Can a Neurofeedback Device Enhance Your Mind? Hands-On with the Neurosity Crown

Important updates below
I talk a lot about psychotechnologies - the cognitive tools we can use to dramatically enhance our minds and lives. But what about “neurotechnologies?” Can we use physical devices to improve our minds, or are these tools just a gimmick?
After quite a bit of research, I recently got my first neurofeedback device, the Neurosity Crown. And today I’m going to be doing things a bit differently - doing an unboxing and walkthrough of the technology, and sharing some of my thoughts on its potential to enhance one’s psychitectural journey.
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Updates:
Since filming this video, I've had conversations with both Neurosity founder AJ Keller, and Jeff Moore, COO of Divergence, a platform that allows clinicians and coaches to work with neurofeedback clients. Here are some of the things I learned:
1. Following my suggestion, Neurosity has opened up "Tests" and "Datasets" tabs in the console for all users, which were previously reserved for researchers only. These sections enable a lot of the more complex functionality that could result in deeper psychological insights and optimization, though they may be too advanced for some users.
2. A surprisingly large challenge of a device like this is ensuring that users are using and positioning the device correctly. This is where a platform like Divergence can be useful, as it allows a trained coach or clinician to work with users and ensure they are following the right steps and optimizing the right types of brain activity.
3. A lot of important info on proper use of the device is found in the emails Neurosity sends new customers, which are easy to ignore. While I think as much of this communication as possible should be baked into the software, the emails are a great resource that answer some of my questions (like the fact that you should focus on your work instead of just the music in the Focus function).
4. The NeuroAdaptive audio is different from other neurotech systems, and is arguably fundamentally distinct from neurofeedback. Instead of training you to maximize optimal brain states, it trains its AI to deliver the music that will maximize optimal brain states. I would be eager to see data showing whether one approach is better than the other.
- Read the full transcript:
designingthemind.org/blog/neurofeedback
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- Join the community of psychitects: designingthemind.org
- Neurosity Crown affiliate link (free shipping with coupon code DTM): neurosity.co/dtm

[@danielstefan5716]

I received my crone 3 weeks ago and so far I am very satisfied. However, what you say is true and I suggested it a few days ago on DC that it would be better if the music was louder or quieter depending on the focus. I have been meditating for several years but unfortunately I have not been able to get into a calm state with crone.

[@ajkeller2843]

Which meditation are you using?

[@danielstefan5716]

@@ajkeller2843 I have tried all kinds of meditation, body scan and breath with different voices and music only in different ways by concentrating only on the music and then I have incorporated different variations of my own meditation techniques but no matter what I have tried it always only works between 50 and 60%. Only once was the maximum 65% and once, in my opinion a technical problem, I was between 80 and 100% for the first 4 minutes, then an abrupt drop to 20% and for the next 6 minutes always between 20 and 40%

[@tlgtlg9072]

How does this compare to muse? I believe muse takes a baseline reading before meditation and if you’re better than baseline you hear birds and calm noise.

[@DesigningtheMind]

While I haven't used the Muse yet, the app functions seem to be pretty similar, although it has a sleep function in the place of Neurosity's focus function. The meditation does play different soundscapes, and I believe it aims to use the volume of noise to give you feedback on your relaxation, rather than to deliver the optimal music for relaxation. On the hardware side, I think the Crown is much stronger, as it has full brain coverage and an on-board CPU. It also has a more comprehensive data console and more technological capabilities for developers. But I plan on trying it out in a few months!

[@shanna-007]

I'm very concerned about the ability of humans to use technology like this in a restrained manner - maybe not every country or every government will inappropriately use something like this, but even just a few people (like cult leaders) using this type of technology unethically can cause great harm. The same can be said for almost any new and powerful technology, I understand. Also, the last 17 minutes of this video is empty / blank for me - am I missing half of the video or was that intentional and I don't get the reason?