mind flex out eeg data details

The Mind Flex (but not the Froce Trainer) provide eight values representing the amount of electrical activity at different frequencies. This data is heavily filtered / amplified, so where a conventional medical-grade EEG would give you absolute voltage values for each band, NeuroSky instead gives you relative measurements which aren’t easily mapped to real-world units. A run down of the frequencies involved follows, along with a grossly oversimplified summary of the associated mental states.

• Delta (1-3Hz): sleep
• Theta (4-7Hz): relaxed, meditative
• Low Alpha (8-9Hz): eyes closed, relaxed
• High Alpha (10-12Hz)
• Low Beta (13-17Hz): alert, focused
• High Beta (18-30Hz)
• Low Gamma (31-40Hz): multi-sensory processing
• High Gamma (41-50Hz)

In addition to these power-band values, the NeuroSky chip provides a pair of proprietary, black-box data values dubbed “attention” and “mediation”. These are intended to provide an easily-grokked reduction of the brainwave data, and it’s what the Force Trainer and Mind Flex actually use to control the game state. We’re a bit skeptical of these values, since NeuroSky won’t disclose how they work, but a white paper they’ve released suggests that the values are at least statistically distinguishable from nonsense.

Here’s the company line on each value:

• Attention:

  Indicates the intensity of a user’s level of mental “focus” or “attention”, such as that which occurs during intense concentration and directed (but stable) mental activity. Distractions, wandering thoughts, lack of focus, or anxiety may lower the Attention meter levels.

• Meditation:

  Indicates the level of a user’s mental “calmness” or “relaxation”. Meditation is related to reduced activity by the active mental processes in the brain, and it has long been an observed effect that closing one’s eyes turns off the mental activities which process images from the eyes, so closing the eyes is often an effective method for increasing the Meditation meter level. Distractions, wandering thoughts, anxiety, agitation, and sensory stimuli may lower the Meditation meter levels.