Question: How do you measure the electricity in childrens brains?

Tim Fosker answered on 14 Jun 2011:

Hi @lidivampire

I measure the electricity from children’s brains using an electroencephalography machine (EEG for short). ‘Electro’ like electricity, ‘encephalo’ from the ancient Greek word for brain (encephalon), ‘graphy’ as in graph. So the machine graphs the electricity of the brain. I measure brain activity by putting a cap that looks like a swimming cap on a child’s head. The cap has lots of little sensors on it attached to wires. The wires are metal and conduct electricity. You put gel in a hole in each of the sensors so that electricity can travel between the child’s head and the wires. The electricity produced by your brain is very small, so the wires go into an amplifier that increases the size of the electricity from the brain – just like the amplifier that makes your voice louder on a karaoke machine. A computer then records changes in the electrical activity across the child’s head as they do a task. In my case children usually listen to sounds or speech.

I hope that answered your question.