In her doctoral dissertation, MSc Matin Beiram Vand investigates whether wearable EEG headsets equipped with only a few sensors placed on the forehead can be used to monitor mental states such as mental workload, flow and fatigue. Across five studies involving recordings from five consumer-grade EEG headsets, the research demonstrates that these states can be detected without complex multi-sensor systems. The findings also show that combining brain activity data with information on eye blinks improves the detection of fatigue. By reducing both hardware and computational requirements, the study brings brain-monitoring technology closer to practical applications outside laboratory settings. In the future, these methods could support people in monitoring their mental workload and engagement in work and learning environments, helping to better align task demands with individual capacity. This may facilitate conditions that promote flow, enhance performance and reduce fatigue-related errors.
The doctoral dissertation titled Prefrontal EEG Frameworks for Real-Life Cognitive State Monitoring by MSc Matin Beiram Vand will be publicly examined in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University on 20 November 2026. The dissertation is in the field of biomedical signal processing and machine learning.
The Opponent will be Professor Tommi Kärkkäinen from University of Jyväskylä. The Custos will be Professor Tarmo Lipping from the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.