2013-05-24 – Open Electroencephalography

Filed under: Dream, OpenEEG, REM Sleep by Michael Paul Coder — 6 Comments

2013-05-24

A decade after I was able to afford my first printed circuit board from Olimex and started dabbling in the OpenEEG project, I finally managed to build a device with which I can comfortably record my brainwaves during sleep.

It took forever to fall asleep because I was just too excited. I woke up at 0534 from a dream and noted the time. The printout of the minute I selected is from 0515 and shows some very distinct patterns that are similar to when I move my eyes around while conscious. I will use that as a base to write the REM-detection algorithm that will trigger the audio tracks.

I embedded the four active electrodes inside a headband and taped the passive electrode to my earlobe with some duct tape. I still need to meditate on a more convenient way to attach the passive electrode.

It can be worn with the sensors on the forehead by the Frontal Lobe to trigger on the spikes in electrical activity caused by eye movements or at the back to monitor the brainwaves by the Occipital Lobe where visual perception is processed. Check it:

Anyone with a device compatible with the OpenEEG project can now upload to the Lucid Scribe Database project by right-clicking on a log in Lucid Scribe and selecting Export to -> LSDBase. The source code for the OpenEEG plugin is available on GitHub.

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) or Comma Separated Values (CSV).

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4 Comments:

NJC

2013-06-05 at 0333

I was wondering if you could share what kind of active electrodes you are using? I am very curious. Any additional information or description would be awesome! Very cool blog.

Reply
- Michael Paul Coder
  
  2013-06-05 at 1122
  
  Thanks. I am using the active electrodes from Olimex (schematic: EEG-AE.pdf):
  
  Reply
  - Loothi
    
    2013-06-05 at 1129
    
    Hi Michael.
    Still struggling with my Olimex kit that matches yours! Can’t wait to get Lucid Scribe working but even making head or tails of the BrainBay 2-channel test is proving head-scratching. I’m not sure if what I am seeing is what I am meant to be seeing. Have to work today sadly, but maybe I can share some screenshots etc soon? Also, where is the best forum for beginner EEG tinkerers? I’m not into electronics particularly just want to use the software out there that’s available and figure out what it all means….
    Thanks!
    ~loothi
    
    Reply
    - Michael Paul Coder
      
      2013-06-05 at 2031
      
      What error are you getting? The best way to make sure that you are picking up a real signal is to move your eyes around. If there is no observable effect the sensors don’t have a good enough connection. Post some screenshots on the thread for the latest version of the OpenEEG plugin over at lucidcode and I will see what I can do.
      
      Reply

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Off the shelf EEG hardware records your dreams

[…] Over the past few years, we’ve seen [Michael]‘s adventures in electronics and lucid dreaming. With commercial EEG hardware, [Michael] is able to communicate from inside his dreams with Morse code and record his rhythmic blinking for data analysis when he wakes up. His project is called Lucid Scribe, and now it’s open to just about everyone – including brain experimenters with OpenEEG hardware. […]
PROJECT RECORD DREAMS WITH OPENEEG

Michael blogged about his project with OpenEEG from Olimex, he made dreams recorder and he is able to communicate inside his dreams with morse code http://hackaday.com/2012/06/20/communicating-from-inside-your-dreams/ and record his blinks for further data analysis when wake up. How cool is this?

LSDBase