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Right or left? The hard hat will find out
Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra claim to have invented a hard hat brain monitor that can correctly decipher whether persons are in reality right or left brained.
Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra claim to have invented a hard hat brain monitor that can correctly decipher whether persons are in reality right or left brained.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Nicholas Cherbuin, a psychologist at the Australian National University has said that their hard hat, which looks like a conventional hard hat, is equipped with a built in thermometer that can gauge the brain’s temperature, and in the process help in deciphering whether the brain is right or left handed, as the side of the brain that begins to think heats up rapidly.
“The brain consumes a lot of energy, about 10 per cent of all our energy. When a person begins to concentrate on a task, the side of the brain that becomes active heats up. So to supply more energy, the flow of blood increases to that side of the head,” Cherbuin told the newspaper.
He added that by plugging the hard hat’s thermometer, into the ears of a test subject, it is possible to monitor which side of the brain is swinging into action as the person performs particular tasks.
He said that another possible use of the invention was to test people facing brain surgery, to determine what skills, such as language, are centred in the area to be operated on. This would allow doctors to inform the patients about the risks.
