"What is he thinking?" The brain wave meter in action at Keio University (via Keio U)
A team of researchers from Keio University have developed a brain scanner that’s able to measure (in real-time) whether the user has interest, desire, stress, tiredness or concentration at any given time. The team, led by Professor Yasue Mitsukura, designed the simple (over EEG) brain wave meter to take readings from only one area of the brain known as ‘FP1’ (position on the head where the electrode of an EEG is attached), which is located on the left frontal and pre-frontal cortex regions of the brain.
This area of the brain is generally known as the location that’s responsible for ‘executive function’ that controls cognitive processes such as memory, attention, problem solving and inhibition among others. It’s traditionally thought that if the brain produced a significant amount of theta waves it indicated that the person was tired and if a lot of alpha waves were generated than that meant the person is relaxed depending on the wave’s frequency using EEG scanners. However, EEG machines are designed to record all of the brains electrical activity where Keio University’s brain wave meter focuses on only one area which makes the device accurate at measuring those specific attributes such as desire and concentration. Of course, the team’s device uses a special algorithm (no other details on either hardware or software) that’s able to process the brains frequencies emitted in that part of the brain only. Professor Mitsukura states that the team is currently working on research and development using the brain wave meter for futuristic communication such as writing a cell phone text using only your mind. As I’m sure this technology could be adapted for use in many ways, this kind of reminds me of the movie ‘Firefox’ where the pilots could fire off missiles just by thinking in Russian.
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