esenses_tm.txt · Last modified: 2014/05/06 19:55 (external edit)

eSense(tm) Meters

For all the different types of eSenses (i.e. Attention, Meditation), the meter value is reported on a relative eSense scale of 1 to 100. On this scale, a value between 40 to 60 at any given moment in time is considered “neutral”, and is similar in notion to “baselines” that are established in conventional EEG measurement techniques (though the method for determining a ThinkGear baseline is proprietary and may differ from conventional EEG). A value from 60 to 80 is considered “slightly elevated”, and may be interpreted as levels being possibly higher than normal (levels of Attention or Meditation that may be higher than normal for a given person). Values from 80 to 100 are considered “elevated”, meaning they are strongly indicative of heightened levels of that eSense.

Similarly, on the other end of the scale, a value between 20 to 40 indicates “reduced” levels of the eSense, while a value between 1 to 20 indicates “strongly lowered” levels of the eSense. These levels may indicate states of distraction, agitation, or abnormality, according to the opposite of each eSense.

An eSense meter value of 0 is a special value indicating the ThinkGear is unable to calculate an eSense level with a reasonable amount of reliability. This may be (and usually is) due to excessive noise as described in the POOR_SIGNAL Quality section above.

The reason for the somewhat wide ranges for each interpretation is that some parts of the eSense algorithm are dynamically learning, and at times employ some “slow-adaptive” algorithms to adjust to natural fluctuations and trends of each user, accounting for and compensating for the fact that EEG in the human brain is subject to normal ranges of variance and fluctuation. This is part of the reason why ThinkGear sensors are able to operate on a wide range of individuals under an extremely wide range of personal and environmental conditions while still giving good accuracy and reliability. Developers are encouraged to further interpret and adapt these guideline ranges to be fine-tuned for their application (as one example, an application could disregard values below 60 and only react to values between 60-100, interpreting them as the onset of heightened attention levels).

ATTENTION eSense

This unsigned one-byte value reports the current eSense Attention meter of the user, which indicates the intensity of a user's level of mental “focus” or “attention”, such as that which occurs during intense concentration and directed (but stable) mental activity. Its value ranges from 0 to 100. Distractions, wandering thoughts, lack of focus, or anxiety may lower the Attention meter levels. See eSense(tm) Meters above for details about interpreting eSense levels in general.

By default, output of this Data Value is enabled. It is typically output once a second.

MEDITATION eSense

This unsigned one-byte value reports the current eSense Meditation meter of the user, which indicates the level of a user's mental “calmness” or “relaxation”. Its value ranges from 0 to 100. Note that Meditation is a measure of a person's mental levels, not physical levels, so simply relaxing all the muscles of the body may not immediately result in a heightened Meditation level. However, for most people in most normal circumstances, relaxing the body often helps the mind to relax as well. Meditation is related to reduced activity by the active mental processes in the brain, and it has long been an observed effect that closing one's eyes turns off the mental activities which process images from the eyes, so closing the eyes is often an effective method for increasing the Meditation meter level. Distractions, wandering thoughts, anxiety, agitation, and sensory stimuli may lower the Meditation meter levels. See “eSense Meters” above for details about interpreting eSense levels in general.

By default, output of this Data Value is enabled. It is typically output once a second.