Note: it's not "at least one," it's the ONLY student they tested long-term in situ.

I only skimmed it, but it looks like the EDA (electro-dermal activity) they were measuring was from a wearable wrist sensor, not an EEG of brain activity.

The student also "flatlines" when they've been watching TV (see days 4 and 7) and relaxing (days 3 and 7). So my working hypotheses is that the "flatline" thing isn't really a "flatline".

I had a much beloved professor who would lecture with two humming slide projectors, a completely dark room, and a monotone voice. It was impressively soporific, and unhelped by the fact that he would only have class around 3pm.

So, all I can say to this student is, I know your pain, have enough cash for an extra coffee, and remember that you'll never be asked about the Raphael readings because he'll spend the whole quarter on da Vinci.

Title is misleading (I would even go as far as to call it sensationalist). As someone already pointed out, this study is NOT measuring brain activity.

Electrodermal activity is also knows as Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and is used to measure stress and arousal, not brain activity. Think Lie Detector, not brain state.

Lisa -

Let me start by apologizing for the tone of the following post.  I realize it's antagonistic, but I'm not sure how else to present this....

Please be responsible in your posts to this blog.  Over and over again, I have students who bring "information" from this website to class.  Unfortunately, it's come to the point where I have now asked them to stop reading this blog.

You're doing a grave disservice to the discipline of sociology by framing these posts as in any way connected to the discipline.  As other have already commented, there are a number of issues (all of which have not been listed yet) with both the presentation of your "data" and the claims that you make.  

While there are MANY problems with this particular post, one of the most glaring is that you are presenting data from a sample of one.  This is the exact mode of thought that sociology professors battle in introductory and lower-level classes.  It's disappointing to see you implying conclusions and generalizations from a sample of one when we spend a great deal of energy trying to show our students that this is not how sociology operates as a discipline.  

This is not the first post to this blog that has been problematic.  I've seen a number of other posts that received rather critical comments regarding the claims that you make and the (lack of) data to support those claims.

Undergraduate students read these posts.  Please do not misrepresent our discipline by framing these as sociological insights.  You are completely entitled to your own opinion and reading of social issues.  My issue is not with the position you take on things, but the fact that you present these opinions and sensationalized writings as sociologically informed.  

As others have said, galvanic skin response (GSR) is ONLY a measure of sympathetic arousal (i.e., a state of acute stress) and has nothing to do with brain activity. Mental arithmetic and the Stroop task produced changes in GSR only because they stressed people performing them. I guarantee that if this student had been surprised by a question during class, there would be a significant change from baseline in the GSR record.

The device itself is pretty interesting, though.

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