Helmet-mounted sensors reveal how brain learns new tasks

A project led by the University of Nottingham has uncovered new details of the brain activity associated with learning new tasks, a fundamental aspect of human behavior.

Published in Imaging Neuroscience the findings show the significance of beta activity, the electrical oscillations in the brain between 12 and 30 Hz, to this learning process and how beta dynamics change as a task becomes more familiar. The precise role played by beta activity in mediating complex or skilful movements has been incompletely understood to date, noted the team.

The study also further demonstrated the value of optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography or OPM-MEG, a way of measuring brain activity without the need for the large, complex and cryogenically cooled superconducting sensors previously involved. The Nottingham team were able to incorporate OPM-MEG into a wearable helmet worn by subjects.

OPM-MEG involves monitoring the transmission of laser light through a vapor of suitable atoms, whose quantum optical behavior is affected by their proximity to the tiny magnetic fields generated by brain activity. Applying a pump/probe laser combination allows these subtle changes to be detected and localized to precise areas of the brain.

"Because OPM-MEG offers the advantages of magnetoencephalography (high resolution, lower sensitivity to artefact from muscle) in a wearable form factor similar to EEG, this ostensibly provides the best platform for the investigation of beta dynamics during naturalistic motor learning tasks," wrote the project in its paper.

To help translate this technology into clinics the University of Nottingham spin-out Cerca Magnetics was founded in 2020, with the ultimate goal of bringing to market the world's first commercial, fully-integrated brain imaging device based on OPMs.

New understanding of brain function and health

In April 2026 Cerca Magnetics secured £3.8 million in Series A funding, and indicated that it had sold 19 research systems to neuroscience centres across twelve countries. The following July Cerca was awarded the 2026 SPIE Catalyst Award, a prize recognising for-profit companies making a significant positive workplace, environmental or societal impact.

For its new project the team analyzed what happens in the human brain when someone learns to play the violin. This first required the construction of a violin containing no metal parts. Twenty-two novice players then played the instrument while OPM-MEG data were recorded. After receiving some expert tuition, the group then played the violin again.

"If I am playing a violin, my brain will have an expectation of what sound it will make," commented Joe Gibson from the University of Nottingham. "If I play the expected note, my brain receives information that the outcome matched its prediction; if I hit an unexpected note, it receives information that it did not. In this experiment, we were able to measure these signals in real time while the instrument was being played."

The data showed that beta power in the motor and pre-motor areas of the brain was significantly elevated after the lesson compared to before, and the movement-related modulation of beta amplitude was more pronounced after the lesson. This suggests that beta amplitude should increase when individuals have greater certainty over the movements they carry out.

Matt Brookes, leader of OPM-MEG development at Nottingham and Chairman of Cerca Magnetics, noted that the violin-playing study took a combination of skills: the physics required to measure brain activity; design engineering to create an ergonomic scanner that people can wear; the mathematics required to model the signals; and the abilities of a violin maker and teacher.

"The results provide greater understanding of motor learning," said Brookes. "It's also fascinating that some of the effects that we measure here are among those that can be affected in disorders like dementia. Hopefully this type of study could bring about a new understanding of not just healthy brain function, but also disease."