STEM Summer Internship of 2018 (6/4-6/7)

In the third week of our internship, we began to explore the roots of the Bergen EEG project a bit by dusting off some of our old equipment. The picture  (left) shows some hardware that's affixed to a 3D Printed EEG cap. This cap was once used to measure changes in brainwaves after listening to piano with interlaced musical tones.



The software it uses is called OpenBCI. As it is open source software, we might be able to use it to achieve some temporary success with regards to working out new experimental paradigms. Both reinstating old hardware and expanding our possibilities will prop up the net data we collect.





We began to explore articles on a topic called thought translation. These are algorithms used to allow the disabled to spell out words or operate wheel chairs. There is evidence to suggest that a user can offer a purely cognitive input, that is: no verbal or somatic components would be needed to produce a binary input. The ultimate goal of this line of questioning would be to develop our own "cognitive alphabet" that might allow a user to issue complex commands with non-verbal, non-somatic means.





On a scale of one to ten, we have ten to accomplish. The previous screen shot is of our electronic forms, which we hope to bring into greater use in the coming data collection. Last semester, defaulting to physical paperwork occurred when the operation of our raspberry pi posed issues for our less initiated members. Our friends of the comp-sci influence helped streamline the process of operating the machine. This way, we can avoid redundant paperwork and having to print out new documents if we need to make any changes.




(by friends of the comp-sci influence, I mean mostly Sadik, as usual)




The never-ending paperwork story also continues as our ability to collect data in our existing paradigm is blocked entirely by the bureaucracy necessary to achieve a new code for our Discovery. We will continue to provide updates as they are available, but hopefully by next Thursday we have new data to collect through OpenBCI.

Speaking of old hardware, we also brought the BIOPAC out and tinkered with some labs around polygraphs, pulse, and respiration. The BIOPAC contains a wide swath of measurement apparatuses that might allow us to augment further data collection with new physiological variables.













(Pictured to the right is our electronic consent form)
To continue our data collection, we simply need the codes, and to get the codes, the BrainAvatar people need our payment. Once the OpenBCI and BIOPAC are both fully up and running, a little creativity and some pertinent research will allow us to produce some meaningful data in the short to mid term.