Discovering Brain Technologies: Insights and Prospects

The human brain is a fascinating, complex and awe-inspiring organ. It controls all bodily functions – motor skills, breathing, temperature, touch, hunger – and drives our thought processes.

Throughout history, people have been intrigued by the brain and how it works. Neuroscientists and psychologists have carried out all sorts of experiments to try to understand the brain more. Even though we know more about the brain than ever before, there’s still a vast amount we don’t know about it.

The Surge of Brain Technology: Shaping Our Cognitive Future

The field of brain technology has been growing exponentially in recent years. It involves studying and understanding the brain, along with manipulating it for a variety of purposes to ultimately benefit society. Through developing brain technologies, neuroscientists and psychologists hope to develop solutions that can treat mental health conditions and help in areas such as education and healthcare. Brain tech can also help with things like sleep patterns, concentration and the ability to remember.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the newest and most capable examples of brain technology. All the devices we highlight analyze the brain and its functions to improve our lives in big and small ways.

FocusCalm

As the name of this piece of brain tech implies, it’s all about getting you to focus and remain calm more. FocusCalm is a headband and app. You download the app and wear the handband for just a few minutes daily doing mindfulness exercises.

While doing these, the headband monitors brain activity and tracks 1,250 data points. When you’re done, the app gives you a score of 0-100, which reflects how much stress you’ve experienced while carrying out the exercises.

If your score is low, it means your mind has been active and busy while completing the exercises. Conversely, a high score suggests proficiency in maintaining focus and composure, which becomes easier, for instance, when a casino offers free spins to players. The aim, of course, is to improve your score by encouraging yourself to cope better under pressure and stress.

NextMind

Ever wanted to control things using your mind? That’s what NextMind is all about. Many brain tech companies and start-ups have been trying to get people to move things with their minds. NextMind is an example of a solution that works.

So what does NextMind involve? It uses non-invasive brain-computer interface technology. In a nutshell, this means tech that enables someone to interact with a digital interface just by using their thoughts.

In other words, you can use hands-free electronic devices such as phones and computers, relying solely on your brainpower. These devices track your neural activity to interpret your intentions for interacting with digital interfaces.

With this technology, you can push or click virtual buttons simply by thinking about it. The NextMind wearable, a sensor positioned discreetly at the back of your head, serves as a prime example of the profound impact of Internet on society, reshaping how we interact with technology.

URGOnight

This piece of brain tech aims to help people get more sleep. The way it does this is by training the brain to generate the sorts of waves that are typically produced while you’re asleep. There’s an app and a wearable with four electrodes that track your brain activity. 

The headset uses the data obtained from the electrodes to generate exercises designed to help your body achieve better sleep. These exercises aren’t too complicated or taxing; they’re all about training your mind to reduce the amount of activity going on. By doing this, you should be able to achieve a state of relaxation more easily.

URGOnight should be used three times a week for the best results, with each session lasting no more than 20 minutes. Users should find that they can wind down more effectively and sleep better.

Flow

The next brain tech solution on our list is Flow, which is all about treating depression and helping people achieve a positive state of mind. According to the official website, Flow has produced some encouraging results so far:

• 57% of users have reported being free from depression within 10 weeks.
• It’s meant to be twice as effective at curing depression as antidepressants.
• Fewer than 4% of users reported side effects, and the ones noted were minor.

So what does Flow do, and how does it work? It targets the front of the brain, which is responsible for managing your motivation, sleep and mood. During depression, the amount of activity in this part of the brain decreases. This is why depression can lead to a lack of motivation, irregular sleep and low mood.

Flow rectifies this by sending electrical signals to the brain’s front part. This should stimulate activity, thereby reducing the symptoms often experienced during depression.

Muse S

With this wearable and app combo, it’s all about meditation. Muse S promotes itself as ‘your personal meditation assistant.’ What it does is it tracks various things to help you meditate more effectively and productively. The variables it monitors include your breathing, body movements, heart rate and, of course, your brain activity.

Muse S’s overall aim is to help people meditate better and encourage more people to meditate and gain its benefits. These include:

• Being able to cope with stress better;
• Becoming more emotionally aware;
• Learning how to remain calm while under pressure;
• Sleeping better;
• Improving your body’s immunity;
• A reduction in anxiety.

Muse S wants meditation to be more accessible. It’s suitable for anyone, regardless of how much or little they’ve practised meditation.

Neurosity

The purpose of Neurosity is to improve concentration. The Crown is Neurosity’s wearable device, and it boosts your concentration by tracking your brain activity and playing music that enhances productivity. You can use the accompanying app to see and improve your results over time. Plus, there’s a community of fellow Neurosity users and developers you can interact with to discuss your progress.

Summary

These are just a few examples of the recent innovations in the emerging field of brain technology. What these pieces of tech can do is incredible, and we’ve only just scratched the surface of what brain tech is capable of.

In years to come, the mysteries of the brain will become fewer as more advances are made. Plus, we’ll be able to do so much more with the brain than we can now. There’s never been a more exciting time to be interested in this particular field of study.