Is it normal for the colored indicators on the horseshoe to go in and out?

[Land]

Pretty much the title - I just bought a Muse 2 along with the Mind Monitor app here. The black indicator is always on and most of the colored sensor indicators are solid, but one or two of them will often go out and then come back on.

I've tried cleaning the sensors, and I played around with the fit (I even tried it to the point where it was so tight it was uncomfortable). Is it relatively normal for it to do that, or are there other things I need to try?

[James]

No. They should stay on. If they're blinking out then you're not getting good skin contact.

[Land]

Hmm. Thank you! Could it just be that I was picking up my head or moving a little to actually look at the screen to check it? I uploaded an 18 minute session to graph it and (to my completely untrained eye) I don't see any issues. There are some blank rows in the actual CSV where I blinked or jaw clenched but all the others have data in them in every cell

[James]

Switch over to the RAW EEG view; This one - https://mind-monitor.com/img/mm-screen-3.jpg

What you want to get here are thin crisp lines, with large spikes when you blink or move your eyes quickly.

In the example picture here you can see how TP9 is more "fuzzy" than the rest, this means the connection is not so good. It's ok, but it could be better!

Interaxon advertise the Muse as having dry sensors, but in reality they still rely on a thin film of sweat to conduct the electric signal from your skin. To help with the connection I would recommend that you dip your finger in some clean water, then rub the sensors before putting it on. After about a minute the water will have evaporated, and the sweat connection will be in place. It also helps to gently scrub your skin clean before putting on the Muse, to get the best connection. Dry skin flakes, makeup/foundation or dirt will block the signal. Also tie back your hair to make sure the ear connections are not blocked.

[Land]

Screenshot_20210904-230143_Mind Monitorsm2.jpg (54.95 KiB) Viewed 3139 times

That was the closest I could get it. Tried the water thing and made sure my skin was clean. TP9 and TP10 don't look great but the more I fiddled with it the worse it seemed to get. After about ten minutes of fiddling with the fit I managed to get it back down to what it looked like in that screenshot. Does the choppy line mean the readings aren't accurate?

I've done two sessions now (the first one before I looked at the raw data). I did both with three sets of the Wim Hof breathing exercise because I've heard it's supposed to help put you in a relaxed state, and I was curious how it affected brain waves. I think it would account for the three raises and dips in the graph. (The first time I was anxious to see the results so I didn't relax very long afterwards ).

wimhofthree18.png (137.14 KiB) Viewed 3139 times

wimhofthree23.png (141.54 KiB) Viewed 3139 times

[James]

That's good. You've got a little noise on TP9, but it's fine

If you want to see what difference TP9 makes to your results, you can always uncheck TP9 and see what the chart looks like with and without it. I suspect it will make little overall difference.

[Land]

Thank you so much!

[quarinteen]

They do on mine as well.