Headset and Electrodes

The Headset

The NeuroPawn headset is a rigid EEG headset with electrode node positions based on the 10-10 international EEG system. Unlike soft or fabric headsets, the rigid frame maintains consistent electrode placement across sessions and subjects — no repositioning between uses.

The increased density of 10-10 node locations means you can quickly reconfigure which sites you record from to suit different experimental paradigms. Whether you’re targeting frontal, parietal, occipital, or temporal regions, the headset has a placement point for it without any modification.

Tip

The 10-10 system is a superset of the common 10-20 system. All standard 10-20 sites (Fp1, Fp2, F3, F4, Fz, Cz, Pz, O1, O2, etc.) are included.

Electrode Node Placement

Node positions on the headset follow the 10-10 electrode placement standard, where electrode locations are defined as percentages of the distance between skull landmarks. This standardised grid ensures your recordings are reproducible and comparable with published literature.

The increased number of sites relative to the 10-20 system makes it straightforward to set up a wide variety of recording paradigms — from a simple two-channel frontal setup to full-coverage multi-channel montages — using the same headset.

Accessory thread

Electrodes and custom accessories use a fully modeled M16×2, class 6g, right-hand ISO metric external thread. The headset’s node inserts contain the mating internal geometry: they are made from the negative of this thread profile, allowing an M16×2 accessory to screw into the node.

Spike Electrodes

The dry spike electrode is designed for recording through hair without conductive gel. The spike tip parts the hair and makes direct contact with the scalp when tightened into the headset node.

Key properties:

• Constant pressure contact — the threaded mount applies consistent downward force on the scalp as the electrode is tightened, maintaining impedance over time without manual adjustment.
• Swivel joint — each electrode swivels freely in its mount, allowing the spike tip to self-align with the scalp surface regardless of the local curvature or hair parting angle.

Note

Spike electrodes can also be used with conductive paste or gel for lower impedance. If you apply paste or gel, reduce the channel gain to prevent the amplified input from saturating — see Gain and Paste / Gel below.

Comfort Electrodes

Comfort electrodes are balancing nodes designed to stabilise the headset on the head. They have foam pads on the end rather than electrode tips, so they do not record signal — their purpose is to distribute the headset’s weight evenly and keep the frame seated securely during a session.

Gold Cup Electrodes

Gold cup electrodes are traditional wet electrodes for high-quality, low-noise recordings. They are used with conductive paste or gel applied inside the cup, which is then pressed against the scalp or skin.

Gold cups are well suited to research-grade EEG, ECG, and EMG where signal quality is the priority over setup speed.

Caution

Gold cup electrodes require conductive paste or gel to function. See Gain and Paste / Gel below for how to adjust settings when using wet electrodes.

Gain and Paste / Gel

Both spike and gold cup electrodes can be used with conductive paste or gel. Paste and gel lower electrode impedance, which increases the signal amplitude reaching the amplifier inputs.

If you apply paste or gel and leave the channel gain at the default of 12, the higher signal amplitude can saturate the ADC input — the channel will rail and you will see a flat or clipped trace instead of a clean EEG signal.

To avoid saturation when using paste or gel:

1. Lower the per-channel gain before enabling the channel. Recommended starting values are 4 or 6 — adjust up or down based on your signal levels.
2. Send the gain command via BrainFlow before or alongside the channel-on command:

board.config_board("chon_1_4")   # enable channel 1 at gain 4
board.config_board("rldadd_1")

See the Command Set page for the full list of allowed gain values.