Brain Analytics, …

Brain mapping and data analytics advancements are improving our understanding of the brain’s functioning and opening it up as the new frontier for biohacking.

The human brain is one of the most complex organs in the body, in part because it holds the mind which is as abstract as it is essential to human life. Both mental well-being and the anatomical health of the brain have been studied for many centuries now, with the more modern studies happening mostly in clinical contexts towards finding cures for illnesses.

However, the availability of cheaper, less intrusive, and enhanced brain mapping methods today are enabling improved analytics towards better understanding of the brain’s functioning. High resolution imaging of the brain such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) and brain signal measurement with electroencephalography (EEG) are but a few of these methods. Each of these methods can avail large sets of data from the brain to be analyzed. The EEG in particular has a very high temporal resolution, allowing for very large samples of data to be collected per second. The successes in brain imaging and measurement, enabled brain computer interaction(BCI) research, aimed at making the most out of neurofeedback data and initially intended as a way for locked-in patients to communicate.

Brain data collection and processing successes have also enabled various attempts at improving human efficiency and even the capabilities of the human brain. Today there is considerable focus on various neurotechnologies. Facebook recently launched a project towards developing a brain-to-computer typing interface that would be used to type without keyboard use by processing the thoughts that an individual wants to type in. This would not only further enable locked-in patients in carrying out computer-mediated tasks but also speed up input for all users.

Cognitive enhancement as a theme has also gained traction in the gaming industry which now produces many games aimed at providing cognitive training. The effectiveness of gaming in cognitive enhancement has been analyzed via cognition tests as well as imaging using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans to observe the level of activation in different brain regions. However, despite various studies there has been no consensus on the effectiveness of these games for this purpose.