Hack Your Thoughts: Key Aspects of Brain Computer Interfacing

Thoughts are essentially the initial trigger of motor activation and the point of perception for sensory stimulation. Therefore, the understanding of the generating mechanism of specific thoughts is valuable to trigger motor actions and to assess the state of mind resulting from sensory stimulation. These so called ‘thoughts’ are high level states of the brain which are reflected by activity of cortical neurons. Due to close proximity, electroencephalogram (EEG) from the scalp is a convenient method of measuring such states of the brain. Accurate identification of these thoughts has prompted to use this technology in enhancing movements such as in assistive technologies, bridging communication gaps that exist in people with special needs and assessing the brain state (fatigue/relax) while attending to long duration critical tasks and providing real-time feedback of the brain while immersed in virtual reality (VR) environments.

This workshop intends to broaden the view of attendees by discussing the neurological process behind the thought generation process, hardware required for EEG recordings, digital signal conditioning, thought classification and how they can be used in application such as assistive technology and VR. Apart from discussions, the organises intend to include a hands-on session on hacking thoughts through well-established EEG paradigms exposing the attendee to the end-to-end process of hacking thoughts through EEG.