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. These enable 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 offer 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 and occur mainly in deep sleep, whilst gamma waves are the fastest and represent heightened perception.
The Medium
'Brainwaves' is acrylic paint on 8.3inch x 11.7 inch paper. The colourful patterns in the 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 Behavioural Neuroscience. She loves combining her interest in neuropsychology with art and writing, and is passionate about scientific outreach and communication.
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license