NeuroNoodle Network Podcast: Neurofeedback & Wellness Podcast

A viewer sent us an EEG, and at first glance it looks like a mess. Jay Gunkelman, who has read more than 500,000 EEGs, changes the montage live and identifies what he describes as frontal spike-and-wave activity that was difficult to see in the original linked-ears montage. Host Pete Jansons and Dr. Mari Swingle join Jay for a two-case Carnac: why an epileptiform EEG finding is not the same as an epilepsy diagnosis, and what questions should come next.

The second case features an EEG recorded with eyes open that Jay interprets as showing periods of drowsiness. He examines alpha bursts, beta spindles at Cz and a 300-second sleep screen. Jay discusses vigilance, SMR, sleep spindles, memory and how he would approach neurofeedback training. Dr. Mari adds her clinical perspective on emotional outbursts in children and when EEG assessment may be worth considering.

🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (QEEG pioneer, 500,000+ EEGs read) | Dr. Mari Swingle (Swingle Clinic, author of i-Minds) | Host: Pete Jansons

🧠 WHAT WE COVER

0:00 — 🎩 Cold open: Jay spots frontal spike-and-wave in a viewer's EEG

1:22 — 📨 A viewer sends in an EEG (and it's from Europe: 50 Hz)

2:31 — 🔌 Why the original montage made the finding harder to see

4:13 — 🧹 Cleaning artifacts: save your raw file first

4:58 — 📏 No calibration, no impedances: why it matters

5:56 — 🌐 Re-montaged to global average: Jay's interpretation

6:33 — 👆 Task beta: the brain primes before your finger moves

8:50 — ⚡ Spike and slow wave at F3

10:59 — 🙈 Lapses, eye aversion and pseudobulbar affect

12:36 — 🔄 Spike averaging, and why EEG puts negative up

14:59 — 💊 Epileptiform EEG without seizures: the anticonvulsant question

15:36 — 😌 Eyes closed: slow cortical potentials and the baseline

19:51 — 🧪 Medication and outgrowing absence spells

21:46 — 👧 Dr. Mari: behavioral outbursts in kids and the EEG

23:15 — 🔥 Case two: beta spindles and Jay's interpretation

24:04 — 😴 SMR, Sterman and sleep spindles

25:12 — 🥱 Alpha bursts with eyes open: drowsiness

26:59 — 🎛️ When EEG frequencies blend together

29:07 — 📊 The spectra: harmonics that look like beta

31:05 — ⚖️ Left-right balance, mood and TMS

32:41 — 🌀 Eyes closed: chaos, cleanup and drowsing

34:46 — ⏱️ The 300-second sleep screen

37:30 — 📉 The flat spot: you didn't die at the end

38:30 — 🎯 Early neurofeedback was vigilance training

39:21 — 🧠 Sleep, memory and long-term potentiation

40:51 — 🛠️ A training plan: SMR up, beta down at Cz

42:40 — 🩺 SMR, intractable epilepsy and surgery (Jay's view)

46:37 — 📡 Vagal nerve stimulators and smart implants

49:46 — 👋 Wrap-up

🔗 Updates & Links:

🌐 Swingle Clinic (Dr. Mari Swingle): https://swingleclinic.com

🎧 Swingle Sonic apps (Brain Calm, Focus, Sleep): https://swinglesonic.com

📨 Want Jay to read your EEG? Email the EDF to [email protected]. Please remove the name, ID and date of birth from the file name AND the EEG header first.

📺 More NeuroNoodle conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@NeuroNoodle

⚠️ Educational content only, not medical advice. EEG findings need a qualified clinician's review; nothing here diagnoses or treats anyone. Always consult a licensed clinician.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle going: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodle

🔔 Like, subscribe and hit the bell: https://www.youtube.com/@NeuroNoodle

Jay Gunkelman, who has read more than 500,000 EEGs, jokes about losing his car keys, then asks: where is a memory actually stored? In this archived NeuroNoodle Open Mic Q&A, recorded March 19, 2025 and republished October 15, 2026, host Pete Jansons joins Jay, Dr. Mari Swingle and Dianne Kosto. Jay describes Karl Pribram's holographic theory of memory—an explanatory theory, not settled fact. References to Jay's age and 52 years in the field reflect the March 2025 recording.

The panel also discusses social-media self-diagnosis, conversations with teens who identify with a diagnosis, practitioner skill, brain-stimulation terminology, sunlight and mood, diet, and careers in neurofeedback.

🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (QEEG pioneer, 500,000+ EEGs read) | Dr. Mari Swingle (Swingle Clinic, author of i-Minds) | Dianne Kosto (SYMMETRY Neuro-Pathway Training) | Host: Pete Jansons

🧠 WHAT WE COVER

0:00 — 🧩 Cold open: Pribram's memory theory

1:44 — 🏫 Archived Seattle workshop discussion

5:10 — 👁️ Jay's eye surgery and counting EEGs

7:34 — ⚡ Questions about vision, alpha speed and memory

9:58 — 🧠 Episodic memory and frontal midline theta

11:39 — 🌀 Savants and Pribram's holographic memory theory

15:12 — 📈 Jay's 52 years in neurofeedback, as of March 2025

18:27 — 📱 Self-diagnosis, social media and having a bad day

19:41 — 🔌 Discussing tDCS, tACS and neurofeedback

21:58 — 🔍 Teens, Google and diagnostic labels

26:02 — 📚 Diagnostic terminology and the DSM

26:47 — 🔪 Amplitude, infralow or stim: who's holding the tool?

28:06 — 🧲 Questions about PEMF

32:58 — ☀️ Sunlight, vitamin D and mood

37:43 — 🥊 Where neurofeedback experts disagree

39:59 — 🌊 Slow cortical potentials and terminology

41:08 — 🧬 Discussion of genetics and EEG phenotypes

43:53 — 🎯 OCD and electrode-placement questions

49:15 — 🥑 Keto, diet and neurofeedback

54:42 — 🎓 Building a neurofeedback career: BCIA

57:56 — 🔬 What is an EEG tech? Jay's start with the Gibbs

1:00:11 — 🎤 Jay's brain tumor and the courage to lecture

1:01:10 — 📲 Dr. Mari discusses her clinic app

1:02:42 — 🤝 Dianne Kosto and SYMMETRY Neuro-Pathway Training

1:04:20 — 📣 From our panel, plus a qEEG phenotypes course

1:05:30 — ❤️ Thank you to our supporters

🔗 Updates & Links:

🌐 Swingle Clinic (Dr. Mari Swingle): https://swingleclinic.com

🧠 SYMMETRY Neuro-Pathway Training (Dianne Kosto): https://symmetryneuropt.com

📺 More NeuroNoodle conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@NeuroNoodle

⚠️ Educational content only, not medical advice. Always consult a licensed clinician.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle going: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodle

🔔 Like, subscribe and hit the bell: https://www.youtube.com/@NeuroNoodle

#NeuroNoodle #Neurofeedback #EEG

Jay Gunkelman has read more than half a million brain scans — and this week he and host Pete Jansons start with one of the strangest origin stories in brain science. Rocket fuel was making janitors convulse, Barry Sterman was mapping the dose in cats, and a handful of cats refused to seize. The reason: they had already been trained with SMR neurofeedback. From there Jay works through the questions from last night's Brain Bar: why there's no such thing as a "normal" EEG, how pilots' brainwaves tracked a 30% higher crash rate, what sleep deprivation does to your dreams and your seizure threshold, the alpha coma, Leucovorin and the B vitamins, and why "you can't cure autism because you can't catch autism." Then Jay reads a 2011 EEG of an eight-year-old with Asperger's and shows why some kids won't look at your face. Plus the neurofeedback billing-code fight, Jay's custom Italian monocle, and a preview of the Suisun City Summit. 🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (500K+ brain scans) — host Pete Jansons. 🧠 WHAT WE COVER:🚀 0:00 — Cold open: rocket fuel, cats & the accidental birth of SMR🧐 2:14 — Jay's custom Italian monocle + "Jay Gunkelman 6.0"👁️ 4:58 — Alpha blocking vs. alpha attenuation🧮 8:25 — There's no such thing as a "normal" EEG📊 9:09 — Why z-scores and statistics alone miss the pattern🐈 12:56 — Barry Sterman's rocket fuel and cat experiments✈️ 15:11 — Pilots' EEGs and a 30% higher crash rate🔌 18:19 — SMR vs. mu: the BCI mix-up🛌 19:33 — SMR, sleep spindles & customizing training🚪 21:42 — "K is for knock": the K-complex😵 23:25 — Sleep deprivation, microsleep & dreams leaking into the day🌊 25:42 — Three kinds of theta: frontal midline vs. ADHD theta💊 29:40 — Amphetamines, kids & the long-term question🫁 30:10 — Hyperbaric oxygen, Alzheimer's & the alpha coma🧪 32:37 — What is Leucovorin? B9, B12 & MTHFR🧩 37:37 — "You can't cure autism because you can't catch autism"💵 39:46 — Neurofeedback billing codes & payment changes🩺 42:44 — Too cheap to order the EEG: Medi-Cal & absence epilepsy〰️ 43:36 — EEG read: an eight-year-old with Asperger's🐶 46:40 — The song of speech: why some kids won't look at your face📈 49:45 — The power spectra, beta spindles & rhythmic slowing🪞 52:36 — Mu, mirror neurons & the anterior cingulate🎉 56:16 — Suisun City Summit preview + Jay's birthday📚 1:02:05 — Bonus: Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes 🔗 Updates & Links:🧠 Jay Gunkelman — Suisun City Summit: https://suisuncitysummit.com🎓 School of Neurotherapy: https://www.schoolofneurotherapy.com🧩 Joshua Moore — Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com ⚠️ Educational content only — not medical advice. 💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!👉 Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodle🔔 Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes #NeuroNoodle #NeurofeedbackTherapyPodcast #Neurofeedback #JayGunkelman #PeteJansons #EEG #QEEG #BrainMapping #MentalHealth #BrainHealth #Neurotherapy #SMR #BarrySterman #SleepDeprivation #Autism #Aspergers #Epilepsy #AlphaComa #Leucovorin #QEEGPhenotypes

If neurofeedback can change the brain, who makes sure the person doing it knows what they're doing? Jay Gunkelman has read more than half a million brain scans and spent 54 years in the field. He and Dr. Mari Swingle join host Pete Jansons to take on the question the field keeps circling: why hasn't neurofeedback gone to the next level? Mari warns about the practitioner who buys equipment, takes a weekend workshop and hangs a shingle. Pete asks the obvious question: can you actually fry a brain? From there it's insurance ("the business of insurance is to say no," says Jay), what BCIA certification can and can't do about a bad actor, why Pete needs a license to cut hair but not to do neurofeedback, and why a neurologist isn't automatically an EEG expert. Jay also describes a report he says came back on a recording with no EEG in it at all, just amplifier noise. Plus what parents should ask before choosing a provider, and a bonus from Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes. 🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (500K+ brain scans), Dr. Mari Swingle (author, iMinds), host Pete Jansons. Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN) was out sick this week. 🧠 WHAT WE COVER:🧠 0:00 — Cold open: can you fry a brain?👋 0:47 — Welcome + Joshua's out sick📐 2:29 — The 2010–11 efficacy standards Jay helped build🧴 4:54 — Wellness devices that steer away from research❓ 5:54 — Why hasn't neurofeedback gone to the next level?🦴 7:08 — Cannibalism vs. scaffolding in the field🧾 8:14 — Insurance codes, then and now🌍 8:57 — Is the field really held back? The international picture🚫 10:11 — "The business of insurance is to say no"🍁 11:44 — Canada: insurance pays on practitioner credentials💵 13:16 — The QEEG reports insurance does pay for🖨️ 14:53 — Press-the-button reports vs. real interpretation🚗 16:36 — ICBC, BCIA and two-tier protection📏 18:47 — Efficacy standards vs. practice standards🏈 20:34 — Cross-disciplinary: coaches to neurologists🧭 22:59 — Scope of practice within the classifications🏷️ 23:50 — What does BCIA do about a bad actor?🛡️ 24:28 — Complementary competence and something to lose🔥 25:14 — Can you fry a brain? + Jay's 54 years✂️ 27:13 — A license to cut hair, but not neurofeedback?📣 28:53 — Who do you complain to?🦴 30:29 — Chiropractor vs. MD: knowing your scope⚖️ 33:10 — Nevada: turf protection vs. public protection📉 35:12 — Report services and "no EEG at all"🔁 37:32 — Who breaks the loop? Not enough bad actors🏅 39:03 — A premium credential above BCIA?🔀 42:36 — Cross-disciplinary competence👮 43:56 — Why standards exist + the brain police🩺 45:54 — Neurologists, EEG reading and credentials🗣️ 49:38 — Life coaches: nothing to lose👪 50:23 — What parents should check📜 53:14 — The hierarchy of efficacy still holds✅ 53:53 — Mari's final advice: who to trust💜 55:19 — Support the show📚 55:55 — Bonus: Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes 🔗 Updates & Links:🎓 School of Neurotherapy: https://www.schoolofneurotherapy.com🎵 Dr. Mari Swingle — SwingleSonic apps: https://swinglesonic.com🧩 Joshua Moore — Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com🏛️ AAPB: https://www.aapb.org📋 BCIA: https://www.bcia.org ⚠️ Educational content only — not medical advice. Views and experiences are the speakers' own. 💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!👉 Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodle🔔 Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes #NeuroNoodle #NeurofeedbackTherapyPodcast #Neurofeedback #JayGunkelman #DrMariSwingle #PeteJansons #EEG #QEEG #BCIA #NeurofeedbackStandards #MentalHealth #BrainHealth #Neurotherapy #HealthInsurance #JoshuaMoore #QEEGPhenotypes

Jay Gunkelman has read more than half a million brain scans. This week a viewer sent in their own EEG, and Jay examines it live on the show — no name, no clinical backstory (educational purposes only). The catch: the record was so noisy it needed an aggressive cleanup just to be readable — and that cleanup nearly erased the single most important finding in it. Jay reverses the ICA on camera and shows you what almost got thrown away: rhythmic theta coming off the frontal midline — an anterior-cingulate signature — that never showed up in the spectra at all. The lesson every clinician needs: heroic cleanup can blind you to the real finding. Along the way he catches a mislabeled "eyes closed" file, explains why your heartbeat shows up in your brain waves, why your eyes twitch every 80 milliseconds, and why it takes your brain 500 milliseconds to become consciously aware of anything. Then host Pete Jansons runs Jay through the panel's questions — tonic vs. phasic frontal theta, how much cleanup is too much, John Gruzelier's alpha-theta work with conservatory musicians, Martijn Arns and frontal alpha asymmetry, and M. Barry Sterman's neurofeedback work in epilepsy alongside Jay's discussion of surgery and other treatment approaches. The episode closes with Pete laying out a push toward neurofeedback standardization — and Jay making the case that multiple perspectives need to be at the table. 👉 Watch the Brain Bar episode where the panel first reviewed this same brain: [PASTE BRAIN BAR STREAM LINK] 🧠 WHAT WE COVER:🧠 0:00 — A viewer mailed in their brain🍸 1:18 — 600 at the Brain Bar, and the new submission format📩 2:41 — Reading John Doe's EDF cold🧹 3:18 — An aggressively cleaned record — channels lost👁️ 3:45 — Lambda waves and visual hypervigilance🌗 4:15 — Waxing and waning vigilance: awake vs. drowsy📊 9:40 — The spectra: slow alpha vs. fast alpha🔄 10:41 — Reversing the ICA: "don't believe your lying eyes"💓 11:03 — What the cleanup erased: cardioballistic pulse artifact🎯 11:27 — Frontal-midline theta the spectra never showed🧩 15:19 — The anterior cingulate slow peak that got lost🤔 17:14 — The "What, me worry?" rhythm: bold vs. anxious🧭 17:57 — Tonic frontal theta: ADD, OCD, or amotivation?🚨 19:19 — Heroic cleanup, catastrophic miss🙅 19:55 — "I call BS": a mislabeled eyes-closed file❤️ 21:04 — Why your heartbeat shows up in the EEG👀 23:09 — Why your eyes twitch every 80 milliseconds🏉 25:42 — Rugby players vs. ballet dancers: who gets pulse artifact🕳️ 28:03 — "You may blind yourself to a major finding"❓ 29:21 — Panel Q&A: the regulars' questions⏱️ 29:51 — Tonic vs. phasic theta: duration, not morphology✂️ 32:33 — How much cleanup is too much?🌟 34:36 — 500 milliseconds to conscious awareness🎵 38:20 — Gruzelier, the conservatory, and creativity↔️ 41:07 — Frontal alpha asymmetry: Arns, SSRIs, and TMS🩻 42:02 — 90% vs. 30–40%: two doctors, one EEG🔪 43:31 — Epilepsy: neurofeedback, seizures and surgery🩹 45:03 — When they remove the hippocampus and amygdala⚠️ 45:50 — SUDEP and the pressure to consent to surgery🌀 46:14 — iSPOT-D: what depression looks like on QEEG📜 50:26 — The pledge: standardize neurofeedback, starting now🚀 54:20 — "Perfect is the enemy of progress" —🧠 Send us YOUR brain: email your EDF to [email protected] and it goes in the hat for a live Carnac read.🔴 The Brain Bar streams live every Wednesday, 6PM Central: https://www.youtube.com/@NeuroNoodle/streams❤️ Support NeuroNoodle on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodle This podcast is educational and is not medical advice. Always consult a licensed clinician.

Dr. Gary Schummer spent 35 years treating ADHD with neurofeedback — so when a major study concluded neurofeedback was "no better than placebo," he sat down and took it apart. This week he joins host Pete Jansons and Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN) to explain why he believes the study's "placebo" group wasn't a placebo at all, but a second active treatment — which changes what that headline result actually means.

From there the conversation goes deeper than one paper: Barry Sterman's NASA cat studies and why animals can't fake a placebo effect, Gary's account of helping hundreds of children reduce or discontinue medication, the epilepsy data that still gets ignored, and the panel's debate over insurance, reimbursement and treatment incentives. Then it turns inward — Gary admits neurofeedback has no agreed standards of care and no shared training curriculum, and Pete makes a pledge on camera to help fix it. "We start today."

🎙️ Panel: Dr. Gary Schummer (35-year clinical neurofeedback; author of the 2024 NeuroRegulation critique) and Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN — Neurofeedback Care) — host Pete Jansons.

🧠 WHAT WE COVER:

🧠 0:00 — "They didn't have a placebo group": the cold open

👋 0:56 — Welcome: Gary Schummer & Joshua Moore

📄 1:50 — The two ADHD studies & Gary's JAACAP critique

💊 3:13 — Why is neurofeedback held to pharma's standard?

🎓 5:35 — How Gary found neurofeedback — meeting Barry Sterman

🏥 8:09 — 35 years in practice, specializing in ADD

👴 10:07 — Barry Sterman: father of clinical neurofeedback

🚀 11:22 — NASA, jet fuel and the cats

🐱 14:35 — The SMR-trained cats that resisted seizures

🔬 17:31 — Why cats can't have a placebo effect

💰 19:52 — Insurance, incentives & why neurofeedback got sidelined

✍️ 20:20 — Why Gary wrote the critique

🧠 21:10 — Gary on getting kids off medication

📊 23:03 — Sterman's 2000 epilepsy meta-analysis

🎯 28:11 — Gary's core argument against the Arnold study

❌ 29:54 — Not a placebo — another treatment group

🏅 32:56 — From the back of the room to most-improved

🔁 33:31 — Cure vs. remission

🧩 39:58 — Neurofeedback's standards problem

📖 40:54 — No agreed training curriculum

🏛️ 45:42 — "Why isn't there a board?"

🙌 50:01 — Pete's pledge: "We start today"

💵 52:55 — $180 vs $60: the economics of access

🧠 59:50 — Should kids get a brain baseline?

🔗 Updates & Links:

📄 Gary Schummer — 2024 NeuroRegulation critique: https://www.neuroregulation.org/artic...

🧩 Joshua Moore — Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com

⚠️ Educational content only — not medical advice.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!

👉 Support on Patreon: / neuronoodle

🔔 Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes

Neurofeedback pioneer Joy Lunt, RN opens this classic NeuroNoodle Open Mic conversation with a case that still grabs your attention: a client with dissociative identity disorder whose EEG "utterly changed" mid-session—"like as if somebody else was sitting in the chair." Later, Joy describes seeing the EEG of one personality look like that of a four-year-old child.

This is NeuroNoodle before today's Brain Bar—the audience-driven Open Mic format where Pete Jansons brought viewer questions directly to the panel. Joy Lunt, Jay Gunkelman, Dr. Mari Swingle, Dr. Andrew Hill, John Mekrut, Joshua Moore, Anthony Ramos and the crew move from DID and EEG patterns into depression and the salience network, neurofeedback protocols, Joy's striking experience using neurofeedback with her mother after a Parkinson's diagnosis, Parkinson's and repeated head trauma, the panel's debate over "digital Ozempic" and the brain, insomnia, exhausted kids, autism, and why hyperfocus and flow are "not even close."

🎙️ Panel: Joy Lunt (RN, BCN — ISNR Past President), Jay Gunkelman (500K+ brain scans), Dr. Mari Swingle (PhD, RPsych — Director, Swingle Clinic; author, i-Minds), Dr. Andrew Hill (neuroscientist, Peak Brain Institute), John Mekrut (The Balanced Brain; WABN President), Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN), Anthony Ramos (Science & Technology Discoveries) — host Pete Jansons.

🧠 KEY MOMENTS:

00:00 🔮 Pet psychic EEG + "shouldn't you know that already?"

00:21 🎙️ Welcome to classic NeuroNoodle

01:05 🧠 Joy Lunt's DID case and the EEG change

03:19 👶 A four-year-old personality and EEG pattern

04:43 🔌 Connectivity and what the raw EEG showed

08:19 📊 fMRI, EEG and sample-size problems

11:12 🎯 Anterior cingulate, reward deficiency and TMS

15:27 🚀 Brain-computer interfaces and slow cortical potentials

18:33 ⚠️ Why Joy doesn't believe in "training through"

19:49 🏈 Brett Favre, Parkinson's and CTE

20:07 🦯 Joy's experience with her mother's Parkinson's

25:09 🥊 Head trauma, tremor and Parkinsonism

33:27 🔧 Brain stimulation, tinnitus and implants

35:10 🧭 Insula targeting, MEG and LORETA

37:17 💊 The panel's "digital Ozempic" debate

40:06 🎵 Earworms, insomnia and the anterior cingulate

42:04 🧠 Why the same protocol doesn't work for everyone

46:17 🧒 School problems, ADHD and overloaded kids

50:35 😴 Why exhausted kids may need a different approach

53:07 ✍️ Neurofeedback while doing homework

55:21 🧩 Autism, sleep and individualized treatment

59:18 🎯 Hyperfocus vs. flow: "Not even close"

1:00:12 👋 Closing the Open Mic

1:02:16 📚 Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes

🔗 Updates & Links:

🧠 Jay Gunkelman — Suisun City Summit: https://suisuncitysummit.com

🩺 Joy Lunt, RN — ISNR spotlight: https://isnr.org/single-post/2018/06/...

🧠 Dr. Mari Swingle — Swingle Clinic: https://swingleclinic.com/about/our-s...

🎵 Dr. Mari Swingle — SwingleSonic apps: https://swinglesonic.com

🧠 Dr. Andrew Hill — Peak Brain Institute: https://www.andrewhillphd.com

🧠 John Mekrut — The Balanced Brain: https://johnmekrut.com

🧩 Joshua Moore — Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com

🔬 Anthony Ramos — Science & Technology Discoveries: / 501009709911572

🎓 School of Neurotherapy: https://www.schoolofneurotherapy.com

⚠️ This program presents clinical observations, professional opinions and individual case experiences for educational and informational purposes. It is not medical advice.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!

👉 Support on Patreon: / neuronoodle

🔔 Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes

Jay Gunkelman has read more than half a million brain scans - and in this Carnac session he and host Pete Jansons put one of the hardest cases on the table: a four-and-a-half-year-old, nonverbal, what most people would bluntly call "full autism." On paper it looks hopeless. Jay's blind read shows a brain running like a six-month-old's - no background alpha, diffuse slowing, and a sharp-slow focus buried in the left-temporal language area. Then comes the part nobody expects: in the research Jay cites, 70% of autistic clients show epileptiform activity on EEG - and 85% when you record a full 24 hours including sleep.

Dr. Mari Swingle joins to turn the squiggles into a plan - where to start, why sensory integration has to come before language, and why she underlines the word "yet." The bigger surprise is the prognosis: Jay has watched kids exactly like this "come out of the diagnostic categorization entirely" and pass for neurotypical. It's not a cure, and it's not a shot or a pill - it's 40 to 100+ sessions, parents on board, and a long-term relationship. As Jay puts it: it's not magic, it's neuroscience.

🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (500K+ brain scans), Dr. Mari Swingle (author, iMinds) - host Pete Jansons.

🧠 WHAT WE COVER:

🧠 0:00 - Brain Bar recap + "we're all students of the EEG"

〰️ 1:40 - "A squiggly line is a squiggly line": evolving the show

👦 2:13 - The case: a nonverbal 4-and-a-half-year-old with "full autism"

📋 3:54 - John Hughes & the normal-values cheat sheet

👁️ 4:48 - Eyes closed: hunting for background alpha

🐌 5:43 - A diffusely slow EEG hiding fast rhythmic beta

🔄 6:58 - Phase reversal: a left-temporal focus at Wernicke's

⚡ 7:42 - Spindling beta + sharp-slow: is it a spike?

📊 8:33 - 70% of autism has epileptiform content (85% on 24-hr EEG)

📍 9:41 - Localizing the left-temporal discharge

🔍 10:43 - Reading the raw EEG: spindles, artifacts & the 30 Hz beta problem

🚦 18:37 - Right-frontal impulse control & affective gating

📐 20:17 - What SHOULD a 4-and-a-half-year-old's alpha be?

🍼 21:46 - Slow for age: a brain running like a 6-month-old

🧩 23:29 - Sensory integration: the foundation for language

🧬 24:34 - Excess delta & the myelin story

👀 25:55 - Eyes open: same story, left-temporal worst

🌀 30:55 - Source analysis: independent components & LORETA

🏛️ 33:38 - Going deep: hippocampus, parahippocampus & insula

🩺 38:20 - Dr. Mari's eyeball read: a compliant "6-month-old" child

🎯 39:31 - Where to start: temporal training for language

🌱 40:00 - "A sweet little child... and I would underline YET"

♻️ 41:53 - "The brain is neuroplastic": coming out of the diagnosis

✨ 42:58 - "I've seen kids like this become neurotypical"

🎚️ 44:07 - What expectations do you give the parents?

🚲 45:17 - "You're fixing the bicycle you're riding"

🧅 46:09 - Peeling the onion: progress you can't see day to day

🏋️ 47:16 - Not a shot, not a pill: neurofeedback as working out

🔢 49:11 - The real numbers: 40-60 sessions (100+ with epilepsy)

❤️‍🩹 49:44 - Parental reprieve: "they're always, always on"

⏳ 51:42 - No "cure" delusions: 20-year relationships & "it depends"

🪙 53:02 - The Suisun Summit coin + where to find Jay

🔗 Updates & Links:

🧠 Jay Gunkelman - Suisun Neuroscience Summit: https://suisun.eegstrategies.com

🎵 Dr. Mari Swingle - SwingleSonic apps: https://swinglesonic.com

📖 Dr. Mari Swingle - "iMinds"

⚠️ Educational content only - not medical advice.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!

👉 Support on Patreon: / neuronoodle

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#NeuroNoodle #NeurofeedbackTherapyPodcast #Neurofeedback #JayGunkelman #PeteJansons #DrMariSwingle #EEG #QEEG #BrainMapping #Autism #Neurodiversity #Epileptiform #Neuroplasticity #Carnac #MentalHealth #BrainHealth #Neurotherapy

Jay Gunkelman has read more than half a million brain scans — and this week host Pete Jansons handed him one he refused to read. Working through the recording, Jay's verdict wasn't a diagnosis or an interpretation. It was simpler: "This isn't real. Do it again."

That kicks off a conversation with Jay and Dr. Mari Swingle about the thing that gets lost in all the excitement over brain maps: the interpretation is only as good as the recording underneath it. From the minimum standards most people skip, to the craft of pulling usable data off a squirming 4½-year-old, to why the best AI interpretation Jay has ever seen still only earns a C-minus — this one is about what separates real EEG from "We Map Your Crap." Plus a bonus segment with Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes.

🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (500K+ brain scans), Dr. Mari Swingle (author, iMinds) — host Pete Jansons.

🧠 WHAT WE COVER:

🧠 0:00 — Cold open: "This isn't real"

🎙️ 0:45 — Welcome + Jay's October tuxedo / Suisun City Summit

⚾ 3:29 — The "knuckleball": Case 17 comes in

🚫 4:46 — Why this EEG can't be interpreted

🧹 5:23 — "The name of the game isn't We Map Your Crap"

📏 5:56 — Minimum standards: calibration, impedance & the med-legal trap

📉 12:52 — 32 Hz glutamate beta vs. norepinephrine beta

⏱️ 15:16 — Why a 2-minute EEG misses what matters

🧒 22:14 — The realities of recording an autistic 4½-year-old

🦆 29:07 — The rubber-ducky trick for recording kids

🎁 32:57 — Bribery, treasure chests & getting cooperation

🪡 38:02 — When EEG meant 21 needle electrodes

🏈 41:17 — Dr. Mari on baseline EEGs & contact sports

🤖 44:30 — The best AI interpretation Jay's seen? A C-minus

🧠 45:19 — Dr. Mari's case for "assisted intelligence"

🏛️ 55:14 — Did the DSM move the goalposts on EEG?

💜 1:08:55 — Support the show

📚 1:09:40 — Bonus: Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes

🔗 Updates & Links:

🧠 Jay Gunkelman — Suisun City Summit: https://suisuncitysummit.com

🎓 School of Neurotherapy: https://www.schoolofneurotherapy.com

🧩 Joshua Moore — Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com

🎵 Dr. Mari Swingle — SwingleSonic apps: https://swinglesonic.com

⚠️ Educational content only — not medical advice.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!

👉 Support on Patreon: / neuronoodle

🔔 Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes

#NeuroNoodle #NeurofeedbackTherapyPodcast #Neurofeedback #JayGunkelman #PeteJansons #EEG #QEEG #BrainMapping #MentalHealth #BrainHealth #Neurotherapy #DrMariSwingle #JoshuaMoore #EEGArtifacts #GlutamateBeta #DSM #QEEGPhenotypes

This week a total stranger handed NeuroNoodle his brain. He pulled his own EEG, stripped out every identifying detail, and asked host Pete Jansons and Jay Gunkelman — the man who's read over half a million brain scans — to "read my brain" live on the show. What follows is a rare, unscripted master class: Jay decoding a real, de-identified brain map in real time, with Dr. Mari Swingle on the clinical side.

Along the way: how to catch a brain map that's lying to you (Gauss's Law), why a 50Hz hum means the scan is European, how a sleep spindle and an SMR are the same wave, what very fast "glutamate beta" can suggest about a hyper-excitable cortex — and why Jay says the DSM has "no predictive validity" for choosing treatment. Then the reveal: a sharp, high-IQ 25-year-old who moved back home and burned out — and what Jay and Dr. Mari would do about it. Plus Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes and the "85%" finding.

🎙️ Panel: Jay Gunkelman (500K+ brain scans) and Dr. Mari Swingle (author, iMinds) — host Pete Jansons. With a de-identified EEG and a bonus QEEG-phenotypes segment from Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN).

📺 This is the follow-up to the 8/12 Brain Bar, where Joshua Moore first worked up this donated EEG live with the panel — here Jay gives his own read. Watch that episode below.

🧠 WHAT WE COVER:

🧠 0:00 — Cold open: your brain is plastic (even intractable epilepsy can turn around)

🎂 0:49 — Welcome + Dr. Mari's birthday before her Europe trip

🎁 3:03 — A stranger donates his brain: the de-identified EEG

⚠️ 3:29 — "Educational only": the tech vs. the licensed clinician

🌍 3:45 — European scan: 50Hz hum, common-mode rejection & montage

🔌 6:38 — Hunting the hum: power blocks, recliner motors & tri-field meters

⚡ 8:21 — Gauss's Law: how to tell when an EEG is lying to you

🧹 10:05 — Not a bad recording: reading the artifacts

🎛️ 12:13 — ICA cleanup: Infomax vs. FastICA

👁️ 14:58 — Pulling out eye movements, one component at a time

🌊 20:33 — Background alpha, sharp waves & wake-to-drowsy lability

😳 25:20 — Lambda waves, the amygdala & the jumpy brain

⚖️ 28:20 — Eyes closed + the med-legal rule: never delete your raw file

😴 30:36 — The vigilance model: how alpha moves as you drift off

🛌 31:10 — Vertex sharp waves, K-complexes & SMR = sleep spindles

🎨 33:10 — "Picasso at work": why artifacting is done by eye

😬 36:00 — O1, headache tension, TMJ & EMG feedback for jaw pain

📍 40:06 — Spikes vs. sharp waves & hyper-excitable cortex

🔥 42:17 — Decoding beta spindles: norepinephrine vs. glutamate beta

🧲 45:30 — The anterior cingulate & why TMS treats the symptom, not the brain

💊 46:00 — Antipsychotics, anticonvulsants & the Clozapine seizure risk

📉 49:06 — Why the DSM has "no predictive validity"

🙋 50:46 — The reveal: a 25-year-old who moved home and burned out

📈 50:53 — Reading his brain: fast alpha, high IQ & the memory link

🫥 51:58 — Social perception, obsessive frontal features & mood

🎯 55:33 — The plan: SMR training, frontal suppression & "direction not correction"

🐚 58:32 — The cochlear-implant lesson: relearning to feel

💜 1:00:45 — Support the show

📚 1:01:17 — Bonus: Joshua Moore on QEEG phenotypes & the "85%" finding

🔗 Updates & Links:

🍺 Brain Bar — source episode (8/12/26): https://youtube.com/live/aNuJjKg4AcQ

🧠 Jay Gunkelman — Suisun City Summit: https://suisuncitysummit.com

🎓 School of Neurotherapy: https://www.schoolofneurotherapy.com

🧩 Joshua Moore — Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com

🎵 Dr. Mari Swingle — SwingleSonic apps: https://swinglesonic.com

⚠️ Educational content only — not medical advice.

💪 Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!

👉 Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodle

🔔 Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes