4 ms·

I find it frustrating and depressing: this stuff just never seems to get operationalized in a way that's accessible to folks outside university labs. Where are

by api 15y ago

I find it frustrating and depressing: this stuff just never seems to get operationalized in a way that's accessible to folks outside university labs. Where are the startups? Where are the hobbyist groups?

Sthorpe 15y ago
I was just thinking how awesome it would be to have a graph of my brain waves so I could tune them to alpha waves while coding. :)
- Sthorpe 15y ago
  Holy crap,...just bought this. http://www.plxwave.com/ http://www.plxwave.com/
  - angkec 15y ago
    This seems really interesting. Have you played with it? What's your experience?
    - Sthorpe 15y ago
      Just bought this http://neurosky.com/Products/MindSet.aspx http://neurosky.com/Products/MindSet.aspx one like 30 minutes ago. If you email me, I will let you know what its like.
      - hosh 15y ago
        http://www.wilddivine.com/ http://www.wilddivine.com/ This device will measure heart-beat variability too.
      - amstr 15y ago
        I have one, and it's OK -- you can notice broad differences with different activities or different mental states. The video game that comes with it is supposed to allow you to control a character, and that didn't work for me or other people who tried it at all. Also the plastic casing is really bad and broke quickly on mine. All in all neat but overpriced.
  - timdefrag 15y ago
    I tested a very similar device for the company I used to work at, the UI looked identical at least. There was very little relationship between my actual mental state, and the state of the display. The device I used had an API, so I wrote my own visualizer to make sure they weren't just blurring out the data -- long story short, I was never impressed with it. Blinking or moving your head triggered a larger reaction than any thought impulse. Maybe the tech has gotten better, but I wouldn't hold your breath for anything that costs $100.
    - jonhendry 15y ago
      "Blinking or moving your head triggered a larger reaction than any thought impulse." No surprise there, the muscles of the head will have a stronger signal than the brain, if you're using electrodes outside the skull. There might be some way of filtering those out, perhaps using additional electrodes directly on the relevant muscles. Subtract the signal on those electrodes from the signal on the other electrodes.
      - joeyo 15y ago
        Also, based on the geometry of the xwave headset it looks like the electrode(s) are very rostral, so I would imagine that it picks up a lot of EOG from the eyes and EMG from the frontalis and corrugator supercilii (eyebrow muscles). The ground, again from what I can tell from the photo, is on the earlobe. This is not a terrible place for a ground (there are no muscles there) but it's not ideal for removing EMG artifacts.
bri3d 15y ago
http://brmlab.cz/project/brain_hacking/tdcs http://brmlab.cz/project/brain_hacking/tdcs
blhack 15y ago
>Where are the hobbyist groups In Mesa, AZ: https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=bHB1ZXIyNXBpaHFpM2UzdTJsb2dtZzI2cG9fMjAxMjAyMDdUMDEwMDAwWiBoZWF0c3luY2xhYnMub3JnX3A5cmNuMDlkNjRxNTZtN3JnMDdqcHRtcnFjQGc&ctz=America/Phoenix&gsessionid=OK https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=bHB1ZXIyNXBpaHFpM2... Our hackerspace, Heatsync Labs, does "Augmenting Humanity" on Monday nights. I believe one of the guys there is building a TMS device right now. Also this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUW7dQ92yDU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUW7dQ92yDU
nostromo 15y ago
Someone pointed me to this on another thread: http://soterixmedical.com/tdcs.php http://soterixmedical.com/tdcs.php And this video on how to use it: http://www.jove.com/video/2744/electrode-positioning-and-montage-in-transcranial-direct-current-stimulation http://www.jove.com/video/2744/electrode-positioning-and-mon...
aantix 15y ago
I'm a willing guinea pig and would love to explore this topic more. Maybe we should start a meetup group in San Francisco? Anyone else interested? jim.jones1@gmail.com http://www.github.com/aantix http://www.github.com/aantix
techiferous 15y ago
> Where are the startups? This type of device may need FDA approval which would require the setup of clinical trials, etc. So that would be a significant barrier to entry for startups.
draggnar 15y ago
there is a subreddit r/tdcs

by api 15y ago

Sthorpe 15y ago

I was just thinking how awesome it would be to have a graph of my brain waves so I could tune them to alpha waves while coding. :)

Sthorpe 15y ago
Holy crap,...just bought this. http://www.plxwave.com/ http://www.plxwave.com/
- angkec 15y ago
  This seems really interesting. Have you played with it? What's your experience?
  - Sthorpe 15y ago
    Just bought this http://neurosky.com/Products/MindSet.aspx http://neurosky.com/Products/MindSet.aspx one like 30 minutes ago. If you email me, I will let you know what its like.
    - hosh 15y ago
      http://www.wilddivine.com/ http://www.wilddivine.com/ This device will measure heart-beat variability too.
    - amstr 15y ago
      I have one, and it's OK -- you can notice broad differences with different activities or different mental states. The video game that comes with it is supposed to allow you to control a character, and that didn't work for me or other people who tried it at all. Also the plastic casing is really bad and broke quickly on mine. All in all neat but overpriced.
- timdefrag 15y ago
  I tested a very similar device for the company I used to work at, the UI looked identical at least. There was very little relationship between my actual mental state, and the state of the display. The device I used had an API, so I wrote my own visualizer to make sure they weren't just blurring out the data -- long story short, I was never impressed with it. Blinking or moving your head triggered a larger reaction than any thought impulse. Maybe the tech has gotten better, but I wouldn't hold your breath for anything that costs $100.
  - jonhendry 15y ago
    "Blinking or moving your head triggered a larger reaction than any thought impulse." No surprise there, the muscles of the head will have a stronger signal than the brain, if you're using electrodes outside the skull. There might be some way of filtering those out, perhaps using additional electrodes directly on the relevant muscles. Subtract the signal on those electrodes from the signal on the other electrodes.
    - joeyo 15y ago
      Also, based on the geometry of the xwave headset it looks like the electrode(s) are very rostral, so I would imagine that it picks up a lot of EOG from the eyes and EMG from the frontalis and corrugator supercilii (eyebrow muscles). The ground, again from what I can tell from the photo, is on the earlobe. This is not a terrible place for a ground (there are no muscles there) but it's not ideal for removing EMG artifacts.

bri3d 15y ago

http://brmlab.cz/project/brain_hacking/tdcs http://brmlab.cz/project/brain_hacking/tdcs

blhack 15y ago

>Where are the hobbyist groups In Mesa, AZ: https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=bHB1ZXIyNXBpaHFpM2UzdTJsb2dtZzI2cG9fMjAxMjAyMDdUMDEwMDAwWiBoZWF0c3luY2xhYnMub3JnX3A5cmNuMDlkNjRxNTZtN3JnMDdqcHRtcnFjQGc&ctz=America/Phoenix&gsessionid=OK https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=bHB1ZXIyNXBpaHFpM2... Our hackerspace, Heatsync Labs, does "Augmenting Humanity" on Monday nights. I believe one of the guys there is building a TMS device right now. Also this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUW7dQ92yDU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUW7dQ92yDU

nostromo 15y ago

Someone pointed me to this on another thread: http://soterixmedical.com/tdcs.php http://soterixmedical.com/tdcs.php And this video on how to use it: http://www.jove.com/video/2744/electrode-positioning-and-montage-in-transcranial-direct-current-stimulation http://www.jove.com/video/2744/electrode-positioning-and-mon...

aantix 15y ago

I'm a willing guinea pig and would love to explore this topic more. Maybe we should start a meetup group in San Francisco? Anyone else interested? jim.jones1@gmail.com http://www.github.com/aantix http://www.github.com/aantix

techiferous 15y ago

> Where are the startups? This type of device may need FDA approval which would require the setup of clinical trials, etc. So that would be a significant barrier to entry for startups.

draggnar 15y ago

there is a subreddit r/tdcs