Brain Network Analysis
THE PATH TOWARDS THE FUTURE STARTS IN YOUR HEAD
BNA is our way of mapping the highways and backroads of your brain related to performance across a variety of cognitive skills. By using EEG technology including up to 64 brain sensors listening and recording the brain’s information and decision-making up to 2000 times a second. Allowing us to build a GPS decision-making map of your brain’s pathways. Conscious and non-conscious decisions get distorted when we think about them. Our approach provides a unique innovation helping to take some of the guess work out of building faster and more accurate decision-making.
The results of the BNA lead directly to individualized neuroplasticity training programs to improve real-world performance in decision-making speed and accuracy.
PICTURE A GPS FOR YOUR BRAIN…
While it’s hard to draw a simple analogy to something so complex, we’ll try. Imagine your brain is a densely packed set of roads that allow information to get carried from major cities for you to do all the things you do. Whether it’s something as simple as blinking your eyes, or as complex as playing a musical instrument, signals are constantly being sent throughout your brain to make these things happen. One of the earliest foundational understandings of Neuroscience tells us that the more important the pathway is, the stronger it is, and we can identify cortical networks of pathways for functions like attention, visual processing and more.
WHAT IS BNA AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
BNA is our way of mapping the highways and backroads of your brain related to performance across a variety of cognitive skills. By wearing an EEG headset and completing a series of computer-based tasks, we’re able to accurately measure the strength and efficiency of your brain in action, from any location at any time.
IS BNA SAFE?
Yes! Our measurements are non-invasive, which means our headset simply rests on your head. Think of the headset as a microphone, we’re only able to listen to what your brain is doing, it is a one-way level of communication. For some users, wearing the headset gives mild discomfort, like wearing a hat that doesn’t quite fit right on your head.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I DO A BNA ASSESSMENT?
Depending on your occupation, our recommendation ranges from yearly to quarterly. For example, if you’re an athlete or in the military where there is a chance for exposure to head trauma, the more frequently we have a BNA map of your brain, the more we can work with medical professionals to help identify changes and guide rehabilitation. For lower impact professions, BNA can be used to measure the neuroplastic changes occurring from brain training, or simply the changes that occur naturally over time as we age. It’s your data, so the more you have, the more informed you’ll become.
IS THERE ANY AGE RESTRICTION AS TO WHO CAN TAKE A BNA ASSESSMENT?
Right now, we’re providing BNA maps to anyone who is 18 or older. We’re actively collecting data on folks who are younger and will plan on expanding this age range at a later date.
HOW DO YOU MEASURE OR ANALYZE DATA?
By having you complete a series of tasks that range from doing nothing, to increasingly difficult pressure tasks, we’re able to get an accurate snapshot of your brain’s networks in action. Using fancy math and algorithms too complicated to describe here, we can visualize those pathways to provide you maps of your brain, and show you where the potential traffic jams may be. This guides us for recommendations on specific brain training suited for you and provides a neurophysiological benchmark of your brain that can be used later for comparison.
IS THERE A PARTICULAR SITUATION THAT CAN AFFECT MY BNA ASSESSMENT?
Just like any test, the things we do the night before can impact your results. We recommend getting a good night sleep and avoiding alcohol and caffeine prior to your BNA appointment. We like to have you in a quiet room without distractions so you can most accurately represent your cognitive skills at the time of testing.
WHAT IS YOUR ADVANTAGE AGAINST YOUR COMPETITORS?
There are lots of ‘testing and assessment’ companies out there, but there are none that have a FDA cleared neurocognitive assessment and EEG capability that can map your brain the way we can. Our BNA system is proprietary, and is leveraging the latest in both sensor technology and machine learning algorithms. Best of all, it takes under an hour, and can be done in any location, we come to you!
WILL YOU PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE RESULT OF MY BNA ASSESSMENT?
In addition to receiving videos of your brain in action, we provide a report with findings on your performance, as well as recommendations on specific training that can help you improve. Within one day you can have a map of your brain, get your results, and have a targeted training plan to unlock your potential.
The images above show a Brain Network Analysis recorded during a decision-making task that varied in performance pressure. Each image pair has a cortical activity map on the left and the corresponding subcortical activity on the right. The resulting BNA indicates how brain networks function differently when performing at a high level versus at a lower performance level, shown by the left pair and right pair of images, respectively. The results of the BNA lead directly to individualized neuroplasticity training programs to improve real-world performance in decision-making speed and accuracy.
WHAT YOU GET
Published research shows that decision-making is strongly influenced by unconscious mental activity and emotions. Activity, recorded in the brain, can predict our decisions several seconds before we are consciously aware of the decision. In fact, in some circumstances making our decisions conscious slows our reaction speed. Let our Brain Network Analysis help you reduce some of the guesswork about your mental toughness and cognitive performance training by testing, tracking, and training your brain activity to make faster and more accurate decision-making. Clients or Client Groups (e.g., Teams) receive a Cognitive Combine evaluation and Brain Network Analysis to evaluate their neuroplasticity index for reaction speed and accuracy during decision-making tasks. Task complexity and performance pressure are systematically varied to identify opportunities for performance optimization. Results are compared to other elite professionals and military operators. Next, we work with the client and/or coaches to develop neuroplasticity training programs that can include: tactical skill-specific training, personalized (web-based) neuroplasticity training, and mobile biofeedback cognitive state training (e.g., Attention or Relaxation). Email us at info@eliteperform.org to learn more.
