Brainwave-decoding research explains facial recognition

Brainwaves — the patterns of electrical activity created in the brain when it is engaged in different activities — can easily be measured using electroencephalography (EEG).

But, according to Prof Philippe Schyns, director of Glasgow University’s Institute of Neurosciences and Psychology, while it was previously possible to detect EEG activity in certain areas of the brain when particular tasks were performed, until now it has been impossible to know what information was carried in those brainwaves.

In order to decode some of these brainwaves, the scientists at Glasgow recruited six volunteers and presented them with images of people’s faces, displaying different emotions such as happiness, fear and surprise.

On different experimental trials, parts of the images were randomly covered so that, for example, only the eyes or mouth were visible. The volunteers were then asked to identify the emotion being displayed.

While engaged in this exercise, the participants’ brainwaves were measured using EEG, which allowed the researchers to identify which parts of the brain were active when looking at different parts of the face.