Key Point and Core Philosophy

“In 1970 I had a vision of what brain training could be in the future: a simple, powerful, and safe way to self-optimize that is so easy and intuitive that anyone can use it. NeurOptimal® version 3 is that elegant vision and it’s here now.” Valdeane W. Brown. PhD, April 17, 2018

NeurOptimal® is designated by the FDA as being a General Wellness Product and by Health Canada as a Consumer Product. This means anyone can use it and with no special training, knowledge, expertise, certification of licensure required or needed.

The frequent complaint that “no one knows how NeurOptimal® works” misses the central design philosophy. The “black box” analogy critics often use does not relate to exposing proprietary source code (which every major neurofeedback system protects). Rather, it relates to the concern that raw EEG is not available in NeurOptimal® and never will be.

What traditional practitioners truly want is direct, real-time access to the raw EEG signal so they can personally analyze it and manually adjust protocols and feedback parameters. NeurOptimal® deliberately does not provide that capability — nor does it need to.

The software automatically reads the brain’s own output in real time, processes it, and delivers the feedback loop without any user intervention; the end user (clinician or client) has neither the ability nor the requirement to intervene. This is exactly the elegant vision Valdeane Brown articulated in 2018 when NO3 was launched and is noted above.

In short, the “black box” is not a flaw — it is the entire point. The software is intentionally accessible to and usable by anyone, because it is information about their own brain and should allow them the ability to train and optimize it themselves, without needing to go to anyone for expert training. By removing the need for raw EEG analysis and manual protocol tweaking, NeurOptimal® fulfills the 50-year vision of true personal empowerment: your brain is your own property.

Note: We respect and honor the commitment of our highly skilled colleagues in the field of neurofeedback and their dedicated efforts — like ours — to relieve human suffering.

How NeurOptimal® Works: The Core Dynamical Neurofeedback Process

At its heart, NeurOptimal® is not a traditional, “protocol-based” or linear neurofeedback system that pushes the brain toward preset targets. Instead, it functions as an advanced, moment-to-moment mirror for the central nervous system (CNS). The system samples EEG data at 256 Hz from two scalp sensors (typically C3 and C4, with ear references and a ground for common-mode rejection) via the proprietary zAmp hardware. It then applies a suite of interconnected proprietary algorithms to detect subtle, emergent “flutter” (the tiny variability that signals an impending phase-state shift in brain activity) and delivers brief auditory interruptions (a “takeaway” of sound) as feedback. This negative-feedback loop simply informs the brain of its own shifts, allowing the CNS to self-organize toward greater flexibility, resilience, and efficiency—without any operant conditioning, rewards, or operator-directed protocols and allows for its safety and its efficacy.

The foundational technologies include:

• Joint Time-Frequency Analysis (JTFA): A 4-dimensional signal-processing approach (frequency + time + variability metrics) that provides far richer insight than classic 2D spectral analysis. This allows for exactly visualizing the 4-dimensional nature of EEG as well as in novel ways. It includes inline adaptive denoising to preserve genuine brain signals while removing artifacts.

• Nonlinear Dynamical Systems (NDS) control processes, specifically allowing for Synchronization through Chaos, and capturing the emergent shifting (flutter) of the CNS around its trajectory and also allowed for the development of AutoNav. Thus, it enables the software and CNS to influence each other dynamically.

• 4-D DIFS metric: (Duration, Intensity, Frequency, Shift) that allows for the end user, trainers as well as others who witness the training and personal transformation to detect the sometimes subtle and seamless changes that can occur.

• 20 proprietary Time-Frequency Envelopes (TFEs): 10 per hemisphere, that dynamically track activity across 0.001–64 Hz.

• AutoNav: An intelligent, real-time adjustment layer that adapts targeting and sensitivity on the fly, guiding the session through natural CNS transitions (warm-up, letting go, working deeply, release). It allows for the comprehensive and adaptive nature of training and thus, it is not one size fits all.

All of this runs in microsecond-scale loops, creating a seamless “dance” between the system and the brain. The result feels like one elegant process to the user, even though it is built from multiple specialized, interdependent modules.

The Exposed, User-Accessible Modules of NeurOptimal®

Because NeurOptimal® is architected as a collection of purpose-built LabVIEW Virtual Instruments (VIs) and sub-modules, certain components are deliberately exposed to end users (both Flex and Unlimited systems) through the Preferences Editor (accessed by double-tapping or touch-and-holding the Tools icon in the VAULT). These modules handle administrative, workflow, hardware, display, and session-control tasks without ever touching the safety-critical real-time neurofeedback engine. A general description of preferences that are available for an end user to access and change include being able to change the notification delivery of available updates to NO3, changing the Notch Filter from 60 Hz to 50 Hz for the relevant electrical mains current for the country where an end user resides, being able to change the default music or creating a custom default music track or playlist and other general settings.

Having these end user available modules illustrates NeurOptimal®’s thoughtful modularity: each has a single, well-defined job, making the software intuitive, maintainable, and safe for users who have no programming background.

Proprietary Modules Kept Internal

In addition to the exposed modules above, NeurOptimal® contains several other proprietary modules that are never discussed publicly. These handle the most sensitive real-time computations (advanced JTFA implementations, the full NDS orchestration, AutoNav logic, TFE management, adaptive denoising, and precise feedback timing as well as the use of NDS for detecting the emergent variability – flutter – in the EEG signal and is the basis for AutoNav). Their internal details remain confidential by design—to protect intellectual property, maintain system integrity, and ensure that every update undergoes the same rigorous National Instruments Champion Developer + testing-team validation process.

“No one knows how it works”

This observation is understandable, although untrue. NeurOptimal® does not offer Raw EEG (addressed above in this document), does not publish source code or low-level algorithmic specifications the way some open-source projects do. However, this is not opacity for its own sake; it is responsible engineering. The high-level principles (JTFA, NDS/Synchronization through Chaos, DIFS, AutoNav, and the self-organizing feedback loop) are openly explained in official materials, certification training, and technical overviews so that trainers and users understand the why and what of the experience. The exact implementation details are protected for the same reason pharmaceutical companies do not publish proprietary manufacturing formulas: to safeguard the innovation that makes the system uniquely safe, effective, and adaptive.

Because of the professional development pipeline—National Instruments National Champion Developers, an intimate testing team, and a direct handoff to expert support—users can trust that “how it works” has been validated far more thoroughly than most consumer software. The exposed modules (CLEF, NOTATE, TRAIN Player, NO Device Manager, VAULT, NOMP) give practical visibility and control where it matters for daily use—including customizable real-time visuals in NOTATE’s Matrix Mirror Mode—while the core dynamical engine operates with the precision and security that only a tightly controlled, proprietary architecture can provide. In practice, this means thousands of people worldwide benefit from the system without needing to become software engineers. The brain simply receives clear, instantaneous information about itself and does the rest.

This modular, professionally engineered design is why NeurOptimal® remains the gold and only standard in Dynamical Neurofeedback®: transparent where it helps users, rigorously protected where it ensures safety and performance.

More Information

How were the Time-Frequency Envelopes Developed?

While we cannot offer information regarding the proprietary algorithms that NeurOptimal® uses, we can talk about this in general.

Known as a “trainer of trainers,” back in the day, Valdeane W. Brown, Ph. D., our primary developer, used and was considered an expert in helping others with the available tech of the day, teaching others how to use the equipment, setup screens for various training offerings, etc. This offered the opportunity for analysis of raw EEG data, etc. As a result, he was able to gather the data from thousands of sessions and across various systems where clients and trainers reported them as being beneficial and where they were not reported as being beneficial. This offered the opportunity to develop the 20, TFEs that are used in NeurOptimal®.

The finely tuned mathematical tools that have been utilized in development over the years involve the complex mathematics that allowed for analysis of EEG data, to measure it exactly as a 4-dimensional phasor and in novel ways, to identify the emergent variability in the signal that precedes a phase state change and also allowed for the development of the proprietary targeting and triggering mechanism which includes the 20 Time-Frequency Envelopes (TFEs) that are part of this as well as AutoNav.

While the TFEs show as rectangles on the Matrix Mirror, they are actually 4-dimensional hypercubes, so it is quite a sophisticated 4-dimensional process in terms of exactly measuring EEG, detecting the emergent variability in the signal and allowing for the corresponding 4-dimensional, proprietary targeting and triggering mechanism.

Available during every Session, the Matrix Mirror is a visual display in NeurOptimal® that includes Spectra, Targets and 20 Targets boxes or Time-Frequency Envelopes (TFEs) represented from the measured voltage (EEG) during the Session. This visual display is merely a general representation of the training itself and is not to be used to determine Session efficacy

What is AutoNav?

AutoNav changed everything, including how different each of the ZenX Modes (described below) were from one to another. AutoNav is always perfectly adjusting moment-to-moment to exactly how the CNS is responding during the Session to the actual training that is happening. This makes everything very simple for the Trainer even though that can seem counterintuitive to many, especially those coming from a clinical perspective.

Again, AutoNav changes everything — including the previous distinctions between the ZenX Modes. It adjusts the training moment-to-moment to what is actually happening to the Client’s EEG such that it decreases and virtually eliminates, un-useful, previously uncomfortable “wobbles” of the Client in ways never before possible. With the addition of AutoNav, NeurOptimal® offers one completely, unique method of “sizing” that adapts moment-to-moment to each and every individual during each and every Session. It is not, “one size fits all.”

A brief summary about AutoNav and the relationship to the ZenX Modes

With NeurOptimal®, there are 4, ZenX Modes in a flow of information. One becomes the next unless something Extrinsic to training constrains the natural transformation flow. Unlike the earlier Version 2 of NeurOptimal®, NO3 does not allow for changing the difficulty and timing of the ZenX Modes. AutoNav handles that.

With AutoNav, ZenX mode differences become just “differencing” in the overall dance of the brain/CNS:

• Zen 1 = Information with AutoNav: Previously identified before AutoNav as, Warm up, let’s play

• Zen 2 = Information with AutoNav: Previously identified before AutoNav as, Letting go, releasing, left and right hemisphere communicating

• Zen 3 = Information with AutoNav: Previously identified before AutoNav as, Working Deeply. synchronization through chaos

• Zen 4: Information with AutoNav: Previously identified before AutoNav as, Release

AutoNav is the core around which the ZenX modes are flowing. It allows for movement between the modes as it determines necessary. It meets the CNS, moment-to-moment wherever it is, always smoothly responding to that information, whatever it is.

Feedback Mechanism:

EEG is not a sine wave, it is a 4-Dimensional phasor and NeurOptimal® uses a corresponding 4-Dimensional process in providing feedback in the form of interruptions in the audio stream by measuring the Duration, Intensity, Frequency and Shifts (DIFS) noticed within the signal. NeurOptimal® does not train states and brains don’t “wave.”

The interruptions are not affecting change, rather they provide information to the brain/CNS about what it is doing in the context of emergent variability (flutter), noticed in the measured electrical activity (EEG) across a globally interwoven, dynamical range of information, (whole brain electrical activity) from 0.001 Hz to 64 Hz and via NeurOptimal®’s proprietary targeting and triggering mechanism with the use of 20 Time-Frequency Envelopes (targets), 10 on the left hemisphere and 10 on the right hemisphere of the brain.

Feedback Safety, Efficiency and Efficacy

NeurOptimal®’s use of Negative Feedback with the music involves a “takeaway” of information which is itself informative. This provides for its safety, its efficiency and its efficacy and allows the brain/CNS to determine what is best to do with the relevant information it receives while training in order to minimize discomfort to it. It is a difference in the form of feedback provided by pretty much everyone else’s system. They use Positive Feedback which is like an “electronic M&M” that a Client has to pay attention to and then adjust to it in the attempt to “hit the sweet spot” that is predetermined by the provider. An analogy for Positive Feedback is that it is like an HVAC system set at a certain temperature that involves overshoot and undershoot as the measured temperature gets at or near or above the set level and the temperature never really stays constant. This approach can lead to side-effects and requires conscious attention during training. So, there is a pushing or pulling effect going on and requires very skilled trainers to actively monitor training to adjust protocols when/if side effects arise. Not so with NeurOptimal®.

Feedback in NeurOptimal® is through the use of interruptions in audio. All of the music offered in the various iterations of NeurOptimal® is composed by Grammy Award Winner and Trainer, Jeff Bova and created in consultation with our co-founders.

• Zengar® Music #1 Sample: https://soundcloud.com/zengar-institute-inc/sample-zengar-jeff-bova-session-music-1
• Zengar® Music #2 Sample: https://soundcloud.com/zengar-institute-inc/sample-zengar-jeff-bova-session-music-2
• Zengar® Music #3 Sample: https://soundcloud.com/zengar-institute-inc/sample-zengar-jeff-bova-session-music-3
• Zengar® Music #4 Sample (Default Music in NO3): https://soundcloud.com/zengar-institute-inc/sample-zengar-jeff-bova-session-music-4
• All tracks are available in the store: https://neuroptimal.com/product-category/music/

“Flutter” Detection: “Flutter” (think of the flutter of a hummingbird as it is about to change position) noticed in the electrical signal of the brain by NeurOptimal® precedes the initiation of a change in phase-state and can trigger an interruption in the audio stream.

More on “Flutter”: “Flutter” is neither good nor bad and NeurOptimal® does not seek to minimize it. Also, “Flutter” precedes a change in the phase-state in all Nonlinear Dynamical Systems and the brain is a Nonlinear Dynamical System that is self-organizing based on information value.

Brain Response to Training: The brain then notices the interrupt as a difference in the information provided to it (pause or interrupt in the audio) that is in response to its own electrical activity (offering the orienting response to the brain). This allows it to make a decision on whether to continue the phase-state change or re-organize back to the previous state.

Brain as a Nonlinear Dynamical System: The brain/CNS is the most marvelous, Nonlinear Dynamical System in the known universe and processes information that is relevant to it from both the internal environment and the external environment, noticing the difference in the value of that information constantly and responding to that information (or not) and all in the context of minimizing discomfort to IT. This should not be construed as meaning conscious discomfort to us as the brain is concerned with survival and not conscious “thrival.”

Mirror Effect: NeurOptimal® acts like a “mirror” to the brain and gives it the choice to do what it does best.

Behavioral Adaptation: If the brain’s response to the potential phase-state change leads to a decrease in overall discomfort to the brain, it will continue to use that comprehensive behavioral repertoire.

Tracking Progress – The Lived Experience

At the Zengar Institute, Inc., the mission is clear. Zengar Institute Inc.’s mission is to create, deliver and support the most effective and safe brain training system available in the world today. The purpose of this endeavor reflects the mission of its founders — to relieve suffering.

See: https://neuroptimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Mission_Statement_2022.pdf

Furthermore, it involves the transformation of suffering and that is exactly what we are all about.

How do you measure personal transformation?

It is the client’s lived experience through training that is the ONLY way to measure this. Our co-founder, Susan Dermit Brown, PhD is a Behavioral Psychologist (Stony Brook University) and developed the My Journal Tracking Tools that, with careful use, will help to identify the sometimes subtle and seamless and at times powerful changes that can occur via training with NeurOptimal®. For more information, please see: https://neuroptimal.com/new-user-resources/#monitoring_shifts and offered below. Additionally, with Valdeane W. Brown’s background in Existential-Phenomenology, this is a natural fit for NeurOptimal®.

We suggest you use the tracking tools that Zengar® provides to all new users, including the My NeurOptimal® Companion App for Android and IOS. These tools help you pay attention to some of the subtle details that could possibly be shifting as you train. You may need to experience many small shifts before the one big change that you want to happen actually occurs. Such as, you may notice falling asleep quicker or staying asleep longer before you notice you wake feeling refreshed.

Video recording yourself from the start of your journey and throughout will give you visual evidence things are changing, the expression on your face, your posture with shoulders held tightly high, or perhaps the speed of your voice. All very subtle shifts that impact your daily life.

Note:

NeurOptimal® is a training tool and does not diagnose, treat, mitigate, prevent or cure any disease, disorder or abnormal physical state, nor does it restore, modify or correct the body’s structure or functioning. If you require medical assistance, please seek the advice of your physician.