Illustrating the Mind( continued)
ARTICLES
Illustrating the Mind( continued)
STEM to STEAM
T. von Kármán said that“ Scientists explore what is and engineers create what has never been,” and a standard definition of engineering is that it combines the study of mathematics and natural sciences to direct the forces of nature for the service of humankind. Leaving aside the blurred boundaries between engineering, technology, and applied science, and expanding to“ creation for the service of humanity” makes a place for the Arts in STEM.
To visualise ordinary mental activity, 8s signatures are calculated from the T7 and T8 electrodes( over the temporal lobes each side of the brain), and assembled into an image with the hemispheres of the brain in the upper and lower halves, with frequency as the vertical axis, and time, left to right, as the horizontal axis. The top half is the left hemisphere, and for each hemisphere, the highest frequencies are at the centreline, i. e., the lowest frequencies are top and bottom. The moment values describing the uniformity of the signals at a given frequency are used to set the hue, or colour. The final image is then processed using VEE, Visual Evolution Engine software [ 2 ], which transforms the EEG image with the sole purpose of making it more interesting visually: this is the“ A” in STEAM.
( A)
( B)
3 minutes | 5 minutes | 3 minutes
3 minutes | 5 minutes | 3 minutes
( C)
3 minutes | 5 minutes | 3 minutes
Figure 2 shows visualisations calculated from 11 minutes of EEG data from three volunteers including myself. For the first three minutes, each subject sat quietly with their eyes closed; for the next 5 minutes, they listened to music with eyes closed; and for the final three minutes, they again sat quietly.( The subjects selected different music— there is no accounting for taste!)
28 SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 3