7 Billion Human Brains

How are they different? What does it mean?

The Human Brain Diversity Project

The goal of the human brain diversity project is to shed light on the diversity of our brain physiology, how it is influenced by environment and in turn, how it informs cognitive and mental health outcomes.

Towards this, the project will build an open database of 40,000 individuals across 4 countries and continents over the next five years consisting of EEG recordings along with extensive information about demographics, lifestyle, technology use, diet and cognitive and mental health aspects. The study will be stratified across the lifespan and sample from a range of settlements and ecosystems based on population, geographical environment and infrastructure that span as best possible the diversity of human experience. Learn more about the research behind it here.

Researchers in other countries and related fields can participate through our Neurolab program.

THE WHY OF THIS PROGRAM

Life experience is diverse, human brain activity is diverse too

Unlike any other organ, the brain constantly rewires itself across the lifespan in response to its sensory experiences, producing different behaviors at different ages. Furthermore, across the planet life experience is diverse and diverging more than ever in terms of income and access and use of resources, tools and technologies that alter the rate and nature of stimulus experience. This experience is reflected in the structure and activity of the human brain. Most of human brain research has been done in the United States and Europe on small samples (the median study size is around 60 people), typically college students. With 6 out of 7 billion people living outside of the US and Western Europe, and only 13% of adults being college educated, current research does not represent the vast majority of humanity. Give that the human brain is profoundly important for every social and economic outcome from education to jobs to ultimate human fate, it is imperative that we understand how its function is impacted by our diverse experiences and in particular, our diverging access to resources and technology.

A Focus On Eeg

A Focus On EEG

The Human Brain Diversity project focuses on EEG as its primary measure of brain activity on account of its many practical and scientific advantages. The EEG records electrical activity from the brain through noninvasive electrodes placed on the scalp and is a cost effective, portable technology with high temporal resolution. A major element of our research is the development of novel algorithms and automation of analysis and interpretation of the EEG signal at scale.

The Neurolab Program

The Neurolab program equips researchers in Asia, Africa and Latin America working with underrepresented human populations in adjacent fields such as public health, nutrition and education with the tools, equipment and tutorials to add EEG and brain assessments to their field research and contribute to the Human Brain Diversity Project. To be part of our Neurolab Program, fill in this form and send it to us at info@sapienlabs.org.

Image: Neurolab workshop at the University of Khartoum in Sudan

The Neurolab Program

Featured Research

Wealth, Modernization And The Alpha Oscillation In The EEG
Parameshwaran D and Thiagarajan TC, BioRXiv, 2019
Alpha oscillations in the EEG are often absent or very weak in people living in premodern conditions without modern technologies and formal secondary education.

Figure shows Alpha Energy (Ea) across each of 14 channels for all participants in the study ordered by the number of channels at which an oscillation was detected. Grey indicates a value less than 50 (no oscillation).

Wealth, Modernization And The Alpha Oscillation In The EEG
Complexity Of EEG Reflects Socioeconomic Context And Geofootprint
Parameshwaran D. and Thiagarajan TC, BioRxiv, 2017
A study across premodern to modern settlements in India shows that complexity of the EEG waveform scales systematically with income, education and geofootprint.

Figure shows Mean±SEM of Waveform Complexity for populations within each family income bin with logarithmic fit (R²=0.71). Open circles show average of random shuffling of Complexity values across the sample.

Complexity Of EEG Reflects Socioeconomic Context And Geofootprint

Events

EEG: Analytical Approaches and Applications

This virtual symposium will be held every other year and focuses on new tools and techniques in EEG. See more about our last event in 2019.

Inter-and Intra-person Variability in the Human Brain

This virtual symposium will be held every other year and focuses on variability in the brain within and across populations at various levels from structure to dynamics to function. See more about our last event in 2019.

Brain Diversity on Lab Talk