Neurofeedback: A Review of Bio-Explorer

A quick note before anything else: we have no financial stake in Bio-Explorer. What follows is an independent look at the system. For our testing, the Bio-Explorer neurofeedback setup ran alongside a 2-channel USB EEG that weighed roughly the same as a pack of Bic pens.

That lightness cuts both ways. If you care about portability, the featherweight EEG amplifier is a plus. But the plastic housing is so light that the unit skids across a desk at the slightest nudge, and you come away with the feeling that one fall onto a hard floor might be the end of it.

On raw performance, the software held up fine. It handled the EEG calculations and played results back to the user without obvious trouble, and it gives developers a fairly solid base to work from. If you want to write your own protocols, wire up different hardware, or run general experimental sessions, there is room to do that.

The interface is another story. The graphical front end badly needs an overhaul. It looks like something from Windows 95 or earlier. Set it next to the IBVA system, the BrainMaster, the Thought Technologies platform, or others in the same category, and the dated appearance stands out immediately.

Bio-Explorer does turn up inside at least one commercial product, the "Neureeka!" Peak Performance and Peak Happiness Trainer, which shows the software can be folded into a packaged, sellable system. Still, I would hesitate to put that interface in front of paying clients. People sitting down for a session tend to wonder whether they are getting current technology or something that has been gathering dust, and the look of the screen feeds that doubt.

I want to be clear that this is about appearance, not function. The system works. And to its credit, it does offer a 3D interface that is pleasant enough to look at, which I have included below.

The image below shows the kind of 2-channel dongle we used while testing. It is not specific to Bio-Explorer; the software plays nicely with several hardware options, so what you see is only one example.

Neurofeedback in Washington, DC exists to raise awareness of the practice among residents of the District and beyond. Though the audience is global, the aim is to give people a place to gather and learn about this emerging approach to monitoring, recording, and training brainwave activity. The bands we work with are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta, and Delta. People who live or work around Washington would likely find it relevant, since the whole point is to pull a worldwide audience into 21st-century methods.

Most people come looking for a fix to whatever is troubling them. That turns out to be hard, because the underlying skills have not been built yet: holding executive attention, steadying your emotional and psychological state, dropping into deep relaxation or ramping up to peak energy whenever you choose. For that reason we point people toward Mindfulness, Meditation, and Neuro-Training. Access to the program comes through the contact information below.