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VOLUME 21. NUMBER 28
AUGUST 2,1974
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Bio feedback from the Brain
^'Experiential Lab’ Aids Self-Awareness
«
BRAIN WAVES MADE AUDIBLE—By equipment in another room, researcher Dr.
John Artley, professor of electrical engineering, descends into deep relaxation in the
Experiential Learning Laboratory at the School of Engineering. Artley controls his
body's autonomic nervous system by modulating the tone generated by the brain’s
alpha and beta waves. Biofeedback, he says, has helped lower high blood pressure and
control anxiety in some people who have mastered the technique. (Photo by Jim
Wallace)
B. Kulilc, C. Branch
2 New Directors Named
To Head Medical Records
"One of the key elements in the
structure and function of a large medical
center, like Duke, is the Medical Records
Department," emphasized Bill Kulik,
recently appointed director of the
department.
Joining Kulik in the direction and
coordination of the department's
activities is Carolyn Branch who is filling
the newly created position of assistant
director.
A native of Carbondale, Pa., Kulik
attended the Thomas Nelson Community
College in Virginia where he earned
certificates in automatic data processing
systems and computer programming.
In 1949 he began his long career in the
army and worked primarily as a
Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge of
the Registrar Division. During the 26
years he was in service he held various
administrative positions all over the world
in the medical records departments of
hospitals ranging in size from 100 to
1000 beds.
From the Arctic Circle to Capri, Italy,
Cloaked by darkness broken only
slightly by four luminescent panels in the
ceiling, I lay stretched out on foam
padding, tense and admittedly wary of
what was about to happen.
Staring at me through the gloom were
two loudspeakers standing guard in the
far corners of a wood-panelled sanctum
so unnaturally quiet that I was certain I
could hear my heart beating.
Three tiny wires ran from my head
and left arm to receptacles in the wall just
behind me. In my right hand, I sweatily
gripped a metal box with five buttons.
Outside my sanctum, John Artley and
Ross Dunseath adjusted dials and
occasionally glanced at the pips and
waves dancing across the green face of an
oscilloscope. An electroencepholograph
waited to process yards of paper at the
flip of a switch.
Suddenly, what I had entered the
sanctum for happened. A tone rose in
intensity, then began to vary wildly in
pitch, much as wind whistling through
power lines. It was the "sound" of my
own brain.
This, 1 mused half-seriously, would be
like home to Boris Karloff. Artley and
Dunseath should have gone into special
effects for Hollywood rather than
electrical engineering at the university.
Artley's disembodied voice quickly
shattered my train of thought. "Can you
hear the tone?"
"Yes," I said meekly, directing my
voice at the ceiling. There was a
microphone somewhere near me.
The tone grew louder. Artley said to
relax as much as possible, just sink into
self-awareness and try to lower the
:\
frequency of the tone by mental effort
alone.
Perhaps the body was willing, but the
spirit certainly wasn't. My thoughts began
to range over a wide spectrum. I conjured
up memories of a storm-racked beach on
the Outer Banks, wind howling and salt
spray biting my face. The tone rose in
pitch, sharply.
Moments later, I stood under the blue
glaze of a Montana sky, high on a
flower-strewn mountainside trespassed by
a gentle breeze. The tone fell in pitch.
So it went, for about 15 minutes in
the "Experiential Learning Laboratory"
at the School of Engineering, where John
Artley and other members of the Duke
community use the brain's alpha and beta
waves in a quest for self-awareness and
control.
After 'the experiment, Artley left
graduate assistant Dunseath and entered
the carpeted sanctum that he often
occupies himself to achieve deep
relaxation through biofeedback
techniques similar to the one I had just
undergone.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"OK, but 1 guess this is the ultimate in
bugging."
Later, Artley showed me the visual
record of the electroencephologram,
which recorded on paper the
up-and-down tone I produced with my
own brain waves. At one point, he said, I
almost reached the system's cutoff switch
when the brain wave frequency dipped
rapidly.
Artley is a full professor of electrical
engineering. But he doesn't fit the
(Continued on page 3)
Kulik has gained much of his knowledge
about hospitals and record keeping from
practical experience.
Before retiring as master sergeant in
the army in 1974, Kulik spent his last six
years of military service at Ft. Monroe in
Virginia. There he served as a member on
the Continental Army Command
Surgeon’s staff where he acted as a
consultant for 38 military hospitals
located in the continental United States.
In his present position at Duke, Kulik
will be in charge of the internal
organization of the department and the
external coordination with medical staff
and personnel to ensure effective
operation of the record keeping system.
Miss Branch is a native of Greenville,
N.C. and received both her A.B. degree in
psychology and B.S. degree in medical
records science from East Carolina
University.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1970, Miss Branch worked as a
social worker at the Craven County
(Continued on page 2}
NEW DIRECTORS
—Two new directors
have been appointed
to head the Medical
Records Department
at the hospital. Bill
Kulik has been
named director and
Carolyn Branch has
filled the newly
created position of
assistant director.
Both Kulik and Miss
Branch will be
responsible for the
organization and
coordination of the
department's
activities. At the
present time the
department has a
staff of 63 members
who are involved in
the operation of
record keeping.
(Photo by Dale
Moses)