Neurofeedback: A Review of NeurOptimal

NeurOptimal is the next neurofeedback system I want to look at, and I'll approach it mostly from a theoretical angle. The core of what the system offers comes down to two things. First, the person being trained does nothing deliberate; the training happens as an automatic, unconscious reaction from the brain. Second, you pay per session, with usage metered throughout.

I'll admit up front that I'm drawn to the idea of an automated neurofeedback setup that needs no clinician to run it. A machine like that could realistically land in homes all over the world and let people train their brains on a regular basis. When I asked about how it works, a customer support representative described it plainly: the system plays music in the background, and tiny skips appear in that music whenever the brain slips into a dysfunctional pattern. So it's a stimulation-driven form of neurofeedback. The small interruption travels through the auditory cortex and acts as a signal whenever brain activity drifts into something odd.

The same representative once put it to me as the system feeding the brain's activity back to itself, like a mirror. That framing is hard to pin down with numbers, partly because the company keeps its algorithms private. Still, the appeal is clear for people who want to try basic brain training without the conscious, deliberate, willed self-regulation that most other systems ask of you. NeurOptimal's proprietary design is meant for any skill level, and the stated goal is to return the brain to a balanced, coherent state of communication. The company says it doesn't train the brain toward any particular target; it just relays the brain's own inputs back to it.

Then come the problems. There's no meaningful body of double-blind or peer-reviewed research behind the system, which leaves its real effectiveness unknown. Whatever benefit a person feels could just as easily come from a placebo, or from the simple act of sitting quietly for a while. Spending $5,000 to $8,000 on a NeurOptimal unit is a hard sell for anyone who likes to see controlled studies first. More conventional neurofeedback methods have a longer research record, and the idea that people can learn new self-regulation skills is reasonably well supported. This particular flavor of feedback stays an open question until it's put through tougher testing. I haven't run the system myself, so I can only speak to these theoretical concerns, nothing beyond that.

The broader aim of neurofeedback work here in Washington, DC is to spread awareness of the practice, both for District residents and for people elsewhere. The audience is global. The intent is to give a worldwide community a place to gather and learn about an emerging way of monitoring, recording, and training brainwave patterns, including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta, and Delta. People living or working around the city tend to take an interest, since the whole effort is pointed at carrying a wide audience into the 21st century.

Most people come to this looking for a solution to their problems. That can be genuinely difficult, because the psychological groundwork often isn't there yet: the ability to hold executive attention, to steer your emotional and mental states, to reach deep relaxation or peak energy on command. For that reason I'd point you toward learning more about mindfulness, meditation, and neuro-training before anything else.