Citizen neuroscience: wearable technology and open software to study the human brain in its natural habitat

Abstract

Citizen science allows the public to participate in various stages of scientific research, including study design, data acquisition, and analysis of the resulting data. Citizen science has a long history in several fields of the natural sciences, and with recent developments in technology, neuroscience has also become more accessible to citizen scientists. This development was largely driven by the development of minimal sensing systems for the consumer market, allowing for do-it-yourself (DIY) or quantified-self (QS) investigations of an individual's brain. While most subfields of neuroscience require sophisticated monitoring devices in the laboratory, the study of sleep characteristics has been widely embraced by citizen neuroscientists, likely due to the strong influence of sleep quality on waking life and an increasingly broad accessibility of relevant non-invasive consumer devices. Here, we introduce into the emerging field of citizen neuroscience, illustrating examples of citizen neuroscience projects in the field of sleep research. We then give an overview on wearable technologies for tracking human neurophysiology, and on open software to run them, each with unique capabilities and intended purposes. Finally, we discuss chances and challenges in citizen neuroscience research, and suggest how to improve studying the human brain outside the laboratory.

Electrophysiological correlates of lucid dreaming

“…In contrast, on the source level, beta power (12-30 Hz) was reduced during LD in right central and parietal areas including the temporo-parietal junction, potentially associated with a conscious reassessment of the veridicality of the currently perceived reality. Gamma1 power (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) around the onset of LD eye signaling increased in right temporo-occipital regions including the right precuneus, in line with its involvement in self-referential thinking. Source-level connectivity analyses revealed alpha (8)(9)(10)(11)(12) mediated communication between anterior frontal and posterior areas, which are usually functionally disconnected during non-lucid REM sleep.…”

“…While the authors show that independent component analysis (ICA) clean SPs, ICA may overclean data when applied to few EEG channels (31). As an alternative, we provide a preprocessing solution that works for low-density EEG setups and hence is applicable for analyzing data from wearable devices intended for home use (32) as well as polysomnographic recordings in the laboratory.…”

Highly effective verified lucid dream induction using combined cognitive-sensory training and wearable EEG: a multi-centre study

“…Our objective was to present a comprehensive 'package' comprising the induction technique, minimal equipment requirements, and the software to illustrate the feasibility of achieving an objective lucid dreaming experience without complex measurement tools or prolonged induction methods; however, this came with some limitations. functionalities would not only facilitate various citizen neuroscience projects (Esfahani et al, 2024) on lucid dreaming but also make them accessible with just a consumer-level wearable EEG device and a simple PC. Furthermore, implementing our protocol within the home environment would further raise its methodological quality by increasing the representativeness of the natural context targeted by the study (i.e., external validity).…”

Validation of the sleep EEG headband ZMax

“…Numerous wearable systems are readily available in the market (see Esfahani et al, 2023 for an overview), despite a paucity of scientific research validating their performance in comparison to standard PSG. Any substitution of the standard PSG with wearables such as EEG headbands first requires validation of their performance.…”