Recording Brain Activity

Then came the fun challenge of recording and analysing human brain activity using the most sophisticated tools of the time in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MEG scanner at the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA) could be accessed during this exceptional period by carefully vetted researchers under very tight health-protecting protocols.

The MEG scanner senses the tiny magnetic fields coupled to the voltage changes in populations of brain cells. Measuring the magnetic field instead of the electrical voltage improves the spatial resolution of the recordings because of the different properties of the two signals. For example, magnetic fields do not get smeared by the tissues in between the brain and the sensors (skull and scalp).

We chose Sage Boettcher as the participant for the brain recordings. Sage was the best choice for many reasons. Sage had been a doctoral student and was currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology. As a student and then researcher, Sage was highly committed to the departmental community and served it generously through many teaching, service, and leadership roles. As such, she represented the new generation of the department. Sage’s research was directly relevant to the project and often involved recording human brain activity and interpreting alpha waves. Sage was a member of OHBA and had been through all the necessary training and vetting required. Sage’s name is “wise”, a lovely twist. Finally, everyone loves Sage, and the department would be proud to have her thoughts immortalised in its façade. When the building was open, Sage remained in the department, running her own research group as a career development research fellow. The rest of the team involved in the recording included Sven Braeutigam (MEG physicist), Andrew Quinn (postdoctoral researcher), Anna Camera (lab manager), and Jemma Pitt (research assistant).