The Relax Your Face Clinician screen is pre-configured to reduce or downtrain the presence of EMG facial tension from the signal. It is configured to reduce 33-48 Hz on up to 2 channels.
Filter Controls
The Filter controls vary slightly between the Clinician Screens. For instance, since “Relax Your Face” is pre-configured to show 33 – 48 Hz, you don’t have the Filter Frequency controls here like you do with the other Clinician Screens. You also cannot configure the direction of training as the reward is always “BELOW” the threshold bar.
EMG Channel This option selects which channel(s) you wish to use to downtrain EMG.
You can elect to uncheck the “Feedback” box which will still record the data from that Filter for monitoring of EMG during training, BUT that filter will not actually factor into the reward feedback that the client/trainee sees during training. You’ll notice that the amplitude bar/meter is grayed out in this scenario, but statistics are still calculated and displayed onscreen.
Max uV Determines the ceiling of the vertical scale as measured in microvolts (uV) that is used to set the maximum range of the graph. You will be unable to set the Max uV to a setting that is less than the currently set threshold value.
In general, you will want to adjust the Max uV setting such that the threshold bar used during training is generally in the center of the amplitude bar. This way, you and the trainee can more easily observe the minor changes in amplitude during training. If the setting for Max uV is too high, then the changes will be very small on the bar and hard to discern during training.
Displayed Statistics
Amplitude Displays the current amplitude (strength) of the signal. Amplitude is defined as the absolute value of the maximum displacement from a zero value during one period of an oscillation. Amplitude is a measure of the power of the EEG signal in microvolts (uV).
Mean(10s) Displays a mean for the last 10 second interval of amplitude data.
Total Mean Displays the total mean value of the gathered amplitude since the last reset.
Sustained Displays the maximum amount of time that the player has sustained the set goal since the last reset.
Threshold Displays the current value of the threshold bar. This is the amplitude value that the client/trainee must stay below to continue to receive positive feedback.
Below Displays in percentage terms the amount of time during the session the trainee has been below the threshold value.
Amplitude Bars and Reward Signal
Amplitude Bar – Displays the training signal for EMG (33 – 48 Hz) that as measured by the hardware amplifier. The Relax Your Face screen does not filter out muscle artifacts like the other clinician screens do as the intended purpose of “Relax Your Face” is to assist in training the trainee to reduce the incidence of muscle tension themselves.
Filter Oscilloscope Displays the signal wave form for the EMG filter for each selected channel.
Feedback Options
Visual Feedback
Enables and disables star feedback shown above. This includes the M/P/L display (see below for definition of M/P/L). The star will appear gold when BOTH filters’ goals are being met. The star will appear red when NEITHER filters’ goals are being met or when “Excessive Facial Activity” occurs (i.e., the player tenses their face or jaw). Additionally, the star will change to the color Blue if only the criteria for filter 1 is met and will change to Green if only the criteria for Filter 2 is being met. The star will display a number in its center. This number denotes the number of seconds that the goal has been continuously achieved. This number will reset any time the star changes color. In EEG training, it is important to encourage the individual to sustain bursts of mental activity in relationship to the specified goal. The number in the center of the star is used to help guide trainees in achieving this goal.
M/P/L
Max Goal time / Percent Goal time / Last Sustained
This represents important information about the Goal used to measure an individual’s progress. Typically, the Goal is to have a Gold star, which represents that you are succeeding on all filters, but since filters can be disabled, this can change depending on your settings. “M” represents the maximum seconds the Goal was sustained. “P” equals the percentage of time the Goal was sustained and “L” is the length of time the Goal was sustained the last time the goal was achieved. Note that “L” will only reset if the Goal was sustained for 1 second or longer. This provides a way for the trainee to attempt to exceed their last best, sustained burst of activity that met the goal.
Audio Feedback
Enables and disables audio star feedback as set via the Settings – Audio Feedback menu.
Brings up a dialog which the Trainer uses to choose generally pleasing sounds for use as auditory feedback in EEG training. Lower pitched (less pleasing) or more distracting sound patterns are also provided to enable the Trainer to set auditory feedback that signals to the player that he or she has been in a non-targeted brain wave pattern for a specified amount of time. That time can be set by setting the threshold timer. If the player is in a targeted brain wave pattern, the positive auditory feedback will play immediately regardless of the threshold timer.
NOTE: The configured audio feedback sounds will only play if the “Audio Feedback” checkbox on the main Clinician’s screen is actually checked.
NOTE: It is generally best to configure auditory feedback such that only one sound will play at a time. This can be done by setting only the Star Gold and Star Red to sounds and leaving the Filter 1 Above/Below and Filter 2 Above/Below (found by clicking “Advanced” at the bottom or the window) set to None. You can “Preview” the feedback sounds selected and pick ones that the trainee likes.
Star Gold
Allows audio to be chosen for when the star is gold.
Star Red
Allows audio to be chosen for when the star is red.
Blue Filter (1) / Green Filter (2) Above Threshold
Allows audio to be chosen for when the amplitude of the selected filter is above the threshold level set by the Trainer. Make sure your audio feedback settings match your training protocol. For example, if you have Filter 1 set to uptrain SMR, then you will want to set the Filter 1 Above Threshold to a rewarding sound and the Below Threshold to None. If you are downtraining, then set the Below Threshold option to a sound and leave Above set as None or a clearly different sound.
Blue Filter (1) / Green Filter (2) Below Threshold
Allows audio to be chosen for when the amplitude of the selected filter is below the threshold level set by the Trainer. Make sure your audio feedback settings match your training protocol. For example, if you have Filter 1 set to uptrain Beta, then you will want to set the Filter 1 Above Threshold to a rewarding sound and the Below Threshold to None. If you are downtraining Low Alpha, then set the Below Threshold option to a sound and leave Above set as None or a clearly different sound.
