Surfing The Net With Brain Waves? 112
deepfry writes: "Today's Wired News is running a story on the "Attention Trainer." The
$899 helmet-type device is supposed to help children improve their concentration by monitoring their brain signals as they play games. Does any one know how this technology works?"
New Meaning to Old Hardware (Score:1)
Re:How it works (Score:1)
Actually, the helmet for autistic kids is there for their own protection. Depending on which camp you listen to, there are different reasons for those autistic kids being self-injurious, but nearly all agree that they need to be protected during those episodes.
Sorry about the off-topic post, but I feel that this issue needed to be addressed.
Eric Gearman
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Monitoring brain waves... (Score:2)
"Uh oh, Ward, there's a Porn Alarm going off, I bet Wally is looking at that naughty web site again!"
"Thanks, June, I'll be right back. Oh, Wally..."
My big fear (Score:2)
More info (Score:1)
The games I've seen are usually fairly simplistic but the idea behind the technology is simple -- you can re-train your brain by being properly reinforced. Used in kids with ADD/ADHD, it helps reduce the amount of deficit in attention and also can reduce hyperactivity. There is a fairly decent-sized research base on EEG neurofeedback, and this would appear to be one of the first devices for the "do-it-yourselfer" who wants to help their child over a period of time. (For a good research reference, see "Evaluation of the effectiveness of EEG neurofeedback training for ADHD in a clinical setting as measured by changes in T.O.V.A. scores, behavioral ratings, and WISC--R performance," Biofeedback & Self Regulation Vol 20(1), Mar 1995, 83-99 by Lubar, J.)
Here's an example [mindfitness.com] of one of the EEG machines they use in clinical and research work.
watch out for eye muscles (Score:2)
Auras (Score:1)
Sounds nice, but the human eyes do not have cells that would register UV radiation. Furthermore, why don't "auras" show up in UV sensitive photos?
Re:Attention Deficit Disorder (Score:2)
Right now there are many centers that have started to use this technology to treat children with ADD; it works like how one learns motor control, since with that one gets visual feedback by seeing one's arm move when directed. The only difference here is that normally one cannot tell what their brain waves are doing while they are doing something; this just maps the brain waves and gives visual and auditory feedback to train someone to control their alpha and beta waves.
I imagine the video game part has something to do with This old article [slashdot.org], just a guess though.
YES! (Score:2)
Frankly, I get a little upset when people portscan my firewall, much less MY FREAKING' BRAIN.
How it REALLY works (Score:2)
Cyberlink: Hands-free computer interface (Score:2)
C-O-R-N-SPIRACY (Score:2)
Home EEG (Score:1)
Minddrive? (Score:1)
Dry Contact EEG (Score:1)
Apparently, the game controls are very spongy and not suited for precise control. Sorta matches the way people think; sorta spongy.
What's probably more interesting is that the CTO of the company, and probably many of his trained minions are former Divx employees. You remember the hated and feared DVD rental scheme developed and ditched by Circuit City. Mr. Segal, and probably much of his technology team came from Divx (with a brief stop at iXL). So, we can probably derive that sooner or later East3 (the makers of the attention trainer device) will soon be implementing a rental scheme for thinking. So you will really have to 'pay attention'.
Can I overclock my brain??? (Score:1)
Auras are UV light-sensitive (Score:2)
http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html [skepdic.com]
-Ben
Re:Home EEG (Score:2)
I have a copy of that Byte article, lying around somewhere. From what I remember, the device was basically a very high-gain opamp - and very expensive (at the time). What it provided that other op-amps didn't was electrical isolation from the circuit (so you don't give yourself a frontal lobotomy vi electrocution while using it). In addition, the output was processed somewhat to remove noise (IIRC).
Doing a little searching on google, I came up with this link - something called the Brainmaster. The following link is a note detailing how to build it:
http://cs.felk.cvut.cz/~holoubl/stranka2/eeg.tx
Next, is a link referenced in the above note, with information on coding, documentation, etc:
ftp://brainmaster.com/pub/brainm/rel17/
Did some more searching, and there is a new release:
ftp://brainmaster.com/pub/brainm/rel18/
Finally, go to the next level, lots more:
ftp://brainmaster.com/pub/brainm/
http://www.b
Have fun!
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Re:How it supposedly works... (Score:1)
the two reasons why double-blind trials can't work in confirming the efficacy of neurofeedback training is because a) every brain has to be assessed individually and b) creating a 'placebo' treatment would be problematic.
in regards to a), a treatment process that would work on one person would not necessarily work on another. the process of starting training is very involved - sensors are placed all over your skull with conductive paste, like any good EEG, and then your alpha/beta/SMR/delta/theta waves are all measured in four different states - eyes open and at rest, eyes closed, while reading, and one more which is determined by the attendant neurologist or neuropsychologist. then the computer program which is recording this information will make a long report (mine was 30 pages) of all the data received - this is called the brain map. it is up to the neuro*** to look at the data and determine where the patterns are, and based on the condition to be treated, determine the brain waves to be trained, and how.
since i did computer support for the clinical trials at a large pharma co., i know how the data for doubleblinds is submitted, compiled, and compared - and i can't see a way, with the guarantee of wide variation in users, to do an effectual and *replicable* double blind trial with EEG biofeedback.
as someone who has been undergoing biofeedback for one year for PTSD, i can say that the standard theory of how PTSD operates in the brain did not quite apply to me - and most PTSD (and ADD) sufferers show an astoundingly wide range of effects based on how they learned to cope with their symptoms. however, after looking at my individual map, my neuropsychologist was able to see specific unusual patterns and work with me to determine what actually *would* help me. it's an anecdotal account, sure, but i think the treatment is far less arbitrary than the actual psychiatric diagnosis itself...
Touched a nerve, did he. . ? (Score:1)
How very well programmed you have been by this clunking and artificial culture of ours. And I bet you think that you are a rational & independant thinker, too. Very good! You get a ten out of ten and a smelly-sticker on your test, young citizen!
Or. . .
Try this for a while, (it's hard at first to break through the wall of routine, but you certainly don't need drugs to do it.):
Observe without constraint, and then experiment with and question what you see. Belief in this practice is probably already a part of your character. You're a Slashdotter, so you have the beginnings of a brain; you just need to use it without fucking CNN and the 'Discovery Channel' guiding your eyes and holding your hand.
Regarding auras. . . I doubt they exist in the U.V. spectrum, but they nonetheless remain a most intriguing phenomenon to observe. I have learned to see them myself to the point where they have become a normal part of my life. If you are interested, I can give you some pointers.
Of course, you may choose to dismiss it all, (and me), as 'crazy'.
But be cautious; 'Crazy' is an old and well used label applied by those too chicken-shit scared to examine the world without their censor-ware engaged. If you have the balls, you might try opening your eyes for real some day.
Otherwise, just go back to your Playstation. Obedience is rewarded.
-Fantastic Lad
How it (probably) works... (Score:3)
There's a big problem with it, however: it doesn't really work very well. The beta/theta ratio is characteristic of concentration, but it isn't itself concentration. While the patients can learn to manipulate this ratio, they're only learning to ape the symptoms of being attentive.
Re:Auras (Score:1)
I don't know about "auras", but the human retina can definitely pick up UV. It's just filtered out by the cornea on the way through. Which explains why everyone gets cataracts after a nuclear holocaust.
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Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
hmmm... (Score:1)
Attention (Score:1)
FYI here is the product information page with its references to NASA, etc.
Attention.com [attention.com]
Now if they only made a gen x version I could use to shock myself silly...
Re:Brain-powered video games (Score:1)
Don't know if they're still around, but they did have a website. www.minddrive.com, I think it was.
0x0000
One limitation, though... (Score:3)
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Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:2)
No one was suggesting assigning functions to single neurons - but rather studying the nervous system on the basis of the signals of single neurons. I would suggest that there is an enormous difference. Researchers have used signal detection theory in several well known examples in the labs of Ranulfo Romo and Bill Newsome to demonstrate that signals of some neurons, when averaged together in groups of around 100, can predict the decision of the animal in discrimination trials. These studies on relatively simple percepts can and will be elaborated into more complex behaviors as time progresses.
Using microelectrode technology we have been able to verify that sensory disturbances exist in focal hand dystonia, a sensory-motor disorder that can be understood as a complication of repetitive stress injury. Such detailed observations as we made cannot be made with EEG. However, MEG studies were started after the animal studies to demonstrate recordings that were abnormal and predicted by our hypothesis. (EEG was inappropriate because the area in question is orthogonal to the radial vectors picked up in EEG).
This is just one example of a case in which recordings made in lab animals transferred nearly completely to humans in the wild.
EEG-type monitoring also does not measure the level of anything - it is only sensitive to changes in vector averaged voltages. Whereas signals carried by neurons have bandwidths of around 1-4 kHz, EEG hardly detects any energy above 100 Hz. All you get is a grossly averaged signal envelope that represents some aspects of action potentials and synaptic currents - in hypothesis only. If all the neurons in a cortical area had very high firing rates, but were largely asynchronized, EEG would measure nothing.
Even knowing the neural signals exactly it is very difficult to predict the EEG with a high precision.
Even so, we have studied field potentials - a kind of greatly amplified EEG - in depth in very simple cerebral cortical systems. It is far from obvious, even in such a simple case, how one can go from field potentials to neural signals.
The signal processing of the brain represents such a challenge because the purest signals can be measured only by microelectrodes with tip exposures of 5 microns or less - as originally described by Galambos in 1943. That presents an enormous technical difficulty that challenges investigators still.
If you've done EEG you know the limitations, and the variance, and the problems of uneven electrical conductance interfaces, and the studies to hypothesize what synaptic and action potential derived currents contribute to signals. I speak with EEG researchers regularly, and respect their work immensely. I don't think they would suggest a helmet such as the one described in the article would be adequate for much.
How it works and why it might not really work (Score:2)
The catch is the subjectivity of the triggering of cues and the motivation of the user. In lab animals this is easy, when they register as attentive you give a treat.
I don't know what the positive and minus cues the device uses are, but chances are they don't motivate a 9 year old the way a tasty cereal nugget motivates a gerbil. You'd almost have to resort to negative feedback (electro-shock or loud beeps) on negative cues to get results. Not that I'm advocating that for my cousin Jeff or anything...
What's up next (Score:1)
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/MONOGRAPHS/ ROSENBOOM/rosenboom.html#PART2
scroll down in that doc, and there's one example of my reference. you can do a simple google search and read a LOT of information that will verify what it has to say.
for those of you who don't want to do the search:
alpha is 8 - 12 Hz., daydreaming and creativity.
regular beta is 13 - 30 Hz. thinking in 20-25 Hz is still normal concentrative activity.
theta is 4 - 8 Hz., and it's the halfsleep state. high levels of theta denote relaxation and meditation, and has NOTHING to do with losing consciousness.
delta is 2 - 4 Hz. - high levels of delta activity *normally* indicate deep sleep and/or unconsciousness.
K-complex waves are currently defined another form of beta. there is no specific Hz brainwave correlation to the REM state - dreaming involves most Hz.
interesting to note: they say that delta indicates deep sleep. however, my brain map indicated *very* high levels of delta activity while awake, and lower levels while asleep. i also have a great deal of alpha activity while reading.
proof enough, they don't know everything yet ;)
Re:How it REALLY works (Score:1)
I saw the prototype in use, and it does work. Noise due to movement of the head during use is/was a significant problem, which is probably the reason for the helmet design - i.e. to keep the sensor in place.
Otherwise, your analysis of the use of EEG is pretty accurate, if I understood correctly. The technology already existed, they have improved the sensor, and repackaged it.
The other thing I got out of the interview was that they were quite hostile to cross-platform development of the user software. E.g. there will be no Linux driver for the headset. They were talking about using the WinCE API to facilitate porting to game consoles, though. We'll see.
This type of software has some really intrusive possiblities for use outside the "ADHD treatment" applications, too. I'm a lot more comfortable with the open source efforts at this type of controller than I am with what East3 is doing.
I can't speak to the usefulness of the product as an ADHD treatment, but it was quite clear from the demo that various states of mind are quite detectable, and that the user can affect the EEG by "concentrating", fwiw.
0x0000
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
that works well when you're discussing motor responses/reactions or injury-induced malfunctions, but it doesn't work when you're discussing something like increasing attention span, when a single neuron is a tiny part of the picture ;)
i agree that the helmet is of no use for the means they discuss.
but i do have to say that i know EEGs that can register up to 400 Hz, now...
Many Companies Addressing This (Score:3)
Short Attention Span (Score:2)
I don't know what games they have been playing but even a game like Resident Evil much less a game real-time strategy games, or many others, I think that games actually tend to increase attention span. Because games now for the most part make you think throughout the game, unless it's like quake and most people will play that for a long period of time.
"...the target audience is kids who have trouble concentrating or sitting still to do their homework, have little motivation or are hyperactive. "
Its great that they have finally solved how to fix this, but how do you know that the child wants to play the game it doesn't sound like much fun to me.
I think, therefore I surf (browse, frag, etc) (Score:1)
iabcot (Score:5)
- fit them all with this helmet,
- sit them in front of Saddams 2000 PlayStationS2's,
- boot the consoles with Linux,
- wire them together in a Beowolf cluster,
all of this to play the perfect game of Pitfall 2.
Re:Safety first! (Score:2)
You mean it'll steal my soul?
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:5)
The one really invoked in attention ??
Truly, claims that anyone understands if or how a toy like this might work are mere pie in the sky. We'd need to understand how attention worked before we could train it using EEG waves that demonstrate at best a very weak noisy reflection of SOME but certainly not MOST brain events,
In animal experiments people recorded EEG in the 1930s and 1940s as soon as amplifier technology began being applied to Neuroscience. Then in 1943 a researcher named Galambos (famous for co-discovering echo-location in bats) saw that using very small electrode tip exposures allowed recording from single neurons.
This breakthrough led the animal researchers to all but throw away EEG as a useful tool, although there are tons of human data still. But the problems with the EEG are several. First, it only reflects a vector averaging of many million neurons and synaptic currents. And it only reflects the dot product of that average with a radial vector.
Researchers estimate about 100 neurons in one area of the brain would be sufficient to carry the information in a percept, with perhaps 5, possilby as many as 10, brain areas involved. Such things are immeasurable by EEG. The things that are measurable are the oscillating features of brain processing, which could for all we know be epiphenomenonological. Or not. We really don't know yet. But the studies of the signals carried by single neurons clearly bear close relation to brain processing, and have been very difficult to relate to EEG-type monitoring.
Its works just like an EEG (Score:2)
Having been through an "evoked potential" test, I can tell you that it can be done but its still at a very crude stage of interpretation.
As seen on Star Trek TNG? (Score:1)
Can't remember any more than that, as I'm not a trekkie, it's just that I'd watch any old guff when I was at uni.
FP.
-- Real Men Don't Use Porn. -- Morality In Media Billboards
Questionable benefit (Score:1)
Re:Safety first! (Score:1)
If reading the brain effectively were this easy... (Score:1)
This is just a really expensive bio-feedback device, very likely a waste of money that parents who are desparate will try anyway.
Binaural Beats (Score:2)
As the previous poster says, the brain seems to operate differently at different frequencies. The idea of binaural beats is to 'trick' your brain into a steady oscillation at a particular level.
I don't really know if this is a placebo or not (could be the white noise alone would have similar effect I guess), but it works really well for me.
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Re:Short Attention Span (Score:2)
_____________
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
If you can enter this mind state and still see, you can see the portions of the UV spectrum that auras exist in.
"
What complete idiots do you take slashdot readers for?
Moderate this bull down. I've already posted so I can't.
FP.
-- Real Men Don't Use Porn. -- Morality In Media Billboards
Ancient news (Score:2)
Re:Binaural Beats (Score:2)
You could set FLASHER for a rate, and pattern and color, (neither of which really affects anything), and zone out in front of your machine trying to achieve an altered state. I think alpha worked okay, but the beta, theta, delta didn't work very well. Except when I smoked a doob, then delta would put me right to sleep.
Attention Deficit Disorder (Score:2)
How it works (Score:2)
The sensors contain a simple solution that has been tested.
Find more here [attention.com]
www.brainmaster.com (Score:2)
AOL would still be dreadfully slow. (Score:1)
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But... (Score:5)
Safety first! (Score:1)
I don't know the specifics of the technology: I won't pretend to be a neuroscientist. However, it strikes me as unsafe that a device would sit on top of a kid's head like that, passively scanning their brain... Hell, I browsed the site for the product for a few minutes, actually looking for a clinical description of what the thing does, and couldn't find one. So using sensors of some sort, this thing measures brain activity. What, is it a home EEG?
I'll not be putting this thing on my kid's head anytime soon... he needs to learn to pay attention, he can learn it the same way I did... without headgear.
That almost happened to me (seriously!) (Score:3)
Re:Binaural Beats (Score:1)
Try using a stobe light, and a smoke machine to make the flashing all enveloping. Add some music with a constant beat a harmonic of the flashing and a little Ketamine into the equation and you'll get into those mindstates no problem :-)
The best DJ's I've seen use strobes quite effectively to trance out a whole dancefloor. It's really quite an amazing thing to be a part of.
Re:Ancient news (Score:1)
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
Actually, I thought most of them would be open minded hackers who like to read up about interesting things. I think I got the bit about them being UV wrong; I must have made some assumptions at one point. But they are real, and can be photographed. See some examples [auraphoto.com].
I think it's a real shame that many scientists are so closed minded that they don't meditate or explore some of these mystical phenomenons. I think the mind is the most fascinating phenomenon in the world to study.
Just ask yourself - are you moderating this comment down because it adds no value to the discussion, or because you disagree with what the author is saying?
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
Interesting. That makes a bit more sense, actually - perhaps as you leave delta state your theta mind would pick up new ideas, then perhaps get all excited about them or something. I say this not really based on scientific understanding of the brain, but I have personally observed a kind of seperation between the the mindstates in myself, and the way they interoperate seems to be like having multiple minds inside your head, layered - each one is best at communicating with the closest two frequency bands - and each working in profoundly different ways - it's like your body (mammilian and reptilian brains, perhaps) is your upper mind's pet, controlled like a puppet by the strings of motor nerves, pleasure centres, and pain systems. Funnily enough, the Tao Te Ching speaks of having two souls - one that "returns to the earth" on death, and one that "ascends to heaven".
The material I was reading was quite old; you don't happen to have a reference for that nugget of information, do you?
Re:Auras are UV light-sensitive (Score:1)
Fantastic site - a great resource. I read up a bit on one of the links, and I think this is the crux of the matter (from http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-05/i-files.html [csicop.org]:
This is what I originally suspected that auras were, hence the UV comment. That is, your body generates em radiation, and that means electrons shifting orbits, and electrons shifting more orbits than average causes UV radiation, so you are emitting a small amount of UV. This would excite the air around you slightly, which could be perceived as a corona of glowing air. As the equilibrium of electrical activity that is your brain changes state, changes might be perceived to the aura; this group seems to have decided it didn't change, but I guess I'd have to read the methodology of their study to make a decision on that. It is always possible that changes are detectable, but it is difficult to gather any useful information from it other than whether the person is alive or dead.
I'm as skeptic as anyone else here of what usefulness auras are - but apparently some people can see them all of the time, and can tell things from them. What of that women who had tetrachromic vision reported recently? I wonder whether it was UV or IR that she saw, or whether she simply had a colour quadrilateral in the visible region. I wonder exactly how well the cornea transduces UV light; some say it's UV opaque, but I bet it's not completely.
I like to read even a "skeptic's" web site as a skeptic - scientists are well known for their ability to toss away figures in an experiment that are so wildly wrong that they don't fit their model. They seem to be working under an assumption that the universe is governed by a small set of rules, which seems to be true - but you never know. I think making assumptions is always dangerous.
Maybe it's just me... (Score:1)
The primary importance of making a helmet that monitors your brainwaves and rewards concentration is having games for it where you need to concentrate.
I can play Everquest and Diablo II on remote, as it were, because of the character types I play (Warrior and Barbarian). I have high-scored Tetris while reading Heinlein novels. About the only games that I need to concentrate on are the ROMs of 80s games and a couple Pinball simulators.
Without a game that is interesting, this is nothing but a novelty. Even with good games, it's still a novelty. Now if you could hook it into Pinball Magic...
Kierthos
Carcinogenic?? Or safe??! (Score:1)
"The sensors contain a simple solution that has been tested" and "The Attention Trainer(TM) does not have side effects..."
You say that "you take a nice, non-conductive material...and...coat it with silicone (watch out, that stuff is carcinogenic)"
How do those two go along?
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
Nah, I was just about bullshitting - a lot of what I said are purely my misconceptions, and a lot of my reading on the matter comes from old books. But I sure as hell got a lot of useful information about the subject to aid my own understanding of the matter :-). Aren't discussion forums great?
To make things clear, the "Alpha", "Beta" etc labels are just that - labels of observed activity, and I've heard all sorts of definitions of what ranges each of them are. I did do a google search, and the values I gave aren't really that different from what you've listed, but you've lumped beta and gamma (I originally called that Super-Beta) into the same category.
That's why I said "very erratic", and called it a "state" rather than "activity". If a waveform is showing most Hz, then superimposed it's probably quite close to white noise, which is pretty erratic.
The stuff about losing conciousness is my own theory. Conciousness isn't really that well understood, anyway. Personally I think conciousness is a product of the brain connecting events (like audio/visual input, thoughts) that differ only by time; and when you're in deeper mindstates, there are less familiar things around for your mind to work with when correlating events together to produce a perception of time. This would explain the gaps in your stream of conciousness when you sleep. People good at meditating are just more familiar with the transition between the mindstates - and therefore more likely to make it through a radical mindstate change whilst still connecting one moment to the next.
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
More than common, I'd say - not being able to enter REM is a serious disorder.
Re:Attention Deficit Disorder (Score:1)
Re:Touched a nerve, did he. . ? (Score:1)
No, but they can certainly speed along the start of the process :-)
That would be much appreciated... my e-mail address is sam@vilain.net, or post them here - I check my user page to see if people respond to my postings, usually.
Re:Binaural Beats (Score:1)
You didn't tear open a card that someone told you was "Snow Crash" in the metaverse, did you... tut tut.
Re:A Little Scary (Score:1)
From Slashdot in August (Score:1)
Once apon a time.... (Score:1)
Re:iabcot (Score:2)
an odd side feature (Score:2)
it works fine (Score:1)
But if you want to use the device help improve your child's attention span, forget it.
Some true insight on ADD? My kid brother had it. It's no big secret -- he's just a smart guy who's just BORED because at that school they are teaching him simple and boring stuff. It's sadistic to force a smart person to sit and "pay attention" to a crossword puzzle where you fill in presidents' names or other crap like that.
Technology Exists and Air Force is using it. (Score:1)
Just wanted to say I have seen this technology being used in a more advanced area. A pilot in a simulator was flying the jet using brain waves. It was pretty interesting he controlled the jet to fly threw loops. Anyway just throwing my two cents in.
Re:It'll be an EEG type device (Score:1)
On the contrary, K-complex waves occur almost every night for the average person. A K-complex is a "high voltage EEG activity that consists of a sharp upward component followed by a slower downward component and lasts more than
There's no epiphany associated witn K-complex waves when one is not sleeping either. Although I don't disagree with most of the summary above, it appears to be intended for the layman.
Slashdot is not populated by laymen.
RE: It'll be an EEG type device (Score:2)
Generally when you are concentrating on the task at hand your brain settles into some rythms. The systems monitor how long/well you hit the marks. Some systems, like those from NeuroCybernetics [neurocybernetics.com] use the brainwaves to control video games. The more you conentrate or hit the right frame of mind, the better your scores.
More background and company links can be found at:
http://vr.isdale.com/AlternativeIO_Links.htm#Neur
How it supposedly works... (Score:1)
I've heard about this company in the past and they turned me off by insisting that anecdotal evidence -- stories of people who used biofeedback and found that it helped -- as scientific proof. The company doesn't quite double blind studies, which are much closer to proof.
OTOH, it's
I'm very skeptic about most of the claims of curing ADD with
Re:www.brainmaster.com (Score:1)
the thing stops beeping as you reach a good mood/blood pattern, if you can do this without the device you can control attention, hyperactivity, coordination etc (all ADD problems)
but to get kids to use biofeedback devices, you have to make them more fun than a little metal plate with a piezo, so dr.'s hooked em into video games and computers, controls become more usable as the user produces the right patterns. if the child can replicate this in the classroom then they would be 'cured' of ADD.
it is only the interface that gets put on the news not the real genious of these devices.
______
A similar device...maybe better in design (Score:1)
Wasn't there some guy who worked with the Air Force 20 years ago to fly planes with brain wave manipulation? (The real-life basis for Firefox's control systems) I remember seeing a PBS documentary about him where he piloted his sailboat using his brainwaves.
How it works. (Score:2)
Re:Binaural Beats (Score:1)
but then i bet it's from using SBaGen [demon.co.uk] every night.
nmarshall
The law is that which it boldly asserted and plausibly maintained..
Must use detailed "maps" to be accurate (Score:2)
Re:How it works (Score:1)
Yeah, if little Billy is prone to epileptic fits at bright flashes of light (found in many console and computer games), then adding something to "monitor" his brainwaves may not be the best idea. Same goes for autistic kids... they might start beating their heads against a wall because they're wearing the helmet.
Kierthos
(too) personal training account (Score:1)
- da Lawn
Re:Attention Deficit Disorder (Score:1)
Just my 2 shekels.
Kierthos
Re:Safety first! (Score:1)
Although, if it is a "home EEG", there could be some other uses for it, besides this. Wonder what the brainwave activity of my cat is?
Kierthos
The core technology (Score:3)
When the brain is active, it gives out tiny amounts of charged particles known as bosuns. The harder a part of the brain is working, the more concentrated the bosuns. So what you do is you take a nice, non-conductive material like a plastic helmet and the you coat it with silicone (watch out, that stuff is carcinogenic) Then you dope the silicone with an acidic mixture of carbonated water, concentrated orange juice, citric acid, apartame, potassium benzoate, citrus pectin, potassium citrate, caffeine, gum arabic, natural flavors, brominated vegetable oil, yellow number 5 and erythorbic acid. Then you place a zinc and a copper electrode in each of the doped patches. IBM did a lot of the heavy lifting on this and they call it a silicone on insulator, plastic grid array [ibm.com]. When a bosun interacts with a part this network, it generates a small electrical charge that can be measured. If you use a fine enough network and a little uzbekistanium (to reduce signal leak) you can determine the location and intensity of brainwave activity. This has a lot of potential.
--Shoeboy
Re:(OT) Your sig (Score:1)
I guess you can argue about it.
As usual with C-Pointers, I've probably put the '*' in the wrong place and the function is pointing at Nihilism, thus depressing my Stack to breaking point.
It get's easier as you play more (Score:1)
Hack the Brain (Score:1)
And I bet it would be a blast to drive a kaleidoscope style program. Whooooa!.
Atari did it... I think (Score:1)
It'll be an EEG type device (Score:5)
It's probably monitoring EM waves radiated by your brain.
Unfortunately, you probably can't get much information out of it - it mostly looks like noise. Interpreting it would be at least as difficult as building a TEMPEST device - that is, if we had complete design schematics of the brain. Otherwise it's orders of magnitude harder.
However, there are some interesting things you can do, using Fourier analysis. Studies have shown that the predominant frequency of waves coming off can reflect the state of mind of the wearer:
The two common ways to explore these mind states are meditation and drugs, although often a combination of both.
This helmet could be an incredibly useful tool for amateur psychonauts/meditators for monitoring meditation and/or drug experiences. You could also build a biofeedback device to help you reach the lower states with it, or a lucid dreaming device.
Sounds like a great toy for a hacker with an interest in the mind!
Silly boy! Tricks are for kids! (Score:1)
Maybe you'll figure it out next life.
But just in case, here's a hint for this one: anybody asking or looking for money in return for this kind of knowledge almost certainly won't have any answers worth listening to. And as for proof. . , nobody with answers really gives a hoot about providing them to cynics for the sake of 'converting' them.
Evidence is abundant and self-providing once you honestly allow yourself to take the first few steps, but you must be in a searching frame of mind to begin with, and only you can put yourself there.
Another point to think over: This stuff does not stem from any structure like that of Big Organized Religion. --The practitioners of sorcery, chi, shamanism, etc., really don't give a flying fuck whether or not you wake up or continue to sleep. NONE of them is going to waste a second of their time trying to 'save your soul.' Arm bands and merit ribbons simply aren't won that way. --Heck, my primary reason for writing this now is simply that I enjoy heckling the unawakened. (Clowns like you.) I'm sure it's a weakness on my part which will eventually need to be weeded out, but at the moment I indulge, and in truth, there are those out there who ARE searching and who might be able to make some use of my jack-ass little words so as to begin or continue their own personal quests toward enlightenment.)
In any case, I realize that proceeding without proof completely flies in the face of our limiting Western culture. But believe it or not, that's almost the point.
Basically, guys like you don't really have a great deal of hope so long as your first questions are about how to aquire concrete proof and turn it into money. That is SOOO far away from 'getting' it!
Really. I hear another Mario-Brothers sequel is coming out. You might be able to pick that up at your local WalMart if you hurry. --And perhaps grab some Taco-Bell while you're at it. Mmm! Tacos and cute Italian plummers; that'll be sure to whisper you back into slumber.
-Fantastic Lad
Brainwaves, eh? (Score:1)
answers. . . (Score:1)
And paying for the 'secret' is total bullshit. That kind of thinking is just another product of the social programming we get hammered with in this stupid ad-culture. The information is entirely free to those who search, and searching is not hard at all.
You will, however, not be sensing and manipulating energy overnight. The quick-gain, 'something for nothing' attitude is one of the biggest stumbling blocks, and indeed, one of the most destructive forces, in Western culture.
If you are still interested, let me know at. . .
yobthra@yahoo.ca
Take care
-Fantastic Lad
How long before it's a valuable Business tool? (Score:2)
PHB #1: Uh-oh looks like programmer #17 is daydreaming again.
PHB #2: Release the hounds!
technology info, really, not random comments. (Score:2)
the theory is simple (Score:2)
Re:Safety first! (Score:2)
It's PASSIVELY scanning the brainwaves
theres no side effects of using it in the same way that theres no side effects of having your photo taken, it just picks up what radiation (in the very general sense of the word) your brain already gives out.