Bilateral eye movement: Changes brain default network functions in EMDR treatment

Introduction: The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of bilateral eye movement as one of the important therapeutic components through EEG analysis. We examined differences between pre-bilateral eye movement and post-bilateral eye movement of normal healthy volunteers in scalp recorded EEGs in two different ways. First, we used qEEG to examine differences in specific band frequencies after bilateral eye movement. Secondly, we utilized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) source imaging (Pascual-Marqui et al., 1994) to explore the underlying neural generators of changed EEG activity. Methods:32 college students participated in the study. EEG was recorded continuously during the experiment. All participants experienced 3 blocks: 1) pre-experiment, eye-closed EEG in resting state, 2) stimuli condition (either eye movement or fixation) and 3) post-experiment, eye-closed EEG in resting state. 32-channel, eyes-closed EEG (30 artifactfree s/subject) was analyzed (source localization using FFT approximation and LORETA). Results: We demonstrated different functional connectivity patterns of the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 23, 31) between bilateral eye movement and eye fixation phase. Conclusion: These results provided evidence to support that the bilateral eye movements in EMDR procedure gives rise to the changes of ‘brain default network’, accompanied by the alteration of regional brain electrical activity.

Conference

English

Dong-Hoon Oh
Yong Chon Park

Oh, D. H., & Park, Y. C. (2010, July). Bilateral eye movement: Changes brain default network functions in EMDR treatment. Poster presented at the 1st EMDR Asia Conference, Bali, Indonesia