Be it microsleeping penguins or funky mushrooms, we love the weird and wonderful neuroscience facts that have come out recently. As EEG specialists we like to keep track of what’s going on in the EEG world. And nothing pleases us more than finding out things we didn’t know. Lots has happened over the previous few months so we thought we’d give you an update about some of the latest findings in some of the most prestigiuous journals in the world. Microsleeping penguins Penguins get enough sleep by having over 10,000 4-second long naps. These very short “microsleeps” cumulate, until the birds ha ..read more

Like most of the tech world, EEG analysis software continues to evolve. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the top EEG analysis software available, catered to researchers, clinicians, and brain enthusiasts alike. We’ll consider price, features and integrations to give you an insight into the best software around. Summary Premium User Looking for the best? Go for LabChart Lightning. Python Enthusiast If you like Python, mne is your best bet. MATLAB Aficionado If you use MATLAB, everyone else is using EEGLab. Best of the Rest Brainstorm is a solid contender. Contents Comm ..read more

By delving into brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and EEG research, talented students from the Myelin group at the University of Michigan embarked on an intriguing project: detecting human emotion using neurological signals.  Using a customized video game, Mentalab’s cutting-edge mobile EEG headset, and trained machine learning (ML) models, they successfully collected data from participants and achieved a 94.7% success rate in anger detection. In this article, we look at their approach, and explore the potential of fuzzy logic as a crucial component in accurately tracking and classifying em ..read more

Reducing noise in recordings is vital to EEG research. Noise is any unwanted activity found in an EEG recording – be it muscle activity, line noise from electrical devices, or even brain activity that is unrelated to the current research task (Luck, 2014). Understanding how to reduce noise is particularly important if the difference between the signal and the noise is small. That is, if the so-called signal-to-noise ratio is low. Even if a researcher is studying an effect that is real, they may not find significance if their recording is too noisy. For scientists, this is critical: high noise ..read more

In this article, we will discuss how to choose the right conductive gel for your EEG experiment. EEG gels are important Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that measures the electrical activity of the brain. EEG is widely used in research, clinical settings, and brain-computer interface technology. To acquire high-quality EEG signals, researchers need to apply a conductive gel to the scalp to reduce impedance and improve signal quality. The conductive gel enhances the electrical connection between the electrodes and the scalp and prevents ambient noise from co ..read more

Putting is a key element of golf. A putter is used to strike a ball towards the hole when the ball lies on or just short of the area known as the green. Understanding the processes underpinning putting expertise is critical. It has been reported that putting accounts for 41% of shots per round of golf (PGA Tour, 2023) making putting performance one of the key factors determining a golf player’s earnings (Alexander & Kern, 2005; Hellstrom, 2009). Why use EEG to study golf putting performance? Electroencephalography (EEG) enables us to measure brain activity by capturing changes in electrica ..read more

Whether investing in the stock market, buying your first house, or pursuing a terminal degree, your brain helps you navigate the world’s complexities by processing uncertainty. But how does the brain achieve this extraordinary ability? In this article, we will dive into the neurobiology that governs how the brain handles uncertainty in our daily lives. Let’s start by understanding what areas of the brain help us make decisions during uncertainty. The brain during uncertainty Dr. Micheal Halassa and his postdoc Dr. Arghya Mukherjee at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research have identified ..read more

Sleep is essential to well-being (Pilcher et al., 1997). It takes up to a third of our lives and is critical to good health (Ferrara & De Gennaro, 2001; Luyster et al., 2012). Unfortunately, the literature describing trends in sleep health can be unclear.  In some reviews, we find that adults sleep less than they used to (Ford et al., 2015; Sheehan et al., 2017). In others, we find that there has been little change (Bin et al., 2012; Matricciani et al., 2017). Either way, knowing how people sleep is critical. Sleep loss can result in anxiety, depression, poor attention, and suicidal i ..read more

In Part 1 of the EEG guide, we answered seven of the most common electroencephalography questions. Here, we answer five more. This time we will focus on what EEG waves mean: what an abnormal EEG looks like, whether EEG can show past seizures, and which EEG patterns are associated with problem-solving and intelligence. Let’s jump right in. Who invented EEG? EEG waves were first recorded by German psychiatrist Hans Berger in 1924. Berger’s first recordings were of a 17-year-old boy who was undergoing neurosurgery. Berger used a galvanometer for this, which he applied to the boy’s head. The galva ..read more

EEG research is booming, however equity issues remain. Failing to address equity in EEG research will not only impact underrepresented groups, but science too. Here, we consider some the issues surrounding equity in EEG research and offer potential solutions. EEG research and its applications EEG research provides insights into how the brain functions. It is a non-invasive and relatively inexpensive method of brain imaging. As such, researchers use EEG across the world in multiple disciplines, including medicine and psychology to investigate brain function. Current equity issues in EEG researc ..read more