Whole-Head Normalization Using Live Z-Scores for Connectivity Training, Part 1

The first of two articles in which the developer of a live z-score training system describes two years of clinical experience with it (since April 2006) and how the method changed. Training began with single z-scores and z-score ranges. It then moved to four channels, which give 248 z-scores and six connections between sites instead of one. The author argues that training one coherence toward normal can push other, untrained connections out of range. He cites a colleague's case in which conventional coherence training normalized the targeted links while others got worse, and links this to models of how the brain trades off short- and long-range connections. The proposed answer is to train many z-scores at once, across several sites, combined into a single "how normal" score (Multivariate Proportional, or MVP). It is a theory and methods article with no outcome data. The author has a financial interest in the equipment maker, and Part 2 (July 2008) covers the practical protocols.