How do we study such a complicated and intricate system as the human body? For a long time, scientists have focused on breaking down the complex processes of the human body and mind into smaller, more manageable parts to study them individually. This method, known as reductionism, has helped us understand individual systems in the body, like how the heart pumps blood or how the brain processes information. However, this approach leaves out the bigger picture of how these systems interact with each other over time and space.
Another approach, called the multimodal framework, views the human body as a complex, interconnected system. It sees the mind as an activity of the entire living being, integrating the brain with the body’s everyday functions. While reductionism helps us understand individual parts, multimodal research helps us see how these parts work together, providing a better overall picture of human health.
In particular, the connection between the brain and the heart is becoming a hot topic because it could help us better understand the mind-body connection and ultimately improve our health and well-being. Studying this brain-heart connection used to be more difficult because we needed to use advanced and expensive methods, like neuroimaging, which are usually limited to laboratory settings. Luckily, more accessible and portable tools now exist to measure body metrics – especially with the rise of wearable devices – in various settings and over longer periods. These metrics include:
- Electrocardiography (ECG), which measures the electrical signals produced by each heartbeat using electrodes placed on the skin, typically on the chest or arms.
- Photoplethysmography (PPG), which measures blood volume changes in microvascular tissues using a light source and a photodetector, commonly placed on a fingertip, wrist, or forehead.
- Electroencephalography (EEG), which records the electrical activity of the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp.
Since it can be difficult to analyze these different types of data together because of a lack of guidelines, standardized tools, and easy-to-use software, we created the BrainBeats toolbox to make it easier to study and elucidate the connection between the brain and the heart.
How does BrainBeats work?
The BrainBeats toolbox is a free add-on for EEG processing software EEGLAB and it aims to make research on the brain-heart connection easier and more reliable by integrating EEG, ECG, and PPG signals, opening up new possibilities for research.
While many tools process brain and heart signals separately, BrainBeats stands out by offering advanced, user-friendly methods for analyzing these interactions together, something that was previously difficult or impossible to do. It is free to use, allows customization, and includes validated algorithms. In our new paper, we provide a detailed tutorial on using its main features:
Heartbeat-Evoked Potentials (HEP): This method looks at how the brain responds to heartbeats, which can change depending on what we’re focusing on – whether it’s something happening inside our body (interoceptive attention) or something happening in the outside world (exteroceptive attention). In fact, a recent study even showed that the brain’s response to heartbeats is also affected by how we interpret these signals based on our beliefs about our body and the environment. We can use this type of analysis to answer questions like whether your performance on a remote viewing task improves when your heartbeat happens just before the image appears, or afterward. This method is particularly useful for researching topics like breathing, body awareness, and meditation which aim to harmonize the mind and body. HEPs offer a way to measure this interaction scientifically. They can show how these practices influence the brain’s processing of bodily signals, helping to understand the mechanisms behind their benefits.
Feature Space Analysis: This approach examines changes in brain and heart signals before and after interventions, such as wellness or noetic practices, to identify and isolate the most significant features or patterns. For example, how does an energy healing intervention affect heart and brain activity? Or, how do brain and heart activity relate to overall well-being, as we studied in this paper. Also, these combined brain and heart patterns can be used to build predictive machine learning models. For example, in an experiment where we are studying presentiment (where a person experiences a sense or feeling about a future event before it happen) or intuition, we could use heart and brain data from before a trial to predict whether the participant will make a correct or incorrect guess, such as was done in this experiment. This application hasn’t been fully explored yet and is especially exciting.
Brain-Heart Coherence: This method looks at how much the brain and heart’s activities are in sync. Brain-heart coherence is crucial because it promotes stress reduction, mental clarity, and overall physical health. When the brain and heart synchronize, it can foster a sense of calm and well-being, as well as enhance cognitive functions like focus, decision-making, and emotional regulation. It also correlates with better immune function and lower risk of heart disease. A recent study showed that various breathing patterns differently affect how synchronized the brain and heart rhythms become. This type of analysis can also help us understand how brain and heart interactions might change during different states of consciousness, such as during meditation or trance channeling. This feature provides insights into whether the brain influences the heart, the heart influences the brain, or if other factors are involved – providing a truly comprehensive view of the human as an interconnected network.
Brain-Heart Connections Made Clear
In summary, the BrainBeats toolbox is a groundbreaking tool that simplifies the study of brain-heart interactions, contributing to our holistic view of how these systems integrate and affect overall health and well-being. Understanding the connection between the brain and heart has become increasingly important because it elucidates the brain’s response to internal bodily signals and shows how deeply connected our mental and physical health can be.
By enabling detailed brain-heart analysis, BrainBeats not only enhances scientific understanding but also has the potential to support personalized approaches tailored to individual responses, enabling the creation of unique profiles based on individual makeup. In the future, this capability can identify optimal spiritual, noetic, and health practices tailored to each person’s specific needs and physiological responses.
This toolbox represents a significant step forward in unraveling the complexities of the mind-body connection and promoting better health outcomes through integrated research and technology.
Read more about this study and the results in the paper “BrainBeats as an Open-Source EEGLAB Plugin to Jointly Analyze EEG and Cardiovascular Signals” published in Journal of Visualized Experiments.
