Frequency Bands - what are they and how do I

access them?

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emotiv.zendesk.com
March 9, 2016 02:12 AM

STARTLESS
Observations of brain activity are often explained in terms of different
frequency bands - how fast the brain is processing information and
interacting with other brain regions. Of course there is a huge number of
connections within the brain (trillions of trillions) and each specific interaction
happens at its own pace. EEG observations can only be made when large
numbers of neurons within the same region behave as part of a large scale
activity which is characteristic of a particular type of activity, and it is quite
normal for many different interactions of this kind to be taking place in the
same part of the brain at the same time, therefore we often see significant
activity on many frequency bands at the same time. Both the frequency of
the interaction and the specific location of the activity provide information
about the kind of activity inside the brain. Emotiv's detection suites are
based on the combined pattern of activity across the different regions using
very detailed information including frequency bands, however most EEG
researchers rely mainly on the band activity outlined below.

Theta (4 - 8 Hz): Theta activity is seen in drowsiness, arousal and often during
meditation. Dominant Theta activity is associated with relaxed, meditative,
and creative states, memory recall and 'flow' states.

Alpha (8 - 12 Hz): Alpha waves are the default 'relaxed and alert' mode of the
brain. High Alpha values are often observed in the rear channels (occipital
and parietal sensors) when the eyes are closed, indicating that the visual
processing system is not currently engaged but is available and waiting for
input. Similar conditions apply to other parts of the brain. High Alpha levels
appear in the frontal lobes during relaxation and are suppressed when other
activities take place. It is quite common in EEG analysis to compare the
Alpha suppression between different regions in order to determine the
functional areas which are currently in use. For example, linguistic processing
tends to depress Alpha activity in the left frontal lobe, while abstract spatial
thinking can suppress Alpha in the right frontal lobe. Trained meditators
often produce much higher levels of Alpha activity during normal activities,
especially in the frontal lobes.
Similar rhythms in the motor cortex (called Mu-rhythms, around the same
frequency range) indicate muscle relaxation. Suppression of Mu-rhythms in
the motor cortex in specific regions corresponds with activation of particular
muscle groups. For example, clenching your right fist is directly associated
with a dip in Mu-rhythm near the F3 sensor on the left side of the head.

Beta (12 - 25Hz): Beta activity of multiple and varying frequencies is often
associated with active, task-oriented, busy or anxious thinking and active
concentration. The Emotiv API provides access to two sub-bands in The Beta
zone - 12-18Hz and 18-25Hz, allowing the intensity and type of processing to
be better understood.

Gamma (greater than 25Hz). Gamma rhythms occur when different

populations of neurons network together to carry out demanding cognitive
or motor functions. Generally Gamma waves are observed in the frontal
regions when fast, coupled processing is required, such as in fight/flight
mode and when task switching during multi-tasking. In task switching,
Gamma bursts are clearly evident when the current task is archived to short
term memory and a new task is retrieved for 'concurrent' processing.

Using the Emotiv Community SDK and Advanced SDK versions, users can
access the power in different brain activity bands for each individual sensor,
updated twice per second and calculated over the previous 2 seconds of
activity. This data can be accessed using the API call:

Please refer to the API documentation for further information.