Angry storms of red blobs whiz from hemisphere to hemisphere. Orange and yellow clouds blossom and swirl around the orb's circumference. Stripes of softer colors—blues and greens—appear and then fade a millisecond later.
The readout on the computer looks like a series of time-lapse photos of some weird exoplanet, except the world these researchers are exploring is far more mysterious and far less charted than any alien world.
It's your brain.
Two Penn State researchers are using portable electroencephalogram (EEG) technology and the latest insights in neuroscience to move our understanding of the brain out of the laboratory and into the classroom, where they hope their findings can head off ethical lapses on the job and combat bullying in schools.
"The EEG technology has progressed enough to help us to look into how the brain is working in real time," says Carlos Zalaquett, professor of education. "And this is what we mean by ‘translational.’ We are taking advanced knowledge produced by disciplines, like neuroscience, neurobiology, molecular biology, and cognitive science, and finding ways to use that information to inform and create applications that can be implemented in real-life situations."
More than a pretty mapZalaquett, who watches the colorful storms flash across the computer screen, explains that the colors represent bursts of electrochemical activity in certain areas of the brain.
For the researchers, this isn't just a pretty map. By noting what areas are activated and how intensely they are activated, the readout can tell them whether a student in a classroom is engaged and understanding a lesson, or not paying attention at all.
As the brain's neurons shoot out electrical pulses, sensors stitched into a cap worn by the participant pick up this electrical activity. Software converts it into the computer readout. While the cap gives researchers a more comprehensive look at brain activity, they can also use a headband with sensors that is less cumbersome, Zalaquett explains.
Each section of the brain has distinctive brainwaves, which are measured in cycles per second, or hertz, at any given time. However, researchers usually refer to the predominant brainwave to describe a person's mental state. For instance, a person who is concentrating may be “in beta,” although some brain regions are reporting other kinds of brainwaves, from the lowest frequency—infra-low and delta, which range from less than .5 to 3 hertz —to the highest—gamma, which ranges from 38 to 42 hertz.