Among the ongoing attempts to enhance cognitive performance, an emergent and yet underrepresented venue is brought by hemoencefalographic neurofeedback (HEG). This paper presents three related advances in HEG neurofeedback for cognitive enhancement: a) a new HEG protocol for cognitive enhancement, as well as b) the results of independent measures of biological efficacy (EEG brain maps) extracted in three phases, during a one year follow up case study; c) the results of the first controlled clinical trial of HEG, designed to assess the efficacy of the technique for cognitive enhancement of an adult and neurologically intact population. The new protocol was developed in the environment of a software that organizes digital signal algorithms in a flowchart format. Brain maps were produced through 10 brain recordings. The clinical trial used a working memory test as its independent measure of achievement. The main conclusion of this study is that the technique appears to be clinically promising. Approaches to cognitive performance from a metabolic viewpoint should be explored further. However, it is particularly important to note that, to our knowledge, this is the world's first controlled clinical study on the matter and it is still early for an ultimate evaluation of the technique.

Context: Neurofeedback represents an exciting complementary option in the treatment of depression that builds upon a huge body of research on electroencephalographic correlates of depression. Objective: The objectives of this article are threefold: review the literature on neurofeedback protocols for depression; introduce a new protocol, which aims to synthesize the best qualities of the currently available protocols; and present the results of a small clinical experiment with the new protocol. Method: Structured survey of the literature; software development; clinical trial with one subject, submitted to ten sessions of neurofeedback (one hour each). Results: Currently there are twenty-one articles in neurofeedback for depression, among which only six present original experimental results. All of them report positive results with the technique. The most used protocols focus on Alpha inter-hemispheric asymmetry, and Theta/Beta ratio within the left prefrontal cortex. Our new protocol integrates both dimensions in a single circuit, adding to it a third programming line, which divides Beta frequencies and reinforces the decrease of Beta-3, in order to reduce anxiety. The favorable outcome of our clinical experiment, suggests that new research with this protocol is worthwhile.

La meta de esta investigación prospectiva era estudiar el curso y la calidad de las relaciones entre el paciente y el psiquiatra durante los ensayos clínicos de fase II y fase III de medicación antidepresiva prescrita para trastornos depresivos. Todos los pacientes que participaron en los ensayos clínicos (y posteriormente en esta investigación) firmaron declaraciones escritas de consentimiento informado y fueron sometidos a asignación aleatoria doble ciego al tratamiento. Se llevó a cabo un análisis retrospectivo de 118 investigaciones, y se interrogó a los pacientes implicados acerca de sus experiencias e impresiones durante el estudio y después. Los datos muestran que la evolución de los ensayos clínicos de medicamentos antidepresivos no está en función de que exista antes una buena relación entre paciente y psiquiatra. Por otra parte, no se encontraron efectos sobre la relación entre paciente y psiquiatra como resultado del procedimiento experimental, y se puede concluir que no se incurrió en efectos perjudiciales sobre futuras relaciones entre paciente y psiquiatra.