In the U.S., a former school teacher of physics has developed a device that allows you to control the simulation model on a computer screen is actually the power of thought. According to the magazine TIME, the instrument registers the maximum concentration and the concentration of the brain of the operator, which responds to simulated and digital model.Nedavno one of the managers at a nuclear power in Ontario (OPG) has demonstrated that can give commands to a computer just for opening and closing valves, simulated on-screen . However, he did not touch the keyboard. When he mentally focused on opening the valve, the computer model is responsive to his command.
Thoughts operator broadcast unit, registering an increase and decrease in bioelectrical activity of the brain. The device BodyWave sized iPod is attached to the arm and with three sensors that are in contact with the skin fixes the level of neurotransmission through the central nervous system. In general, the brain generates four types of waves: delta (usually during sleep), theta (often observed in a dormant state and in dreams), alpha (awake but relaxed, for example, during the massage), and finally the beta wave - a key phase of the thought process, writes TIME.
By measuring the parameters of these waves, BodyWave can determine when the highest concentration, when, respectively, the person is ready to take an important decision.
The technology is complicated, but applications can be startling. What if you could wear a device that would suggest when the brain is the most concentrated, to take immediate decision: when to conclude a commercial transaction on the exchange, a stroke at golf or actuated valves for nuclear power plants.
BodyWave used not only for training in nuclear power plants in Ontario, but also in NASA, where research is being conducted on its application in the pilots of supersonic aircraft. Richard Childress Racing team in NASCAR series with BodyWave coached concentration. Mechanics have to literally take off for a second five clamping nuts. If there is no discipline, it's defeat in the race.
The technology is BodyWave electroencephalography (EEG), a study of brain electrical activity. It is based on a study of bioelectric waves generated by the brain.
BodyWave can be mounted on the arm or on any area of skin is sensitive to changes in the central nervous system. Sensors record electrical potentials arising in the brain and transmitted to the CNS. The concentration requires synchronous operation of the neurons. This timing gives a special character of the electric wave, the potential to be measured. When attention is scattered, broken timing and nature of the wave changes. BodyWave transmits this change with a simple receiver that is connected to the USB-port.
For the most part we are aware of when daydreaming or scattered. But not so acute that it can prevent the absurd scene - exit from the band on the road or household injury. The promise of technology on the basis of EEG is that it can warn you of negligence before you realize it yourself. Today, BodyWave - the only instrument for recording the EEG, which is simply attached to the skin without connecting wires and sensors to the head, said TIME. But he has a serious drawback: it can transmit data only on a computer monitor. On the device there is no light or sound indicator that will stop the "master" before he commits some gaffe.
The creator of Peter Freer instrument working on it. Freer - a former schoolteacher, he was 52 years. He taught physics at schools in North Carolina. In the classroom, he observed that many of his students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and in fact there are no problems with attention. Noticing that the student daydreaming, Freer asked him after the lesson to remember what was said in class. Student can tell you in detail about the bird outside the window, and how his neighbor was wearing, but the little I could remember the content of the lesson, perhaps that would say that the alternating current changes direction with a certain regularity. That is very attentive pupil, but the problem is to keep the attention and direct and fixed arbitrarily at specific sites.
Freer decided that it is possible to develop software that will allow measurement of attention in real time. In the 1980-1990-s NASA and other large organizations have investigated the EEG by means of special devices shlemoobraznyh with dozens of wires and sensors attached to the head of the subject.
What if a simple household appliance would be able to suggest to people in everyday life, when their attention is scattered? Very simple and very interesting idea. Physicist Freer understood that not necessarily have the sensors on the head to measure neural impulses, leather - excellent conductor of electricity, sensors on any part of it will be able to capture changes in the bioelectrical activity of the brain. In addition to the work of a school teacher, he joined a martial arts instructor and security guard at a restaurant. After accumulating money, Freer five years ago, has developed a prototype of the device.
One of the first people interested in his unit, was curator of education at OPG. Regardless of age, plant operators, working on the main console, constantly sent for training. Developed with the input Freer special sensors for operators to respond to peak increase in concentration when performing tasks on a computer screen. Turn off the valve only after reaching a maximum concentration recorded by the beta waves.
Freer now constructs a device for golfers. The player will wait until the light indicator on the instrument evidencing the total concentration before the stroke, said TIME. Another question, would this not be regarded as a contrivance.
