XWave EEG Brain Computer Interface for Your iPhone/iPad 0inShare The XWave is an EEG interface from PLX Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) that works with iPhones/iPads as a controller for games, meditation training, and potentially many other uses not invented yet. The actual EEG is NeuroSky‘s eSense dry sensor, which the company has been licensing to other companies in order to push the technology into consumer hands. The plastic headband, which costs around $100, has a sensor that presses against the user’s forehead and communicates with a free XWave iPhone application that then shows your brain waves graphically on the iPhone screen. The XWave is meant to be used for entertainment, but can be applied to any other practical use, perhaps even as a controller for an assistive device for the disabled. Product page: XWave…Flashbacks:Video: Neurosky EEG Game Controller in Action; Coming Up: EEG Joystick; New Gaming Input Device Reads Your Mind; Brainwave Athletic Trainer Uses EEG to Improve Your Golf Swing
The man who hand-draws mathematical fractals One of the subjects I work with, JP, has acquired synesthesia and acquired savant syndrome. This happened as a result of a brutal assault in 2002, during which he was kicked and hit on the head. He was subsequently diagnosed with a bleeding kidney and an unspecified head injury. What the doctors didn't know was that JP no longer saw the world the way he used to. Objects suddenly did not have smooth boundaries. JP's response to his new way of seeing the world was to withdraw from it. A year later a mathematician came into the store where JP worked as a sales person. It was around this time I first met JP. Together with my collaborators in Finland I decided to do some functional brain scans.
Illusion: How to make a dull diamond sparkle Caitlin Stier, video intern If you know where to fix your gaze, you can make a dull diamond sparkle using the power of your mind. In this animation, a striped diamond seems to twinkle when you track a circle moving back and forth within the shape. Created by psychology researcher Sebastiaan Mathôt of VU University in Amsterdam, the trick seems to be caused by poor estimation of what's happening in our peripheral vision. While focusing on the moving object, our brain only perceives a small part of the diamond shape. The animation is a variation of the boogie-woogie illusion devised by psychologists Patrick Cavanagh and Stuart Anstis from Harvard University. If you enjoyed this brain trick, check out a mind-bending chessboard or rotating rings that create a phantom swirl. Last week, we asked you to identify the illusion responsible for Mario's perceived vertical jump.
When Gaming Is Good for You Is the Map in Our Head Oriented North? + Author Affiliations Julia Frankenstein, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Freiburg, Friedrichstrasse 50, 79098 Freiburg, Germany E-mail: julia.frankenstein@cognition.uni-freiburg.de Tobias Meilinger, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstrasse 38, 72076 Tübingen, Germany E-mail: tobias.meilinger@tuebingen.mpg.de Abstract We examined how a highly familiar environmental space—one’s city of residence—is represented in memory. Twenty-six participants faced a photo-realistic virtual model of their hometown and completed a task in which they pointed to familiar target locations from various orientations. Article Notes The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article. Received February 1, 2011.
The grand delusion: Why nothing is as it seems Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. To continue using our website and consent to the use of cookies, click away from this box or click 'Close' Find out about our cookies and how to change them Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs The grand delusion: Why nothing is as it seems (Image: Benoit Paill/Getty) This might come as a shock, but everything you think is wrong. What you see is not what you get Your senses are your windows on the world, and you probably think they do a fair job at capturing an accurate depiction of reality. Blind to bias Do you see the world through a veil of prejudice and self-serving hypocrisies? Head full of half-truths One of the most important components of your self-identity – your autobiographical memory – is little more than an illusionRead more Egotist, moi? Subscribe Death
BrainAthlete Charinging BrainAthlete Re-Chargeable Lithium Ion Batteries are built in BrainAthlete. Charging Plug in the Mini-USB side of the cable in to the socket on the front side of BrainAthlete, and the other side into any USB port. Charging Time. Charging will take about 2 hours. Turning on/off Powering on Hold the power button for 2 seconds. Powering off Hold the power button for 7 seconds. Connecting to a computer To connect to a computer, you must first "Pair" it. Warning: Make sure the battery is charged before pairing. Visual Display Troubleshooting guide The statistical error that just keeps on coming | Ben Goldacre We all like to laugh at quacks when they misuse basic statistics. But what if academics, en masse, deploy errors that are equally foolish? This week Sander Nieuwenhuis and colleagues publish a mighty torpedo in the journal Nature Neuroscience. They've identified one direct, stark statistical error so widespread it appears in about half of all the published papers surveyed from the academic neuroscience research literature. To understand the scale of this problem, first we have to understand the error. Let's say you're working on nerve cells, measuring their firing frequency. When you drop the chemical on the mutant mice nerve cells, their firing rate drops, by 30%, say. But here's the catch. How often? These errors are appearing throughout the most prestigious journals for the field of neuroscience. • This article was amended on 13 September 2011 to make clear that the Nieuwenhuis study looked specifically at neuroscience papers, not psychology research.
The Human Brain Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. To continue using our website and consent to the use of cookies, click away from this box or click 'Close' Find out about our cookies and how to change them Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs Brain and mind Introduction: The human brain The brain is the most complex organ in the human body, and perhaps the most remarkable. How ancient needs still drive our weird ways REVIEW: 19:00 16 April 2014 In Snakes, Sunrises, and Shakespeare, evolutionary psychology pioneer Gordon H. Scans can be vital in judging severity of brain damage TODAY: 00:00 16 April 2014 Doctors use beside observation to gauge consciousness in people with brain damage, but PET scans may be more accurate at predicting recovery We turn brainwaves into sound for music and medicine FAQ: The Human Brain