Decoding human emotion remains one of technology’s great challenges. The ENAKD project shows how far EEG can go when combined with artificial intelligence: translating brain activity, in real time, into images and poetry.
What is the ENAKD project?
ENAKD — short for Emotionally, Electronically Naked— is a collaboration between Neuroelectrics and Starlab. At its core sits the Enobio system, a wireless EEG that records the brain’s electrical activity to measure two key emotional parameters: valence and arousal.
Valence describes the character of the emotion, from pleasant to unpleasant; arousal measures the level of alertness. Both parameters are plotted on the circumplex model of emotion, which pinpoints a person’s emotional state.
01The science behind ENAKD
At its foundation, ENAKD turns neural signals into emotional data. The Enobio device captures the brain’s electrical activity, and from that raw EEG signal it identifies the patterns matching different emotional states.
Valence and arousal are the core of that analysis: the first reflects the range of the emotion — from positive to negative — and the second its intensity. Plotting both onto the circumplex model produces a detailed emotional profile of the user, a reading that is especially valuable for anyone researching how the brain responds to different stimuli.
02From data to artistic expression
Once the emotional parameters are established, the ExperienceLab platform turns that data into art. Algorithms categorize the emotions and generate emotional labels that the AI interprets to produce images and haiku reflecting the person’s emotional state. The whole process happens in seconds, creating an interactive and immersive experience.
This pairing of neuroscience and AI does more than show EEG’s potential: it offers an unprecedented medium for self-expression. Users can see and read their emotions translated by neural and AI technologies, a new way to understand their own emotional response.
Here is the process in action:
03ENAKD at Sónar+D
Sónar+D, held every year in Barcelona, is a festival devoted to the intersection of music, creativity and technology. ENAKD was presented there, letting visitors watch their own brain activity turn into visual art and poetry. The enthusiastic response confirmed the potential of bringing together neuroscience, AI and artistic expression.
Building on that success, the project returned to Sónar+D in 2024, this time working with artists Teo Ruffini and Nina Emocional to add new experiences.
Why this matters to us at Databrain
At Databrain we work with the same family of EEG technology — the Enobio system — to measure how the brain responds to real stimuli. Valence and arousal, the two axes ENAKD takes into the realm of art, are exactly the dimensions neuromarketing research uses to understand what a person feels in front of a brand, an ad, a package or an experience.
Where ENAKD turns that reading into images and haiku, we turn it into evidence for decisions: measuring the consumer’s real emotion, not what they say they feel, is the same idea applied to a different end.
Glossary
- Valence
- The character of an emotion, from pleasant to unpleasant (positive to negative).
- Arousal
- The level of alertness or intensity of an emotion.
- Circumplex model of emotion
- A model that organizes emotions along two axes — valence and arousal — and places any emotional state as a point on that plane.
- EEG
- Electroencephalography: a recording of the brain’s electrical activity.
Let’s measure real emotion in your next study
At the Databrain Lab we apply EEG and research-grade biosensors to measure attention, arousal and emotional response, in the lab and in the field.
Request a studyFrequently asked questions
What is the ENAKD project?
ENAKD (Emotionally, Electronically Naked) is a collaboration between Neuroelectrics and Starlab that uses EEG — the Enobio system — to measure valence and arousal and translate a person’s emotional state into AI-generated images and haiku, in real time.
What does EEG measure to identify an emotion?
Two parameters: valence (from pleasant to unpleasant) and arousal (the level of alertness). Crossed on the circumplex model of emotion, they locate a specific emotional state.
What is the circumplex model of emotion?
A model that organizes emotions along two axes — valence and arousal — and represents any emotional state as a point within that plane.
Adapted and translated into English, with a Latin American focus, from the article “ENAKD: Decoding Human Emotions” published by Neuroelectrics.
