brainwaves
Milena Kozlowska
Artwork for ‘Waves‘ (Issue 22)
The Science
Underlying all our thoughts, feelings, dreams, memories, and sensations are synchronized, rapid electrical currents traveling through the brain, allowing our billions of neurons to communicate. EEGs, or electroencephalograms, allow us to look at the activity of these brain waves in real time via electrodes placed on the head. These waves allow us a glimpse into the inner workings of our most complex and mysterious organ. Each type of brain wave oscillates at a different frequency— for example, alpha waves are broad and diffuse, occurring mainly in deep sleep, while gamma waves are the fastest and represent heightened perception.
The Medium
The painting was created with acrylic paint on 8.3inch x 11.7inch paper. The colorful patterns in the painting are taken from my own quantitative EEG (qEEG) analysis— more specifically, from topographic maps of EEG Z-score values of different types of brain waves across my brain at the time of the recording. The oscillating lines represent different types of brain waves. In order from top to bottom: gamma, beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves.
The Artist
Milena Kozlowska is a researcher and artist with a Bachelor's degree in Behavioral Neuroscience. She loves combining her interest in neuropsychology with art and writing, and she is also passionate about scientific outreach and communication.
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license