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Robert W. Thatcher

Robert W. Thatcher (born June 9,1942) in Long Beach, California is Founder and CEO of Applied Neuroscience, Inc. and the Director of the Applied Neuroscience Research Institute both located in St. Petersburg, Fl. He is past secretary of the EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society (ECNS) and past board member of the Society for Neuronal Regulation (SNR). He is also a past board member of the American Board of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology (ABEN) and was on the National Institutes of Health Advisory Board for the creation of a developmental MRI database and in 1994 was chairman of the committee for the integration of EEG/MEG as part of the NIMH and NSF Human Brain Mapping Project. He is considered along with E. Roy John (1973 – 1977) to be the “co-founder” of the field of quantitative EEG called “Neurometrics”. He is a pioneer in the creation of low-cost EEG analysis software for brain assessment and linking of symptoms to dysregulate brain networks and the inventor of real-time Z score neurofeedback by developing real-time normative databases in 2003. Since 2003 over 3,000 clinicians and five different EEG neurofeedback companies have licensed his real-time Z score databases for the purposes of neurofeedback.

Early life and Education[edit] Dr. Robert W. Thatcher, Ph.D., QEEG-D graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic high school in 1960 and attended Long Beach City College (1961-62) and in 1965 received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry (University of Oregon) and in 1970 a Ph.D. in Psychology with a major in Biopsychology (University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada). In 1971 he was a NIH postdoctoral fellow in neurobiology and neuroanatomy at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and in 1972 a NIH postdoctoral fellow in Neurophysiology at New York Medical College. In 1978 he was certified as an “Expert in Neurometrics and Clinical Electrophysiology” at New York University School of Medicine. In 1992 he received a certificate for completion of course work as a “Project Officer” at the National Institutes of Health. In 1994 he was certified as a Neurotherapist by the Academy of Certified Neurotherapists and in 1998 he was certified in the Scientific Specialty of QEEG by the American Board of Certification of Quantitative Electroencephalography as a Diplomate. In 1999 he also became a diplomat in QEEG by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America. In 2000, he was certified in EEG/QEEG/Neurophysiology by ECNS and the American Board of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology and served as a Ph.D. Examination Board member for ECNS/ABEN.

Professional life[edit] In 1973 Dr. Thatcher was appointed as an assistant professor of Psychiatry at New York Medical College and in 1977 he was appointed as an associate professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. In 1979 Dr. Thatcher was appointed as a full professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of the Neurometric program at Shock Trauma for 10 years before joining the faculty of the National Institutes of Health as the program manager for the first 128 channel EEG system. He also served on the National Institutes of Health Scientific Advisory Committee for the NIH Human Brain Map Project and is the editor of two volumes on Neuroimaging (“Foundations of Neuroimaging” and “Developmental Neuroimaging”). Dr. Thatcher was then appointed the director of the NeuroImaging Laboratory at the Bay Pines VA Medical Center, Bay Pines, Florida, and was an adjunct professor in the Departments of Neurology and Radiology at the University of South Florida and also the EEG and MRI principal investigator for the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration Head Injury Program (DVHIP). He served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of BrainScope, Inc. (2009-2017) and NeuroCore, Inc. (2016 to present) and is currently the director of the Applied Neuroscience Research Institute and the founder & CEO of Applied Neuroscience, Inc. He is the author of over 200 scientific publications and eight books. His most recent books are the "Handbook of Quantitative Electroencephalography and EEG Biofeedback" and “Z Score Neurofeedback: Clinical Applications” (co-edited with Dr. Joel Lubar).

Neurometrics[edit] From 1973-1977 in collaboration with Dr. E. Roy John Dr. Thatcher helped create the field called “Neurometrics” defined as quantified EEG (QEEG) of power and connectivity compared to an age match normative database. Together they wrote and edited three books entitled “Functional Neuroscience, Vol. I – III” and established standards for the development of QEEG normative databases (– 4). In 1974 Dr. Thatcher and E. Roy John opened the 1st Neurometrics clinical service and in 1977 and together with Leslie Prichep, Ph.D. and Bernard Karmel, Ph.D. developed the 1st QEEG certification examination at NYU School of Medicine. In 1981 Dr. Thatcher founded and directed the Neurometric Clinical Service at Shock Trauma, University of Maryland during which approximately 1,500 head trauma patients were evaluated. In 2003, as a modern extension of Neurometrics, he developed a real-time Z score normative database for EEG biofeedback (Neurofeedback) that is now used by over 3,000 clinician’s world wide.

EEG Biofeedback - Neurofeedback[edit] In 1977 Dr. Thatcher directed a NIH EEG biofeedback program with the New York Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). In 1994 Dr. Thatcher introduced and licensed to Lexicor, Inc. a 19 channel EEG Z score normative database into the field of EEG biofeedback later called Neurofeedback. Almost immediately normative database comparisons aided clinical evaluation and the development of EEG biofeedback protocols. In 2003-2004 Dr. Thatcher developed a real-time normative database comparison for biofeedback that took much of the guess work out of deciding a threshold for feedback. Simplification was to reinforce outliers linked to symptoms in the direction of the healthy normal sample or toward Z = 0 no matter what the metric or frequency. This contribution revolutionized EEG biofeedback with over 3,000 clinicians and numerous companies licensed to use real-time Z score neurofeedback in 2018. In 2009, Dr. Thatcher was also the first to implement Z score neurofeedback using 3-dimensional source localization in real-time aided by a symptom checklist and brain networks known to be related to symptoms. This changed the face of EEG Neurofeedback because for the first time clinicians could use operant conditioning to reinforce brain hubs and connections in the direction of increased efficiency and homeostasis (the reference normal population). The revolution continues by unifying body physical therapy (PT) with brain physical therapy because they share the same use of normative databases and treatments designed to direct therapy in the direction of Z = 0, one with specific muscles and range of motion issues and the other the dysregulation in brain hubs linked to mental health symptoms.

Professional Awards and Honors[edit] In 1981, Dr. Thatcher received the “Outstanding Scientist of the Year Award”, Science Digest Magazine. In 1982 he was awarded “Third Prize for a Scientific Exhibit”, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Toronto, Canada. In 1985 he received the “Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research”, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and in 1991 he was awarded a “Research Fellowship to the Center for Advanced Study”, Stanford University. In 1998 he received a “Life Time Achievement Award for Work in the Scientific Specialty of QEEG” by the American Board of Certification of Quantitative Electroencephalography. In 2008 he was awarded “The Hans Berger Award of Merit”, Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Neurofeedback Division”. In 2009 he was awarded a “Life Time Achievement Award in EEG and Quantitative EEG”, International Society for Neurofeedback and Research, Indianapolis, Indiana” and in 2012 he received the best paper award: “Differentiating transformational and non-transformational leaders on the basis of neurological imaging”. Published in The Leadership Quarterly, 2012. Sponsored by the Center for Creative Leadership.

Research Interests[edit] Dr. Thatcher has published papers in developmental neurobiology, learning, memory, cognitive neuroscience, neurotoxicology, neurophysiology of time representation, neurophysiology of aesthetics, nonlinear dynamical models of brain development, mathematical models of EEG coherence, mild and severe neural trauma and functional neuroimaging. Experienced in multichannel EEG, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), multimodal registration of PET, MRI and EEG, dipole analyses of EEG and evoked potentials, intracellular and extracellular single unit analyses and multiunit analyses. Experienced in MRI segmentation and brain image classification analyses. JTFA analyses of coherence, power, phase and phase reset in controls, autistic subjects, traumatic brain injury and neuropsychological functioning. Development of EEG normative databases, EEG biofeedback and research into real-time Z scores using the Hilbert transform and Gaussian distributions.

References[edit] Selected Published Material..., 1-Thatcher, R.W. and John, E.R. Functional Neuroscience, Vol. 1: Foundations of Cognitive Processes, E.R. John and R.W. Thatcher, Editors. L. Erlbaum Assoc., N.J., l977. 2-John, E.R. Functional Neuroscience, Vol. II: Neurometrics: Quantitative Electrophysiological Analyses. E.R. John and R.W. Thatcher, Editors. L. Erlbaum Assoc., N.J., l977. 3-Harmony, T. Functional Neuroscience, Vol. III: Neurometric Assessment of Brain Dysfunction in Neurological Patients. E.R. John and R.W. Thatcher, Editors. L. Erlbaum Assoc., N.J., l984. 4-John, E.R., Prichep, L.S., Ahn, H., Kaye, H., Brown, D., Easton, P., Karmel, B., Toro, A., and Thatcher, R. Neurometric Evaluation of Brain Function in Normal and Learning Disabled Children. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1989. 5-Thatcher, R.W., Hallet, M., Zeffiro, T., John, E.R. and Huerta, M., Editors. Functional Neuroimaging: Technical Foundations, New York, Academic Press, 1994. 6-Thatcher, R.W., Lyon, G.R., Rumsey, J. and Krasnegor, N. Editors. Developmental Neuroimaging: Mapping the Development of Brain and Behavior, Academic Press, Florida, 1996. 7-Thatcher, R.W. EEG normative databases and EEG biofeedback. Journal of Neurotherapy, 2(4): 8-39, 1998. 8-Thatcher, R.W. EEG Operant Conditioning (Biofeedback) and Traumatic Brain Injury. Clinical EEG, 31(1): 38-44, 2000. 9-Thatcher, R.W., North, D., and Biver, C. Evaluation and Validity of a LORETA normative EEG database. Clin. EEG and Neuroscience, 2005, 36(2): 116-122. 10-Thatcher, R.W., North, D., and Biver, C. Intelligence and EEG phase reset: A two-compartmental model of phase shift and lock, NeuroImage, 42(4): 1639-1653, 2008. 11-Thatcher, R.W. and Lubar, J.F. History of the scientific standards of QEEG normative databases. In: Introduction to QEEG and Neurofeedback: Advanced Theory and Applications, T. Budzinsky, H. Budzinsky, J. Evans and A. Abarbanel (eds)., Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 2008. 12-Thatcher, R.W. Reliability and validity of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG). J. of Neurotherapy, 14:122-152, 2010. 13-Thatcher, R.W. 2010. LORETA Z score biofeedback. NeuroConnections Newsletter, Part 2, 15-17. 14-Thatcher, R.W. Handbook of Quantitative Electroencephalography and EEG Biofeedback, Anipublishing, Florida, 2012. 15-Thatcher, R.W. and Lubar, J.F. (Editors) (2014). Z Score Neurofeedback: Clinical Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. 16-Thatcher, R.W., North, D., and Biver, C. (2014). LORETA EEG phase reset of the default mode network. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8(529): 1-14. 17- Thatcher, R.W., Palmero-Soler, E., North, D., and Biver, C. (2016). Intelligence and EEG measures of information flow: Efficiency and Homeostatic Neuroplasticity. Sci. Rep. 6, 38890; doi: 10.1038/srep38890