MindWave Brain Wave Sensor Support
Please note: MindWave support is currently not available in the Mac App Store version of Vitamin-R. Starting from June 2012, Apple requires all applications in the Mac App Store to be sandboxed and the MindWave drivers are currently not compatible with sandboxing. Please contact us to get a free non-Sandboxed version of Vitamin-R that is compatible with the MindWave headset.
What is the MindWave?
The MindWave is a $99 brainwave sensor marketed by NeuroSky. The device is based on EEG (Electroencephalography) technology and can measure brain wave activity using a simple wireless bluetooth headset.
EEGs do not "read your mind,” of course, but certain brainwave patterns (alpha, beta, gamma, delta waves, etc.) are strongly associated with attentive and meditative states.
The MindWave sensor, then, nicely complements a tool like Vitamin-R, which seeks to maximize your concentration level and keep you from losing focus and getting side-tracked. To this end, Vitamin-R works with MindWave to:
- Log your attention and meditation levels.
- Automatically pre-select the attention level that will be written to Vitamin-R’s log files and used for computing your usage statistics using actual measured levels.
Depending on interest in this innovation, we have several more features that we would love to add to Vitamin-R. In particular, Vitamin-R could react intelligently to changes in your brainwave patterns. For example, it could detect when you are losing focus and help you regain focus by playing a “ticking clock” sound, or by reading your Objective, or by popping up a Growl notification, etc.
Of course, we would love to hear about your experiences working with Vitamin-R and the MindWave. If there is sufficient interest, we would like to set up a beta-testing group especially for MindWave users. So please do not hesitate to contact us directly at support@publicspace.net.
Where to Order Your MindWave
The MindWave is marketed by NeuroSky and is available to most territories directly from their Web store.
Activating MindWave Support
Currently, the MindWave drivers only work in 32-bit mode, so you will need to launch Vitamin-R in 32-bit mode, as well, for MindWave integration to become active. To launch Vitamin-R in 32-bit mode:
- In Finder, navigate to /Applications/Vitamin-R.
- Click the Vitamin-R application icon to select it.
- Select Get Info… from the File menu.
- Under the General disclosure triangle, tick the Open in 32-bit mode checkbox.
- (Re-)launch Vitamin-R.
You can verify that everything went well by having a look at the Integration tab in Vitamin-R Preferences. The checkbox in the MindWave section should read "MindWave Support active".
Before you can use the MindWave with Vitamin-R, you will need to complete the hardware and software setup as instructed by NeuroSky. After completing initial setup, Vitamin-R will automatically detect your headset, requiring no further action on your part.
If you have the Growl notification system installed, Vitamin-R will use Growl notifications such as "Receiving MindWave Data" to alert you to the state of the connection with the MindWave hardware driver.
Visualizing Your MindWave Attention and Meditation Levels
Vitamin-R will measure and record your attention and meditation levels automatically during time slices. You can visualize your brainwave activity by bringing up the Statistics window and selecting the MindWave Data graphics.
Automatic Pre-Selection of Measured Focus Level
If sufficient MindWave data was received during a time slice, Vitamin-R will automatically pre-select the appropriate focus level in the Rate Your Time Slice screen. You can still modify this manually should you feel that the measured levels do not correspond to your perceived experience.
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