Where is the Consciousness Brain Region?

Elisa Clement published a new article in the AR Magazine from Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon - Portugal. 

Most scholars consider consciousness to have two components: wakefulness and awareness. Wakefulness is fairly easy to define and measure experimentally, through EEG, because the pattern of activity shown by EEG is different in brains of awake subjects, compared to subjects who are asleep.

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Awareness, on the other hand, is neither easy to assess, nor to define – what exactly does it mean to be “aware” of your surroundings? Are there different stages or levels of awareness? Are there any other more accurate and objective ways of assessing awareness other than through questionnaires filled in by subjects, which is how it is often assessed?

But the most crucial and interesting question yet to be answered is the following: is consciousness generated through the orchestrated activation of multiple brain areas, or is there one particular area responsible for it?

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

Learning with BCIs - from Prof. Aaron Batista

A very interesting 30 minutes presentation about BCI / Machine Learning and NeuroScience explained by Professor Aaron Batista.

When we learn, the brain changes at nearly every level of organization. Synapses form and strengthen, individual neurons change their tuning properties, and cortical maps expand. My research examines how learning alters the coordinated activity of populations of neurons. This is a particularly important level at which to study learning because it is the action of populations of neurons that drive behavior, generate perceptions, and undergird our cognition.

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

Open Database of Live Human Brain Cells

The Allen Institute for Brain Science has added the first data from human nerve cells to the Allen Cell Types Database: a publicly available tool for researchers to explore and understand the building blocks of the human brain. This first release includes electrical properties from approximately 300 living cortical neurons of different types derived from 36 patients, with accompanying 3D reconstructions of their shape or anatomy for 100 cells, and computer models simulating the electrical behavior of these neurons. 

The database will also contain gene expression profiles, based on measurements of all genes used by 16,000 individual cells, from three adult human brains. Data from these human cells provide an unparalleled window into the intricate components, circuitry and function of the human neocortex, including features that make our brains unique.

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

A Trip through the Cerebral Cortex by High-Throughput Array Tomography

It is very important to understand the structure and all synapses responsible for the electrical impulses inside our brain. Make a trip through the interior of the brain, from somatosensory cortex to white matter:

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

NeuroFuse - a Brain Miracle Pills?

Neurofuse seems to have a brain miracle effect just in a few minutes. Some testimonials report the  "amazing" intense focus, mental clarity and cognitive precision results. True or false? We will wait for the answers.

Enhance Mind IQ, which has no recorded side effects in any clinical trials, was soon the target of critics who claimed it was too powerful to be sold without a prescription. Other people in academic circles insisted that Enhance Mind IQ provided an artificial edge for its users and was unfair to those who weren’t taking it. This led to it being banned from quiz shows and at many top universities as well. 

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

Studying the Human Cerebral Cortex with Cortical Explorer

Cortical Viewer is a web-based, interactive, 3D viewer for exploring the brain cortex developed at Imperial College.

The viewer allows users to interactively explore the HCP’s Multi-modal Parcellation. Clicking on different regions brings up access to a wealth of meta-data summarising directly the extensive neuroanatomical supplementary results. ‘Sections’ refers to which broad neuroanatomical sections of the brain the region belongs to, where these sections reference how the brain was subdivided up during manual annotation.

The explorer offers several different schemes for viewing the data, for example the regions connected (or in a common section) to the primary motor cortex can be viewed either by exploding (moving) the areas, or recolouring (to fade out unrelated regions).

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

The Virtual Brain - Download Free

The Virtual Brain software (TVB) is a computational framework for the virtualization of brain structure and function. This is accomplished by simulating network dynamics using biologically realistic large-scale connectivity.

TVB merges structural information on individual brains including 3D geometry of neocortex, white matter connectivity, etc. and then simulates the emergent brain dynamics. The logic of TVB is the following:

• Structural information provides certain constraints on the type of network dynamics that may emerge.
• While these constraints limit arbitrary brain dynamics, structural connectivity provides the foundation on top of which a dynamic repertoire of functional configurations can emerge.
• When brain structure is changed, as maturation, aging, or from damage or disease, then the brain’s dynamic repertoire changes.

TVB allows the systematic investigation of the dynamic repertoire as a function of structure. It moves away from the investigation of isolated regional responses and considers the function of each region in terms of the interplay among brain regions.

This allows us to

• Re-classify lesions in terms of the network of nodes (regions) and connections (axons, white matter tracts) that have been damaged and to
• Investigate the mechanisms that preserve function by understanding how regional damage affects the function of other parts of the network.

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

Brain Morphometry Tool

Mindboggle is an open-source for brain morphometry analyzing tissue segmentation, cortical and subcortical parcellation, volumetry and cortical thickness. 

Mindboggle can be run on a previously uploaded input T1 dataset. This pipeline will automatically start in parallel the necessary. 

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

Typing-by-Brain Facebook Project

First it was Elon Musk, now Facebook. Suddenly, all the big Silicon Valley players want to get into brain tech (IEEE Spectrum). Mark Zuckerberg added his perspective on the news in a post soon after the announcement, presenting the brain-typing project as a natural evolution of Facebook’s mission to help people share their interior worlds. If they like sharing comments, photos, and videos, why not directly share their thoughts too?

In my opinion, we must invest in this BCI solution for several years to achieve a fluid and natural writing resorting solely to the identification of brain electrical impulses through non-invasive equipment. 

For more information about BCI/EGG press here.

Atlas Brain

The sectional Brain Atlas focuses on the anatomical structures while both the schematic and slice view are used to represent the area of interest. Any region of interest is also accessible with a search function either by name or abbreviation:

• High detailed anatomic coronal atlas of the human brain;
• Highlighted anatomical structures;
• Integrated nomenclature.

For more information about EEG/BCI press here.

Glass Brain - 3D Brain Activity Visualization based on EEG

Glass Brain is a project by Gazzaley Lab and Neuroscape Lab at the University of California, San Francisco and the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego that’s a 3D visualization of a brain with real-time brain activity pulled in via an electroencephalography (EEG) cap that can be navigated using a gamepad. This is made possible thanks to BCILAB brain-computer interface technology and the Unity game engine.

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

SPARK - Take Brain Selfies of your Neuronal Activity

New portable EEG devices are in the market every year. Now the Personal Neuro Devices company are launching the SPARK ($99) that connects directly with your smartphone.

The ability to take and send brain images to your smartphone is only the first step. The Spark environment allows developers and innovators to create their own apps and programs. Harness your Spark data and expand realm of what is possible for pervasive neurotechnology, brain monitoring and treatment.

Features

• Sampling Rate: 256 Hz;
• Bluetooth v.4;
• Battery Life: up to 8 hours;
• Neurofeedback apps to train cognitive faculties.

Have you ever taken a selfie of your brain? This is one of the many things you can do with Spark. Get an image of your brain sent directly to your phone. Keep track of your mental well-being and the state of your brain using up to date neurometrics. It's a selfie that gets below the surface.

It's probably the most easyer EEG equipment to use in the market. No doubt that this is the way for portable BCI but I am curious to know about the EEG results, from AF3 and AF4 and a few more electrodes, processed and classified in a smartphone.

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

3D Brain Anatomy

The company Genes to Cognition Online offers a free 3D Brain Anatomy Model, as it shows in the following picture, compatible with almost Web browsers (no Java code!).

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

What Life Will be Like with Bioelectronic Medicine

In a first-of-its-kind gathering at the New York Academy of Sciences, researchers from some of the world’s leading universities and institutions convened to discuss at the 13th annual Key Symposium the various applications of bioelectronic medicine, the cutting-edge field that uses technology to treat disease and injury.

While still in early stages of development, bioelectronic medicine has already been proven in studies and clinical trials to successfully treat conditions including paralysis and rheumatoid arthritis.

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.

LSD effect in Human Brain

What is the effect of LSD in Human Brain causing abnormal sensasions and hallucinations? The answer can be obtained from Imperial College London researchers, working with the Beckley Foundation, that have visualised the effects of LSD on the human brain. Also a very interesting test to do with EEG.

“Our results suggest that this effect underlies the profound altered state of consciousness that people often describe during an LSD experience. It is also related to what people sometimes call ‘ego-dissolution’, which means the normal sense of self is broken down and replaced by a sense of reconnection with themselves, others and the natural world. This experience is sometimes framed in a religious or spiritual way – and seems to be associated with improvements in well-being after the drug’s effects have subsided.”

More information here.

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The most Grand Challenges for Brain Science in the next 10 Years

The first grand challenge seeks to understand what makes brains unique.

The second is to find out how the brain solves the complex computational problems of life.

And the final challenge is how to use the information to help diagnose, prevent brain disease and to restore function when brains become damaged.

More informations here.

Control your Dreams with Aurora Headband

"Have a Lucid Dream!" - This is the new concept of the iWinks company from San Diego, USA. With this system is possible to know you are dreaming, after wakeup remember the dreams or just explore the subconscious.

Features

• Dream Sounds: Direct your dreams! Smartphone sounds set your dream mood;
• Comfort: Aurora’s hypoallergenic construction and plush silver sensors;
• Alarm Clock: Simply set your desired wake-up period;
• Clinic-Proven: Sleep tracking algorithm learns your sleep stages;
• Connected: Bluetooth Low Energy onboard;
• Future-Proof: Open SDK empowers researchers to find new uses;
• Open Sleep Research Platform: Aurora empowers developers to explore sleep and brain-computer-interface (BCI) research by leveraging our research-grade sensors.

I'm a little concerned about the presentation of this product and all its features but we will wait for the results. For more informations press here.

Fundamentals in Neuroscience - A Deep Look at the Brain, BCI and EEG

The School of Health Sciences offers advanced training courses in medicine, health sciences and medical education. The fundamentals of neuroscience are one of them where it is possible to learn and understand better several subjects related with BCI/EEG. 

Some of the goals are to describe the anatomical and functional relations between major brain areas, to identify the cell types of the nervous system and also to describe the physical and functional interactions between them and explain their role in the nervous system.

The 15 days program, for graduate students and postdocs, include some labs-on sessions and is focused on various subjects such as:

• Brain Anatomy and Nervous impulse;
• Neurotransmission and neurotransmitters;
• Learning, Memory and Sensory Systems;
• Visual, Auditive and Olfactive Systems;
• Brain-machine interface and neurorehabilitation;
• Electrophysiological studies.

For more informations about this course and the ICVS press here.

Brain Driver - Control a Car using Your Mind

AutoNOMOS Labs is a German company that is working on a modular system for the operation of autonomous or semi-autonomous cars. 

Using AutoNOMOS, it is be possible to detect impending dangers on roads, highways, and crossings at an early stage and accidents can be prevented. Once the technology is ready, it will be introduced at first on private property and, finally, in public traffic. The project will make a significant contribution to the development of accident-free, efficient, and environmentally friendly mobility.

In the following video we can see the use of the device EPOC from the Emotiv company. By reading the brain electrical signals recorded at the level of the scalp (EEG) it is possible to identify patterns of behavior. In this particular case driver intentions are identified to turn left, turn right and also accelerate or brake. 

At this moment tests are being carried out on a large place as the airport runway. In my understanding this "car technology" will need time to grow up until a complete solution can be used in a real scenario within our roads.
Not advancing a date in concrete, one day will be possible to think something like: "Stop here and park on the right side!" :-)

Neuroplasticity using a Bicycle

Here is an excellent example of neuroplasticity where the brain reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. In this funny and simple experience the wheel of the bicycle was changed, reversing the direction of intention. The instantaneous result was the expected: Falls to the ground! 

But the most interesting is how our brain, after some days or weeks, is able to adapt to this new reality. Especially if you are a child! :-)

Watch this unmissable video!

For more information about BCI/EEG press here.