Calibration Day

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The day that we set up your individual profile to allow our system to understand how your brain processes information. This also allows us to understand your individual Neg-Vac needs.

When we want to understand what a computer is doing, we use a variety of tools to monitor things such as system processes and resource usage. You can even see a basic version of this in your Task Manager on your home computers and laptops.

In many respects, the human brain is akin to a computer. The key to understanding how you process data is to find the right tool to allow us to study how your brain reacts to stimuli. By far the most accurate way for us to do this is by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging (fNIRS) to gather brain activity data.

This is a non-invasive procedure that involves the use of near-infrared light to create images of your brain in real time. This is achieved by wearing a specially designed helmet. During the process, you will first be shown a mix of images and audio. We will then move on to asking you to concentrate of specific thoughts, as well as answering questions. The data gathered here allows us to understand not only how your brain reacts when it thinks of specific things, but to get an idea of how it acts when it comes to emotional responses.

As part of the process, we will also require you to carry some basic physical tasks while also connected to an electromyogram (EMG). This will allow us to gauge nerve impulses to the muscles, and improve the accuracy of what movements we associate with each fNIRS reading. Finally, we will also require you to sound out a selection of words and sounds while being monitored with both the fNIRS helmet and EMG. This is so we can build a database of how your brain helps create speech. It is tempting to think of this as a form of mind-reading. While not entirely inaccurate, the process is actually less mystical than that. We don’t use the technology to monitor your every waking thought, but rather to understand how you are coping with your life in general.