Skip to main content

Meet the woman making brainwave control look more like meditation and less like the Matrix

Ariel Garten-LeWeb12-credit Kmeron
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What does it take to lead one of the most promising companies in the budding field of brainwave-controlled computing? It’s a bit hard to say, because Ariel Garten wrote her own road map to get there. With a background spanning fashion design, neuroscience, and psychotherapy, she’s about as interdisciplinary as they come. And as a female innovator in tech, she has long been in the spotlight for the unique blend of talents she brings to the table.

Now, as CEO of InteraXon, Garten – along with co-founders Trevor Colemen and Chris Aimone – has fused interests in both art and science to develop Muse. This sleek, streamlined headband aims to transmit the brain’s electrical signals directly to tablets, computers, and appliances. Still find it mindblowing to reach out and touch your laptop screen? Just imagine controlling your apps with nothing but your mind itself.

Back at CES 2013, we covered Muse’s mind-exercise demos, and were so curious that we headed straight to the source to learn more about what makes this futuristic tech thrilling.

Right brain, meet left brain

ArielGarten2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For Garten, creative expression and scientific inquiry have never been the opposites that some make them out to be. “My mother is an artist, so things were always created in front of me,” Garten said. Drawing inspiration from the enormous oil paintings created by her mother, Vivian Reiss, Garten started a clothing line in high school, and went on to eventually open Toronto Fashion Week with her line.

At the same time, as a biochemistry student in college, Garten worked in scientific labs researching mind-technology interaction. Under Dr. Steve Mann, a pioneer in cybernetics and wearable computers, she experimented with using brain activity to trigger musical playback. Already, she says, she was hooked on “the idea of brainwaves, [and] how they carried both scientific and emotional information.”

Tapping into the brain’s self-awareness

“It’s really darn cool to be able to see inside your mind,” Garten said. After years of demonstrating brainwave-controlled devices with Dr. Mann, Garten decided she wanted to bring that pure coolness to a wider audience. She co-founded InteraXon with Coleman and Aimone, and the trio immediately started developing commercial prototypes, which eventually lead to the creation of Muse.

AGarten LevitatingChair
Image used with permission by copyright holder

So what does a mind-controlled headband do, exactly? “It helps you alleviate negative things, like relieve stress and reduce anxiety,” says Garten. “It’s also about human performance and human potential. It improves your capabilities. It helps you express yourself in new, creative ways.”

One early prototype even involved a so-called levitating chair. After hooking up an egg-shaped chair to a motor-controlled winch, developers programmed the winch to respond only to calm, meditative brainwave patterns from a mind-controlled headband. Then, as the subject put on the headband, sat in the chair, and managed to slip into a state of relaxation, the chair would slowly rise toward the ceiling, accompanied by a satisfying sound effect.

The science at play

Brain-sensing technology may seem straight out of Minority Report, but there’s some pretty solid science to back it up. According to Garten, “there’s a whole body of research on mindfulness, meditation, and EGG, and on enhancing cognitive abilities with EEG.” Basically, EEG sensors detect electrical signals created by neurons firing in the brain, and interpret those signals as different kinds of brainwaves, depending on their frequency.

In other words, this technology can’t “read your mind” – at least, not in the sense of knowing what you ate for breakfast. What it can do is enhance mindfulness in much the same way as traditional meditation, making users more aware of their state of mind and how to replicate it in the future. As Garten puts it, it encourages a “meditative quality that leads you to be very present so that you can feel your emotions fully, but effectively.”

brainwaves
Image used with permission by copyright holder

One outside study that Garten particularly admired looked at the minds of surgeons who were performing a mock surgery. “They were able to track brainwave patterns associated with effective surgery,” Garten said. In a similar way, she hopes her technology will use principles of mindfulness to help users better understand their emotions and increase their cognitive ability. “It’s really an agent of change to help you understand what’s going on in your mind.”

Indeed, brainwave-sensing technology shows remarkable promise for enabling those with ADHD gain control over their ability to focus. It may also help sports professionals concentrate, and help retired individuals maintain cognition. Of course, much like a good yoga session, it has the potential to help everyone from business professionals to new mothers regain a sense of balance.

Enter Muse: the IndieGoGo Campaign

“People are always very enthused about what we do,” Garten said. Yet, she was still blown away by the response to the Indigogo campaign to fund the Muse headband. The crowdsourcing campaign raised more than $287,000, far surpassing the original $150,000 goal. “What amazed me were the hundreds and hundreds of comments,” Garten said. “This was one of the first times we were able to really engage with our community of potential users.”

Muse2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The wildly successful campaign transformed InteraXon’s ambitious brain-sensing technology from potential vaporware into an imminent reality. Now slated for release late this year, the sleek, pre-orderable Muse comes in black or white, and slips over the temples to hook behind the ears, resembling a modern-age tiara. In fact, The Huffington Post lauded the design as a “fashion-forward device, which even Anna Wintour would conceivably wear.” Ticketed at $199 before tax and shipping, it includes a suite of brain-training apps, including one game that encourages users to “pull” the moon over the sun by alternately relaxing and focusing their thoughts.

A sparkling sci-fi future?

The possible uses of Muse in the future are many. “Oh my god,” Garten said. “There’s so much I want to see!” Whether it comes to playing with remote-controlled cars, creating music setlists, adding photo filters, or painting digital artwork, Garten sees few avenues of computing that couldn’t potentially benefit from brainwave-sensitive inputs. She showcased one recently-developed application at LeWeb 2012 called EmoType, a text editor that changes its font style based on the user’s current state of mind. In a few years, worries over whether someone misinterpreted the tone of your email could be gone for good.

ArielGartenMuse
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Of course, such a radically futuristic technology is bound to raise certain doubts about safety and privacy. But Garten is quick to emphasize InteraXon’s security standards, as well as its ongoing efforts to create an international brainwave ethics body. Besides, she says, “the information we’re getting is not that different from the signal you might get from someone’s heartbeat. That signal gives all kinds of useful information, but it doesn’t tell someone your PIN number.”

In Garten’s vision, brainwave-sensing technology like Muse will simply “give people access to more expanded information,” which may help them become “in some ways, more human.”

Advice to future innovators

To programmers, designers, and engineers hoping to get involved in the world of neuroscience tech – especially women – Garten has a single word of advice: “Start!”

While she acknowledges that her field is male-heavy and she occasionally gets addressed as “Mr. Garten,” Garten says that she feels completely comfortable in her chosen career, and believes the time is ripe for more female innovators. “There are no longer any of the perceived barriers that there were before,” she says. “People are particularly excited to see women succeed in this field right now.”

After all, if mind-controlled interfaces take off the way IBM has predicted, it will be hard to find a more exciting place to be. “There’s an entire world to dive into here,” says Garten. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Photo via @Kmeron for LeWeb12

Mika Turim-Nygren
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mika Turim-Nygren writes about technology, travel, and culture. She is a PhD student in American literature at the University…
The 5 best Wi-Fi adapters for PC in 2024
The Ugreen AC1300 Wi-Fi adapter in a desktop PC.

Whether you're designing it yourself or getting a pre-built PC, it can be easy to get a computer and realize that it doesn't have a native Wi-Fi adapter. Or, maybe it does, but you're internet speeds are getting faster, game downloads are getting bigger, you've already upgraded your router and need an adapter to match your newfound power requirements. No matter the situation, an external Wi-Fi adapter that you can add to your PC setup or even laptop setup will be worth your time. Here, we investigate the best Wi-Fi adapters for PC use. Most are incredibly affordable and just snap into a free USB port and start working.
The best Wi-Fi adapter for PC in 2024

Buy the

Read more
How to pin a website to the taskbar in Windows
A man sits, using a laptop running the Windows 11 operating system.

Windows includes many interesting tools, but if you’re like many people, more and more of your digital life is happening in your web browser and nowhere else. That being the case, you’ll want to keep your most important websites close at hand. The easiest way to access them in Windows is the Start menu and the taskbar, treating them more or less like programs in and of themselves.

Although easy overall, getting a website from your browser to your taskbar is slightly different depending on which browser you’re using.

Read more
This LG 34-inch QHD gaming monitor is discounted from $1,000 to $529
The LG UltraGear monitor on a table.

If you want a top-tier display to go with your gaming PC, check out the 34-inch LG UltraGear QHD curved gaming monitor. Not only will it be a worthy screen for your powerful gaming desktop, but it's also currently on sale from Walmart with a $471 discount that nearly halves its price to just $529 from $1,000. We're not sure how much time is remaining before this offer expires, but like most monitor deals of this caliber, it will probably end sooner than you think. Buy it now if you don't want to miss out.

Why you should buy the 34-inch LG UltraGear QHD curved gaming monitor
Gamers who are playing the best PC games should have a screen that will let you appreciate modern graphics. That's certainly the case with the 34-inch LG UltraGear QHD curved gaming monitor, as its quad HD resolution promises sharp details and lifelike colors, while its curved screen fills your peripheral vision for more immersive gameplay. The gaming monitor also features a 144Hz refresh rate, which is at the top of our computer monitor buying guide's recommended range, and 1ms response time. With these specifications, you'll enjoy smooth movements and quick reaction times, which are extremely important in multiplayer matches.

Read more