NeuroSky MINDWAVE MW3, Quick Start User Manual

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NeuroSky Technology Overview
- Brainwaves & ThinkGear
Brainwaves
The last century of neuroscience research has greatly increased our knowledge about the brain and particularly, the electrical signals emitted by
line of headset products contain NeuroSky ThinkGear™ technology, which measures the analog electrical signals, commonly referred to as
brainwaves, and processes them into digital signals. The ThinkGear technology then makes those measurements and signals available to games and
applications. The table below gives a general synopsis of some of the commonly-recognized frequencies that tend to be generated by different
types of activity in the brain:
ThinkGear
ThinkGear is the technology inside every NeuroSky product or partner product that enables a device to interface with the wearers’ brainwaves. It
includes the sensor that touches the forehead, the contact and reference points located in the ear clip, and the on-board chip that processes all of
the data. Both the raw brainwaves and the eSense Meters (Attention and Meditation) are calculated on the ThinkGear chip.
Brainwave Type Mental States & Conditions
Delta 0.1Hz to 3Hz Deep, dreamless sleep, non-REM sleep, unconcious
Theta 4Hz to 7Hz Intuitive, creative, recall, fantasy, imaginary, dream
Alpha 8Hz to 12Hz Relaxed (but not drowsy) tranquil, conscious
Low Beta 12Hz to 15Hz Formerly SMR, relaxed yet focused, integrated
Midrange Beta 16Hz to 20Hz Thinking, aware of self & surroundings
High Beta 21Hz to 30Hz Alertness, agitation
Frequency Range