SABA 9th Annual Conference - June 3-7, 2010 - Quebec City
Society for the Advancement of Brain Analysis

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Society for the Advancement of Brain Analysis
9th Annual Meeting
June 3-7, 2010
Quebec City

Conference Highlights

  • Pre-conference introductory workshop June 3
  • Three day scientific meeting and professional enrichment
  • Post-conference advanced workshop June 7

    Please plan to join us for the 9th annual SABA conference in beautiful Quebec City. The conference location is the lovely Chateau Laurier Hotel in the heart of old Quebec city, conference rate $129/night (Cdn). SABA 9 Registration , Program (in PDF)

    *Don't miss this great opportunity. Book your hotel room before May 8th to get the conference rate, or even a room. We have been told that the hotel is otherwise fully booked for the weekend of our conference. It appears that a few people who have already registered for the conference have not yet made a hotel reservation, so please don't be disappointed. Call 1-877-522-8108 now for reservations and be sure to tell them that you are attending the SABA conference.

    Nearest Airport is YQB. There is a taxi service from the airport to the hotel with a flat rate of $32.00.

    Weather: Expected high is 72 degrees F, low 52 degrees (range 37-84), possible chances for rain.

    US Citizens: Remember to check your passport's expiration date; there is plenty of time to apply or renew before June.

    PROGRAM

    PRE-CONFERENCE


    Thursday June 3: Pre-Conference 1-day course:

    9:30-5:30 Principles, Method, and Issues of Evidence-based Neurotherapy: Introductory overview to normative EEG assessment and operant conditioning (Kaiser, MacDonald, Sterman ) (90-min lunch break)

     

    6:30 pm Informal welcome reception to early arriving attendees (local bar)

    MAIN CONFERENCE

    Friday June 4: Main Conference Program:

    8:30-9 am Welcome to SABA 9 (Johanne Levesque, Ph.D.)

    9-10 am What are we trying to do? Revisiting QEEG-directed treatment strategies and outcome measures. (M.B. Sterman, Ph.D., UCLA)

    10-10:15 am Break

    10:15-11:30 am Neuroplasticity in learning and circuit repair (Franco Lepore, Ph.D, U Montreal )

    11:30-12 noon Discussion  

     
    12-3 pm Lunch and leisure time

    3-4 pm. Effect of psycho-neurotherapy on functional connectivity and tomography in adult MDD (Vincent Paquette, Ph.D., U Montreal)  

    4-4:15 pm Break  

    4:15-5:45 pm Member Presentations, Part 1:

  • Denise Malkowicz, M.D., Drexel Univ., Neurointegration: Enhancing brain function in neuropathology.
  • Ricardo Weinstein, Ph.D., QEEG in death penalty cases: a search for markers.

     

    6:30 pm Welcome Cocktail Party

    Saturday, June 5

    9-10:15 am The Psychobiology of PTSD (Bessel van der Kolk MD, Boston Univ.)

    10:30-11:45 am Applying normative EEG to the Brodmann area database (Kaiser)

    11:45-12 noon Questions & Discussion  

     
    12-3 pm Lunch and leisure time

    3-5 pm Debates concerning Issues in Neurofeedback Practice:

  • “To Z or not to Z”, R. Stark, M.D. vs M.B. Sterman
  • “A Rose is not a Rose”: Defining the practices of neurotherapy and reviewing the evidence across approaches that call themselves by the same name M. MacDonald. M.D. vs selected survey respondents

    5:30-10 pm Bus to the river, and banquet Quebec River cruise (optional)
    Click to enlarge

    Sunday, June 6

    9-10 am The Psychophysiology of Memory and Attention Pierre Jolicoeur, Ph.D., Univ. of Montreal  

    10:15-10:30 am Break  

    10:30-11:30 am Reference EEG Analysis in Treatment Resistant Depression Evaluating medication choices with QEEG. K. Graap, MEd., CNS Response, Inc.

    11:30-12 noon Questions and Discussion  

     
    12-3 pm Lunch and leisure break

    3:00-4:15 pm Member Presentations: Part 2 G. Durgen PhD, E. Hamlin PhD, J. Ross PhD/J. Caunt, Engr, & Others

    4:15-4:30 pm. Break

    4:30-6 pm Practicum, Part 1 QEEG analysis with SKIL - showcasing neurological and psychological cases. M.B. Sterman & D.A. Kaiser.

    POST CONFERENCE


    Monday, June 7

    9:00-10:45 am The new SKIL Brain-Computer Interface (Collura & Kaiser) - Advances in SKIL analysis and introduction to the operant trainer and Brainmaster Discovery system.

    10:45-11 am Break

    11-12:30 pm Practicum, Part 2, Neurofeedback protocol development. M.B. Sterman, D.A. Kaiser, and Members.

     
    12:30-2 pm Lunch

    2-4 pm SABA Credential Exam (optional)

    Opportunities for informal enrichment activities will be available during the afternoon breaks. Tom Collura of BrainMaster Technologies, Inc. will be attending the meeting to discuss the new SKIL software interface with BrainMaster hardware and will hold a small group discussion on Saturday 2-3 pm). David Kaiser will also discuss publishing a journal for our society, Journal for the Advancement of Brain Analysis (JABA).

    Featured Speakers


    Bessel van der Kolk, MD

    Bessel is a clinical psychiatrist who studies the impact and resolution of trauma who recently added neurofeedback to his therapeutic toolset. He is professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and medical director of the Trauma Center.

    Pierre Jolicoeur PhD

    Pierre is chair of the experimental cognitive science dept at Universite de Montreal and an expert in the psychophysiology of memory and attention.

    Franco Lepore, Ph.D.

    Franco Lepore is full professor in the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal. He also directs the Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC) at the Université de Montréal

    • Continuing Education Statement

    This conference is co-sponsored by the North Carolina Psychological Association and the Society for the Advancement of Brain Analysis. The North Carolina Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The North Carolina Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Each session (day) of the conference is offered for 6 hours of continuing education credit.

    Attendance Requirements for CE's

    To receive credit, you must be present for the entire institute (day), and you must sign the sign-in and sign-out sheets. No credit will be given to participants who are more than 15 minutes late at the beginning of the morning and afternoon sessions. No credit will be given to participants who leave before the close of the day

    SABA Home page , Past Conferences

    Cortical plasticity in blind and deaf individuals: reorganization leads to superior performance most of the time but not always!

    Franco Lepore, Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neurosciences, Département de Psychologie, Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    The human brain shows remarkable capacities to modify its organization and function in response to external demands. In neurologically intact individuals, these changes occur following maturation and learning. In persons with sensory loss due to peripheral damage, such as in the deaf and blind, these normal changes are also accompanied by modifications that allow the subjects to adapt and possibly compensate for their loss. We have examined this problem using behavioural, electrophysiological and imaging approaches. At the auditory level in the blind, we have studied behaviourally sound localization, tone perception and language treatment and shown that they manifest supra-performance. Similar enhanced performances were demonstrated for a number of tactile tasks. Brain imaging using Evoked Potentials and either PET or fMRI showed a recruitment of visual cortex which often correlated with auditory or tactile performances. Deaf individuals similarly show recruitment of auditory areas when carrying out visual tasks. These persons offer, moreover, the exciting possibility of examining what happens when the auditory function is re-established using a cochlear prosthesis. Some of these implanted individuals do in fact acquire good audition, including language comprehension. Some, however, have difficulties performing these auditory tasks and results indicate that this may be due to the fact that visual recruitment of auditory areas interferes with the default function of these areas.

    Ken Graap, M.Ed. CNS Response

    Referenced EEG (rEEG) is an analysis of a 19 channel digital EEG that has evolved from the work of Suffin and Emory 1995[1] and utilizes QEEG data to help guide the prescription of 4 classes of psychotropic medications. The background for rEEG and related techniques will be discussed to understand how EEG variables may help guide medication trials. Recent studies have suggested that rEEG may be useful in guiding the prescription of psychotropic medications in persons suffering with major depressive disorder (MDD). CNS Response completed a 12-week, multi-centered, randomized, single-blind trial of rEEG in September, 2009 which will be discussed. This trial enrolled 114 subjects who had MDD and had failed at least one previous SSRI medication or at least two classes of medication in their current depressive episode. Each subject was randomized to receive either treatment guided by rEEG (experimental group) or a treatment guided by an algorithm that was derived from the most effective medication treatments reported in the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial[2](control group). Among the outcome measures were the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I)[3], Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-SR16)[4] and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (Q-LES-Q –SF)[5]. Significant differences were found in CGI-I, QIDS-SR16 and Q-LES-Q-SF favoring the rEEG approach over the STAR*D approach. The findings and their implications for clinical practice and future research will be discussed.

  • 1. Suffin, S.C. and W.H. Emory, Neurometric subgroups in attentional and affective disorders and their association with pharmacotherapeutic outcomes. Clinical Electroencephalography, 1995. 26(2): p. 76-83.
  • 2. Rush, A., M. Trivedi, S. Wisniewski, A. Nierenberg, J. Stewart, D. Warden, G. Niederehe, M. Thase, P. Lavori, B. Lebowitz, P. McGrath, J. Rosenbaum, H. Sackeim, D. Kupfer, J. Luther, and M. Fava, Acute and longer-term outcomes in depressed outpatients requiring one or several treatment steps: a STAR*D report. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006. 163(11): p. 1905-1917.
  • 3. Guy, W., Clinical Global Impressions: In: ECDEU Assessment Manual for Psychopharmacology, Revised. 1967, Rockville, MD: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welvare, National Institute of Mental Health.
  • 4. Trivedi, M.H., Rush, A.J., Ibrahim, H.M., Carmody, T.J., Biggs, M.M., Suppes, T., Crismon, M.L., Shores-Wilson, K., Toprac, M.G., Dennehy, E.B., Whitte, B., and Kashner, T.M., The Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Clinician Rating (IDS-C) and Self-Report (IDS-SR), the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symtomatology, Clinician Rating (QIDS-C) and Self-Report (QIDS-SR) in public sector patients with mood disorders: a psychometric evaluation . Psychological Medicine, 2004. 34: p. 73-82.
  • 5. Wisniewski, S., A. Rush, C. Bryan, R. Shelton, M. Trivedi, S. Marcus, M. Husain, S. Hollon, and M. Fava, Comparison of quality of life measures in a depressed population. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 2007. 195(3): p. 219-225.