20Dendrites.png" alt="Apical Dendrites" width="450" height="609" class="img-responsive atto_image_button_left"><br></p>
<p>The ILF approach was based on something called "mechanisms-based training," emphasizing electrode placement, and inhibitory bi-polar neurofeedback. They found, in their discovery, that they were training the foundations of the cerebro-regulatory hierarchy,
    paying particular attention to the intrinsic connectivity networks, namely the default mode network and the salience network.&nbsp; They began to look at something called the arousal model to better understand the effects of neurofeedback. Their training
    approach is layered, sequential, progressive and cumulative--as the patient gets better, the protocol changes, grows, and builds upon itself. Their method has been in development for 36 years (as of 2021) and they have developed three generations
    of instruments: NeuroCybernetics, EEGer, and Cygnet (of which the respective engineers are Edward DIllingham, Howard Lightstone, and Bernhard Wandernoth).&nbsp;</p>
<p>Today, the Othmers run EEGInfo out of Woodland Hills, California, where they teach courses and see patients.</p>

<h3>&nbsp;------</h3><sup>1</sup>Infra-low Frequency Training involves training sub-delta frequencies that are actually slow shifts in dc brain potentials. This method involves training in frequency ranges of .0003 Hz or lower. Despite considerable controversy
over whether present day amplifiers are actually capable of accurately providing data on such low frequencies, the Othmers claim that they have modified their amplifiers to achieve this feat. These very low frequency ranges are thought to be the substrate
for the standard recognized EEG ac potentials. A large number of clinicians have adopted this approach. It has gained recognition among clinicians for being very effective although few studies have been done to confirm it. Mark Smith has adopted a more
conservative approach with this paradigm by building on more accepted frequency ranges of .001-.003 Hz or higher that can be easily measured with modern amplifiers.<br>
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