EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

We develop novel tools for assessment of mental wellbeing and cognition and analysis of the EEG signal, and use machine learning and AI frameworks to understand diverse human physiological, mental and cognitive phenotypes and their social and environmental determinants.

Brain Physiology

EEG is a non invasive, portable and cost effective neuroimaging technology that allows easy acquisition of large scale data and deep insights into brain physiology. Its primary advantage is its high temporal resolution. We develop novel tools to extract features of its rich temporal structure to better understand how the brain signal relates to cognitive and mental health outcomes.

Mental Health

Our work in mental health assessment has led to the development of a tool called the Mental Health Quotient or MHQ for the comprehensive assessment of mental wellbeing along a spectrum from clinical to thriving that is used in the Global Mind Project (previously the Mental Health Million Project). Our research focuses on using this data to understand clinical and normal mental phenotypes in the population, their corresponding physiological or EEG profiles as well as social determinants of mental health outcomes.

Cognitive Health

There are many aspects to cognition. We work on ways to measure and assess its elements across the life span in a way that that can extend across languages and cultures and be readily related to brain activity.
Our research focuses on understanding cognitive phenotypes, EEG predictors of cognitive health across the lifespan and social and environmental drivers of cognitive expansion.

Featured research

Characterizing Peaks In The EEG Power Spectrum
Parameshwaran and Thiagarajan, Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, June, 2019
Novel method to separately analyze the strength and fidelity of peaks in the power spectrum independent of the background decay that does not depend on the shape of the decay and curve fitting. Differences in Alpha Oscillations between eyes open and eyes closed assessed with this method are more consistent than other methods.
Characterizing Peaks In The EEG Power Spectrum