Hello-
This page is a kind of a blog, a look inside J&J Engineering. As an innovative biomedical instrument company, we are constantly talking to customers, and taking suggestions for improvements. This area of our site is a way of communicating back to you,. We let you know how we are progressing on perfecting old projects and where we would like to take our products into the future.

Inside J&J

About The Author and Opinions Expressed Here:
I am the Co-Owner and Chief NeuroPsychoPhysiologist at J&J.  I was trained in Psychology, Physiology, and Medicine as a PhD Medical Psychologist at the University of Minnesota Medical School. I built electronic biofeedback devices in the Psychiatry Research laboratories as part of my  research designs. Chuck Storbel, MD, was a graduate of this program.
I was one of the first Certified Teachers for BCIA certification (I am a BCIA Fellow). I founded ISNR (International Society for the Study of Neurofeedback and Research). I am one of the first members of the Biofeedback Society of California (BSC) . I am now ex-president of BSC three times, once a decade. For you researchers, I did 20 years of clinical and research studies in biofeedback and neurofeedback, navigating more than three-million dollars in funds for research and product development.

Currently I am developing regional training 'centers' for J&J, and decided to add a 'blog-like component to try to connect with customers, competitors an potential J&J trainers on a more visceral level. I have strong opinions, and will try to back them up. If you understand better where my focus is, I think it will be easier to appreciate products in this arena.
Bob Grove, PhD

J&Js APPROACH TO MARKETING: Hard Decisions About Marketing Promises:
How do you have happy customers? One way is to provide clear, detailed information BEFORE purchase. In today's world, that means Web site documentation. We believe our new Web site is unique in the field - we go into some detail about our software products and how they work. We want you to be knowledgeable about us BEFORE YOU BUY  so you get a realistic idea of how it really looks and what kind of results you can get.

So what is my point? The point is, we will not over-promise you just to get a sale. Over-promising seems to take two forms:
1. Over-promise that a pretty system means a 'good' learning system.
Almost every week, we get a call from some else's customer - you know, some one that just bought a competitor's big system, paid about the same price for the  box, then added a few sensors, and a few software Suites. They ended up paying almost double the price of a J&J Bundled System. When asked why they purchased, a frequent comment was that some one suggested it to them as 'good', and that they really liked the pretty feedback-linked mandelas, and feedback-cartoons. Yet  at the end of the day they called us because there were so many options they got lost, and were struggling to keep the client focused on the learning task, rather than on the distracting graphics.
2. Over-promise that a simple system is a 'good' learning system.
I'm talking about software that promises that you can hook up a client, make a few adjustments, and walk away, confident that the software itself will 'shape' the signal in the right direction. This has been most prevalent in the neurofeedback arena and some versions of HRV training software. This sounds great - unfortunately there is no published verification that these auto-shaping protocols work any better (or worse) than manual shaping. In the operant conditioning literature, auto-shaping refers to a manual procedure to elicit a response and them reinforce it. It is not shaping as used in biofeedback.

More later .. That's a beginning.

GAMES? Over the years, we have developed hundreds of feedback displays, and sent them into the field for testing. The results may surprise you. While computer games increase compliance (returning for another session) they consistently retard leaning. Games do however increase SALES. So do your own research with our competitors. We have some simple Games, and have vendors who will supply them as add-ons.  Our Games STOP when the client achieves success. They do not keep running. This 'contingent-stop' or 'freezing of the screen, has been found to facilitate learning. It is a form of the Memory Consolidation Effect from Human Performance reseach.

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