Device knows when brain is overloaded

Clever contraption ... A new headband may be able to tell you when your brain is on mental overload and shift work to someone else. Source: News Limited

A NEW headband may be able to tell you when your brain is on mental overload and offload some of your work to another person.

The Boston Globe reports that the technology, in development at Tufts University's Human-Computer Interaction Lab by computer scientist Robert Jacob and biomedical engineer Sergio Fantini, will enable the headband to read brain activity and enable a computer to determine whether the wearer is bored, fatigued, or sharp.

The project has been developed with air traffic controllers in mind due to the rigorous and highly stressful nature of their work.

But the possibilities of the brain scanner can be extended to other areas.

The researchers and their students also have used the device to generate movie recommendations for wearers, based on how their brains respond to other films. In another experiment, pianists practised on an electronic keyboard while wearing the headband. As their brain signals indicated mastery of a melody, a computer added complexity to the songs by playing harmonies.

The technique for analysing and acting upon brain activity is called functional near infra-red spectroscopy, or fNIRS. A row of small red lights embedded in the headband beams light waves through the skull and onto the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

A computer connected to the headband cannot actually read minds but it can gauge the person's level of mental exertion by measuring the amount of light absorbed by the brain.

A tired brain draws more blood than one working easily, and therefore absorbs more light. That tells the computer the wearer may be overwhelmed.

As every brain is different baseline testing of each individual is required to determine the point at which performance begins to suffer.

There is also capacity to modify the headband to allow electrical stimulation to improve mental awareness.

The developers say the headband causes no pain and is not dangerous.

"The level of light we're sending is comparable to the level of light your brain would be exposed to on a sunny day," Fantini said.

The developers say they have no plans at this stage to bring the product to market but are open to businesses taking the headband further.

"We're basic researchers," Jacob said. "It would be delightful if these things do filter into the world, but I'd like to believe that's not our mission. Our mission is to invent new scientific ideas and spread them, and hope they are useful to someone."

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