What the Data Means

Transforming Brain Signals Into Real-time Feedback

Muse detects a range of brain electrical activity and transforms it into easily understandable experiences. The Muse app transforms raw brain signals into many different components - noise, oscillations, non-periodic characteristics, and transient and event-related brain events. Signal processing and machine learning techniques are applied to the brain signal components to control the experience in real time.

A Deep Dive Into Brainwaves: Brainwave Frequencies Explained

We’ve all experienced that magical feeling of being hit with ‘a brainwave’. That moment of newfound clarity, a shift in perspective, or a novel idea. And typically, it seems to appear out of nowhere. In between sips of coffee, while out for a walk, or simply indulging your dog in a good belly rub. While brainwaves can be a figure of speech to describe our thoughts, scientists and clinicians can use literal brainwaves, measured on the head, to help understand the functioning of the human brain.

As it turns out, the key to having more of these ‘aha’ moments lies in understanding the science behind brainwaves. Neuroscientists have been studying brainwaves – the popular name for the field of electroencephalography – for nearly a century.

Muse is a state-of-the-art EEG system that uses advanced signal processing algorithms to train beginner and intermediate meditators at controlling their focus. Muse detects a range of brain electrical activity and transforms it into easily understandable experiences.

The Muse app decomposes raw brainwave signals into their component oscillations, non-periodic characteristics, transient brain events, and noise, and uses techniques developed through machine learning to make the experience responsive, in real time.

What are brainwaves?

The brain has billions of neurons, and each individual neuron connects (on average) to thousands of others. Communication happens between them through small electrical currents that travel along the neurons and throughout enormous networks of brain circuits. When all these neurons are activated they produce electrical pulses – visualize a wave rippling through the crowd at a sports arena – this synchronized electrical activity results in a “brainwave”.

When many neurons interact in this way at the same time, this activity is strong enough to be detected even outside the brain. By placing electrodes on the scalp, this activity can be amplified, analyzed, and visualized. This is electroencephalography, or EEG – a fancy word that just means an electric brain graph. (Encephalon, the brain, is derived from the ancient Greek “enképhalos,” meaning within the head.)

One way that EEG ‘brainwaves’ convey information is in their rate of repetition. Some oscillations, measured on the scalp, occur at more than 30 cycles per second (and up to 100 cycles per second!) These cycles, also called frequencies, are measured as Hz, or hertz, after the scientist who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.

When looked at this way, brainwaves come in five flavors, each of which corresponds to a Greek letter. As we’ll see, these different brainwaves correspond to different states of thought or experience. While there are many other ways to analyze brainwaves, many practitioners of a field called neurofeedback rely on dividing brain oscillations into these five categories.

Some of these brain oscillations are more easily detectable on specific parts of the scalp, corresponding to the parts of the brain just below. The brain has many specialized regions that correspond to different processes, thoughts, and sensations. Particular oscillations often reflect distinct regions and networks in the brain communicating with each other.



Guided Meditations: On your Muse 2 you’ll receive a report that provides a combination of Mind, Body & Heart reports displaying:

  • % of minutes your mind was calm

  • % of minutes your body was in stillness

  • Your average beat per minute


Mind Meditation

Muse measures your brain’s natural electric field from outside your head while you meditate. At the end of your session, you are presented with a graph that presents this data in a way that helps you reflect on that session. The graph divides your session into three regions:

  • Active: This is time spent with a wandering mind. Your attention was fluctuating. Whenever you notice your active mind and bring your attention back to the breath, you are awarded with a recovery

  • Neutral: This is your natural resting state. Your attention isn't fluctuating, but you aren't deeply focused either

  • Calm: A deep restful focus on your breath. These are moments when you're truly concentrated on your breath. If you're calm for long enough, you'll hear birds.

Birds: When you find a deep, restful focus on your breath for an extended period of time, you'll start to hear birds singing. Don't worry, this is part of the process! Over time, you'll learn to use the birds as a cue to settle even more deeply into focused attention.

Recoveries: Whenever you notice your mind wandering and bring your attention back, you are awarded with a recovery. Recoveries celebrate the moment when your mind traverses from active (wandering mind / fluctuating attention) to neutral (a natural state of rest). These are key to building the skill of focused attention and integrating the benefits of meditation into your daily life. Tap into your graph to see the exact moments where you recovered your attention highlighted in orange.

Calm Points: You are awarded points for every second spent meditating in a neutral and calm state. You receive 1 point per second spent in neutral and 3 points per second spent in calm.

All of the data mentioned above is provided to you via the graphs after your session. If your meditation is longer than 5 minutes, you can tap on the magnify icon (above the graph to the right) to zoom in on your session results.

You can see the exact moments you received a recovery (represented by the yellow stars) as well as the exact times you received birds (represented by the blue birds).

There are over 100 Awards and Milestones within the Muse application. When you receive an Award, you can click on the icon for an explanation of what the award represents.