Focus announces EEG Dev Kit

Update 2/2/17. Focus just announced functional Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) capabilities for their EEG Dev kit!

This was announced a few days ago and to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of it… a battery-looking EEG thing. Certainly I’m not a ‘Dev’ and so I left it to those who are to parse the details, still…  Ah, yes, further details arrived today via email I’m happy to share with you (below). I do get the feeling this will make EEG devs excited.

Update 1/19/17 The focus site now has a photo of their new dry EEG electrode.

Thanks for all your feedback and questions about the focus EEG. A common question has been what exactly is included (see below) and is it everything required (yes).

Included in EEG Dev Kit

  • foc.us EEG 24-bit 8-channel EEG with tES & Wi-Fi
  • 8 active dry electrodes for EEG, plus bias & reference electrodes
  • 2 active bio-potential electrodes for ECG, EOG, EMG or EKG
  • 2 wet tES electrodes for tDCS, tACS, tPCS or tRNS
  • 10-20 placement cap
  • Mains power adapter for recharging
  • Raw data access

Next week we will provide more details on the software and SDK for EEG processing.

Sincerely,
team focus

P.S. The first 100 66 are available at only $999 $499 – half price!

What I’m excited about is the Focus EEG headset, but a recent tweet exchange indicates we’re a good year away from release.

Wearable functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) | Frontiers

This paper proposes combining tDCS with fNIRS (functional near infrared spectroscopy) for the purpose of monitoring effects of tDCS especially in the context of enhancing cognition, i.e. immediate and direct feedback that tDCS is ‘working’.

Using fNIRS to Monitor the Relationship of Cognitive Workload and Brain Dynamics fNIRS provides an attractive method for continuous monitoring of brain dynamics in both seated or mobile participants. fNIRS is safe, highly portable, user-friendly and relatively inexpensive, with rapid application times and near-zero run-time costs. The most commonly used form of fNIRS uses infrared light, introduced at the scalp, to measure changes in blood oxygenation as oxy-hemoglobin converts to deoxy-hemoglobin during neural activity, i.e., the cerebral hemodynamic response. fNIRS uses specific wavelengths of light to provide measures of cerebral oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin that are correlated with the fMRI BOLD signal. Below we briefly review fNIRS studies of cognitive workload.

tDCS-fNIR2

via Frontiers | Wearable functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): expanding vistas for neurocognitive augmentation | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.

Wearable functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and tDCS: Expanding Vistas for Neurocognitive Augmentation | Frontiers

A new generation of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) systems is described that are miniaturized, portable, and include wearable sensors. These developments provide an opportunity to couple fNIRS with tDCS, consistent with a neuroergonomics approach for joint neuroimaging and neurostimulation investigations of cognition in complex tasks and in naturalistic conditions. The effects of tDCS on complex task performance and the use of fNIRS for monitoring cognitive workload during task performance are described. Also explained is how fNIRS + tDCS can be used simultaneously for assessing spatial working memory.

via Frontiers | Wearable functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): Expanding Vistas for Neurocognitive Augmentation | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.