Scientists have developed a sensor that can record brainwaves without the need for electrodes to be inserted into the brain or even placed on the scalp.
Conventional electroencephalograms (EEG)
monitor electrical activity in the brain with electrodes placed either on the scalp (involving hair removal and skin abrasion)
or inserted directly into the brain with needles.
Now a non-invasive form of EEG has been devised by Professor Terry Clark and his colleagues at Sussex University's Centre for Physical Electronics.
Instead of measuring charge flow through an electrode, which can distort results if scalp electrodes are used, the system measures electric fields remotely, an advance made possible by developments in sensor technology.
Professor Clark said:
"It's a new age as far as sensing the electrical dynamics of the body is concerned."
The researchers, including Dr Robert Prance and Dr Christopher Harland, believe the new sensor will instigate major advances in the collection and display of electrical information from the brain, especially in the study of drowsiness and the human-machine interface.
Professor Clark said:
"The possibilities for the future are boundless. The advantages offered by these sensors may stimulate new developments in EEG monitoring and in real-time electrical imaging of the brain.
"By picking up brain signals non-invasively, we could find ourselves controlling machinery with our thoughts alone - a marriage of mind and machine."
An image of Dr Harland's brain, taken using the new sensor, can be viewed at the American Institute of Physics' web site, www.aip.org/mgr/png/2002/166.htm.
The scientists have already made remotesensing electrocardiogram (ECG) units, which can detect heartbeats with no connections. The device can be used to monitor a clothed person's heartbeat from a metre away.
Potential applications include remote monitoring of burns victims who cannot be touched and people trapped in cars.
That project received £1 million funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
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