Attention Grabber

We used a technology called the Function near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) via a BlueBerry Device. This technology works by using infrared light and a detector with a wavelength that transmits through the skull and refracts off the surface of brain tissue to be able to measure oxygenated, deoxygenated and total haemoglobin concentration change. Measuring the change in haemoglobin concentration over time provides a signal to change in blood flow in cerebral tissue, thus giving us a rough idea of how to measure brain activity over time. We used this theory to create and link a web app to a chrome extension that tracks and monitors the attentiveness of the user connected via the blueberry they are wearing. We collected real-time data corresponding to the change in blood oxygenation over time that the code translated into an attentiveness score and set thresholds for high, moderate and low brain activity that is displayed on the web app and extension. An added fun feature of our project is that the extension does a lot of things when certain thresholds are attaind, it plays with the user in subtle ways. ;) Apart from the recreational aspect of the project, the user can use the web app for activities that involve them focusing on a certain task, be it studies, research or driving, hopefully contributing to some good applications of the technology.