And he also knows, depending upon the person, how to tighten them back into place. When you consider that Texas has the largest prison system in the nation, just helping that first 20 percent could have a tremendous impact, to enable a person to be capable of adjusting in society. It is the first two categories that Barratt can define and hopefully defuse. To see what's happening inside the brains he studies, Barratt begins with a nylon shower cap laced with about 30 electrodes. Those electrical patterns are translated into a four-color mental map.
Neutral waves are green and yellow.
The lowest levels of brain activity show up as blue. To make brains produce these colors, Barratt's stimulus is elementary. If A appears, an inmate presses one key. If B appears, he presses another. It shows, clearly, that the brains in these two groups are not functioning as efficiently as the control group.