Brain Patterns Predicting Mistakes

Researchers have spotted a change in the brain patterns that occurs approximately 30 seconds before individuals are prone to making a mistake. The change appears to occur when the person goes into ‘autopilot’ on tasks that have become monotonous. Because of the advanced prediction, there is a hope that a device can be developed that can monitor the brain patterns of individuals making crucial decisions and can warn them if they are entering the ‘rest mode’. They say monotonous jobs like passport and immigration control where focus is hard to maintain would be perfect for such a device. The problem comes with the fact that the results were obtained while patients were monitored with a functional MRI, which are large and currently there is not a portable, lightweight EEG device available. Additionally, if such a device is developed they would still need to test and insure such a device would be able to pick up on the changes in brain activity. Also they are not sure that the brain changes are a causal link to the mistakes.
I found this article interesting because it highlights the need for advancements in the area of instrumentation. A biomedical engineer could definitely be instrumental in making such a potentially helpful device possible. It also shows how research can be translated into the development of novel devices. The fact repetitive, boring tasks could be linked to making mistakes is also interesting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7358863.stm