SPECIAL ISSUE: Maurice Barry Sterman's Sensorimotor Rhythm Research Shaped Neurofeedback

Abstract

In the 1960s, Maurice Barry Sterman began his career as a neuroscience researcher at Sepulveda VA Medical Center and, later, at the University of California, Los Angeles. He started by adding electroencephalograms (EEGs) to a research project on autonomic response patterns and emotional states. The results of this research spurred Sterman to explore whether it might be possible to alter EEG patterns through stimulation of certain brain regions, particularly the basal forebrain region. This interest and curiosity led to the now-familiar research with cats and the “discovery” of the sensorimotor rhythm.