Wearables and the Brain

Abstract

The brain is the last frontier for wearable sensing. Commercially available wearables can monitor your vital signs and physical activity, but few have the ability to monitor what goes on inside your head. With the advent of new wearable and portable neuroimaging technologies, this situation might be about to change, with profound implications for neuroscience and for wearables. One of the main attractions of wearables, and wearable sensing, comes from the proximity of the devices to the human body and to the wealth of information that might be gathered from being so close. Yet when it comes to sensing the brain—and, even more so, our minds— significant difficulties arise. First among these is the inadequacy of available sensing technology. It is relatively easy to sense the movement of a person’s arm, but much more difficult to gain access to the workings of their brain. Second, and perhaps more fundamentally, we still do not really know enough about how brains actually work in the real-world and outside the restrained laboratory setting—and it is hard to sense and make use of what we do not quite understand.