title: Spatio-temporal pattern of EEG in young brain respiration-training children.
abstract: We have evaluated the effect of 'Brain Respiration' training on brain activity using Karhunen-Loeve (KL) decomposition as a method for spatio-temporal analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG). BR training is a form of breath-work to optimize the function of the brain by concentrating Qi energy in the brain. Recently, BR-training has been reported to improve emotional maturity (i.e., EQ), short-term memory and intuition (Yoo et al., 1998). EEG data were taken during BR-training from 12 young BR-trainees (average age: 9.4 years) who had trained for 4 to 14 months, and during relaxation from age matched non-trained children. Spatio-temporal analysis showed a significant difference of EEG dynamics in right prefrontal, right inferior frontal, posterior temporal, parietal and occipital areas between BR-trainees and the control group. Amplitude of eigenvector components of BR-trainees in the areas of frontal, temporal and occipital cortex was larger than that of non-trained children (values were smaller in parietal cortex), with remarkably high amplitude alpha coherence all over the scalp. These results suggest that BR-training possibly activates brain function through changes in the activity of the frontal association area where higher mental integration and creative activities are mediated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Taejon.
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Y Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019413:Qi