Studying Brain Waves
Your brain is always buzzing with electrical activity—imagine all the different signals that are going through its nerves every second!Copyright 2021, DARPA, Public Domain: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_images.jsp?cntn_id=303508&org=NSF
Students expand their understanding of brain waves and the electroencephalogram (EEG). After learning about five different types of brain waves (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and their associated characteristics and behaviors, students briefly learn about the electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyogram (EMG) and their similarities to EEG. After reviewing the basics of brain waves, students are introduced to three mathematical techniques used to manipulate and examine EEG data: Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Power Spectral Density (PSD), and bandpass filter. While they are not expected to learn about the mathematical details of these three tools, students are expected to know what each tool is used for in analyzing wave data. Students review and expand on their existing knowledge of brain waves and analysis methods while also learning how to identify abnormalities in brain waves and make educated guesses about the cause(s) of them.
Understanding how waves carry information in the form of energy and frequency is critical to many fields of engineering and medicine. Researchers and engineers specifically involved with brain disorders such as ADHD, depression, and insomnia study the brains of people with these disorders and use knowledge of the different brain waves to propose new treatments and therapies. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Power Spectral Density (PSD), and bandpass filtering are three techniques used by engineers, researchers, and scientists to examine different types of wave data. In electrical engineering these three techniques may be used to analyze electrical circuits, and in biomedical engineering they may be used to analyze electrical responses of the brain, heart, and skeletal muscles.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Identify and describe the five types of brain waves.
- List some brain disorders/diseases that may be diagnosed with the help of EEG analysis.
- Describe what a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), the Power Spectral Density (PSD), and bandpass filter.