28/04/2008 - Headlines - Health and Safety
'Early warning headset' could improve safety!
A device worn on the head to monitor brain activity could be used to warn people they're about to make a dangerous mistake, it was claimed this week.Writing in the US journal Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers said they had identified a particular type of brain activity that "predicted performance errors". The pattern usually began around 30 seconds before mistakes were made.
The study confirmed what many of us probably already know - that dull jobs can switch our minds to autopilot. This in turn, makes us more "susceptible to occasional errors that may lead to serious consequences," according to the researchers.
In the study, Dr Stefan Debener of Southampton University, and his colleagues, asked participants to repeatedly perform a "flanker task" - an experiment in which individuals must quickly respond to visual clues. Brain activity was monitored using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
"To our surprise, up to 30 seconds before the mistake we could detect a distinct shift in activity," said Dr Debener. "The brain begins to economise, by investing less effort to complete the same task."
Workplace safety
Dr Debner went on to say that the discovery had the potential to significantly improve workplace safety and also improve performance in key tasks, such as driving.
As a result the team suggested that brain monitoring might "help in avoiding human errors in critical real-world situations."
MRI scanners are not portable enough, but mobile EEG devices could be used, according to Dr Debener. He said a prototype of a wireless, lightweight EEG amplifier was currently in development and could be ready for the market in "10 to 15 years".
Another member of the research team, Dr Tom Eichele of the University of Bergen in Norway, said: "We might be able to build a device that could be placed on the heads of people.
"We can measure the signal and give feedback to the user that well, your brain is in the state where your decisions are not going to be the right one."
The thing is though - would it be able to tell you if you were so absent minded you forgot to put it on in the first place?