What If the Laboratory Could Follow Life as It Happens?
What If the Laboratory Could Follow Life as It Happens?
Imagine observing someone's brain activity while they learn, talk, walk, or play a musical instrument, without having to continuously interrupt the experience to measure it. What if some of the answers we are looking for were already unfolding between the brain, the body, and the environment?
BrainLatam Special Series | 8th Symposium on Neuroscience and Cognition at UFABC — 2026
LIFE DOES NOT WAIT FOR THE EXPERIMENT
Imagine a child crossing the schoolyard.
She recognizes a classmate, quickens her steps, and starts a conversation.
An unexpected sound shifts her attention.
Another child approaches. A game begins.
Within a few seconds, movements, decisions, and relationships have unfolded that may never happen in exactly the same way again.
How could we investigate brain activity during that experience?
For decades, much of human neuroscience has relied on carefully controlled tasks, often performed with participants sitting still.
These methods have produced fundamental discoveries.
But questions remain about what happens when we can walk, talk, choose, and act with other people.
The 8th Symposium on Neuroscience and Cognition at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), scheduled for November 16–19, 2026, proposes investigating the brain in context.
An important part of this investigation already has a history at the university itself.
UFABC HAS ALREADY TAKEN FNIRS INTO EVERYDAY LIFE
In 2017, Joana Bisol Balardin, Guilherme Augusto Zimeo Morais, João Ricardo Sato, and colleagues published a study on functional neuroimaging in environments allowing greater freedom of movement.
Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, or fNIRS, they demonstrated the feasibility of recording cerebral hemodynamic signals in four situations.
An athlete played table tennis.
A pianist performed passages with different rhythmic demands.
Two violinists played simultaneously.
Another experiment involved continuous monitoring during everyday activities.
These experiments were feasibility demonstrations involving very small samples.
Nevertheless, they showed that brain research could accompany activities that are difficult to reproduce under conventional conditions of immobility.
The brain being investigated remained engaged in an experience involving movement.
This did not eliminate methodological difficulties.
It created new opportunities to investigate them.
WHEN TWO VIOLINISTS PLAY TOGETHER
Imagine two musicians performing different parts of a composition.
Each must attend to their own instrument, recognize temporal changes, and adjust their performance.
In one of the 2017 demonstrations, researchers simultaneously recorded fNIRS signals from both violinists.
They found correlations between hemodynamic signals from certain cortical regions during the performance.
This procedure belongs to the field known as hyperscanning: the simultaneous recording of brain activity from different participants.
But correlations between signals do not mean that the musicians had identical thoughts.
Nor do they demonstrate shared consciousness.
Both musicians respond to the music, movements, and shared conditions of the activity.
These factors must be considered when interpreting the findings.
Collective coordination is a phenomenon that can be investigated, but it cannot be reduced to similarities between two brain signals.
FROM THE LABORATORY TO THE CLASSROOM
In 2018, Guilherme Brockington, Joana Balardin, Guilherme Zimeo Morais, Roberto Lent, João Ricardo Sato, and colleagues published another important study.
Its title directly expressed the challenge: From the Laboratory to the Classroom.
The authors conducted three demonstrations bringing fNIRS closer to educational settings.
In the first, a teacher and a four-year-old child participated in a counting game.
In the second, four university students were monitored simultaneously during an introductory lecture on epigenetics.
In the third, a ten-year-old student attended an astronomy lesson while wearing fNIRS equipment and mobile eye-tracking glasses.
The objective was not to demonstrate that learning could be fully measured through cortical oxygenation.
It was to investigate the feasibility of recording neurophysiological processes during situations resembling educational routines.
UFABC was already helping transform the very question of where neuroscience could take place.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A CLASS?
In the demonstration involving four university students, researchers monitored hemodynamic signals during approximately half an hour of teaching, divided into blocks.
Correlations between the students' signals were statistically significant in the first block, decreasing in subsequent blocks.
The authors discussed possible relationships with attention and engagement.
But that result does not establish that students learned more at the beginning.
The correlations may also depend on shared stimuli and other variables.
The study was a proof of concept, not a comprehensive assessment of teaching effectiveness.
Nevertheless, it opened relevant questions.
How do different students follow an explanation?
What happens when someone asks a question, disagrees, or changes strategy?
And how much of what we measure also depends on the conditions under which the class takes place?
FNIRS AND EEG OBSERVE DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS
fNIRS uses near-infrared light to estimate changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin in cortical regions accessible to measurement.
It does not directly record neuronal electrical impulses.
EEG, in turn, records electrical potential differences on the scalp associated with the activity of neuronal populations.
The two techniques provide complementary information.
Wearable equipment expands opportunities to investigate movement and interaction.
But it also introduces challenges.
Movement can alter sensor contact.
Muscle activity can contaminate electrical signals.
Changes in superficial circulation can interfere with optical recordings.
Therefore, bringing neuroimaging closer to everyday life requires appropriate control and analysis methods.
Greater freedom of movement must be accompanied by greater attention to measurement conditions.
THE HEART AND BREATHING ALSO PARTICIPATE
Return to the schoolyard.
The child runs.
Her heart rate increases.
Breathing responds to the demands of movement.
Later, she sits down and begins a conversation.
Her organism continues adjusting its physiological conditions.
Allostasis offers a perspective for investigating these adjustments in response to present and anticipated demands.
Latin American researchers, including Joaquín Migeot and Agustín Ibáñez, have examined relationships between allostatic processes, developmental trajectories, and social conditions.
Combining EEG, fNIRS, ECG, and respiratory measurements can expand our observation of these relationships.
But an elevated heart rate does not, by itself, demonstrate fear.
And physiological synchronization does not demonstrate conscious belonging.
Signals must be interpreted in relation to movement, the task, and each participant's experience.
THE LABORATORY IS ALSO AN ENVIRONMENT
Imagine two volunteers entering the same laboratory.
One knows the equipment and feels curious.
The other has endured a tiring journey and encounters unfamiliar procedures.
Both receive identical instructions.
But their bodily conditions may differ.
At BrainLatam, we propose understanding each participant as a Body-Territory (Corpo-Território): an indivisible unit of existence, sensitivity, and participation in the world.
Metaphorically, we can consider the laboratory an Artificial Biome, constituted by material, sensory, technological, and social relationships.
This does not replace the ecological definition of a biome.
Nor does it mean that every laboratory produces stress.
Experimental standardization remains essential.
But one question remains:
Can a protocol be identical for everyone while the experience of participating in it differs from person to person?
NEUROARCHITECTURE ALSO ENTERS THE EXPERIMENT
Imagine a collaborative activity taking place in two classrooms.
One has considerable background noise and fixed furniture.
The other offers different acoustic conditions and rearrangeable tables.
How do these characteristics participate in communication, movement, and learning?
We cannot assume that one configuration benefits every participant.
Each Body-Territory has distinct needs and experiences.
Neuroarchitecture allows us to investigate how built environments offer opportunities for action or impose barriers.
This includes lighting, ventilation, accessibility, circulation, and even functional sanitary facilities.
The environment does not determine performance on its own.
But it participates in the conditions under which abilities can be expressed.
An experience never takes place in a space devoid of relationships.
WHEN TECHNOLOGY CHANGES THE EXPERIENCE
Installing sensors can also change participants' behavior.
A child may become curious.
Another may move more cautiously.
An adult may worry about their performance.
Therefore, following life without interrupting it is a methodological goal, not an absolute promise.
We need to investigate familiarization, comfort, and the possible effects of equipment.
It is also necessary to distinguish physiological changes from artifacts in the signals.
Videos and observations can help contextualize recordings while respecting consent, privacy, and data protection.
Recording more variables does not guarantee a better understanding of what happened.
Each instrument must address a clearly formulated question.
TECHNOLOGY FOR INVESTIGATING RELATIONSHIPS
In October 2026, Paulo Barraza and Igor Parra proposed understanding teaching as recurring coordination that preserves and transforms cultural practices.
This perspective connects with the educational experiences investigated at UFABC.
We can record different participants as they learn together.
But we must also observe gestures, language, disagreements, and opportunities for participation.
At BrainLatam, we use Jiwasa to propose shared agency that preserves each participant's uniqueness.
Brain synchronization does not directly measure this agency.
However, we can develop protocols investigating relationships between physiological coordination, behavior, and the ability to transform collective strategies.
Neurotechnology provides instruments for formulating these questions.
The answers depend on carefully designed experiments.
WHAT NEW QUESTIONS CAN WE ASK?
BrainLatam connects researchers with technologies from Artinis & NIRx for fNIRS and Brain Products for EEG.
Different configurations make it possible to investigate individuals and collectives according to scientific needs.
But equipment remains a set of instruments.
UFABC's contributions, documented since 2017, show that expanding research contexts is also an achievement of Brazilian science.
Now we can ask how to better integrate the brain, circulation, breathing, movement, architecture, and relationships.
Not to replace the controlled laboratory.
But to compare its discoveries with what happens in other environments.
WHAT IF THE NEXT DISCOVERY IS ALREADY HAPPENING?
Return to the child in the schoolyard.
She continues talking.
A classmate approaches.
A question transforms the game.
Perhaps no researcher anticipated that event.
Mobile neurotechnologies allow our measurements to move closer to these experiences.
But life continues producing more relationships than any instrument can record.
Science can preserve its methods while expanding its questions.
If the brain has never been alone, what might we discover when we can also follow Body-Territories, environments, and encounters as life unfolds?
Jiwasa: the possibility of Being many without anyone having to cease Being.
About This Series
This article is part of a special series by BrainLatam, a sponsor of the 8th Symposium on Neuroscience and Cognition at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), scheduled for November 16–19, 2026, in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil.
We especially recognize the scientific contributions of João Ricardo Sato, Guilherme Brockington, Guilherme Augusto Zimeo Morais, and their colleagues to fNIRS research in naturalistic and educational settings.
The article also engages with topics announced by André Fujita and Leonardo Santana Novaes, connecting the brain, body, behavior, and multimodal technologies.
BrainLatam's conceptual interpretations do not necessarily represent the positions of these researchers or the event organizers.
Official event website: https://www.even3.com.br/viii-simposio-em-neurociencia-e-cognicao-da-universidade-federal-do-abc-761401/
References — A Second Reading of the Article
1. Researchers associated with UFABC have already demonstrated the feasibility of recording brain signals during sports, music, and everyday activities.
Balardin, J. B.; Zimeo Morais, G. A.; Furucho, R. A.; Trambaiolli, L.; Vanzella, P.; Biazoli Jr., C.; Sato, J. R. (2017). Imaging Brain Function with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Unconstrained Environments. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 258.
The study presents demonstrations involving table tennis, piano performance, a violin duet, and continuous monitoring, using fNIRS in situations allowing greater freedom of movement.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00258
2. Neuroimaging can accompany teacher–student interactions and classroom activities without reducing learning to a brain measurement.
Brockington, G.; Balardin, J. B.; Zimeo Morais, G. A.; Malheiros, A.; Lent, R.; Moura, L. M.; Sato, J. R. (2018). From the Laboratory to the Classroom: The Potential of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Educational Neuroscience. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1840.
The paper presents three proofs of concept: an educational interaction, simultaneous monitoring of university students during a lecture, and fNIRS combined with eye-tracking in a school student.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01840
3. Brain recordings during real-world activities expand scientific possibilities while introducing methodological and interpretative challenges.
Stangl, M.; Maoz, S. L.; Suthana, N. (2023). Mobile cognition: imaging the human brain in the 'real world'. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 24, 347–362.
The review discusses mobile neuroimaging methods and the challenges of investigating cognitive processes during everyday behavior.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00692-y
4. Mobile fNIRS makes it possible to investigate hemodynamic responses during naturalistic tasks while accounting for limits in depth, coverage, and signal quality.
Soekadar, S. R.; Scholkmann, F.; Yücel, M. A.; Pinti, P.; Noah, J. A.; von Lühmann, A. (2025). Editorial: Advances in mobile optical brain activity monitoring. Frontiers in Neuroergonomics, 6, 1568619.
The editorial presents technological advances and perspectives for optical neuroimaging applications involving movement.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnrgo.2025.1568619
5. Allostasis helps investigate how different organisms adjust their physiological conditions in response to environmental and social demands.
Migeot, J.; Panesso, C.; Duran-Aniotz, C. et al. (2024). Allostasis, health, and development in Latin America. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 162, 105697.
This Latin American review connects physiological adaptation, social conditions, and developmental trajectories.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105697
6. Collective learning can be investigated as a process of preserving and transforming coordination between people.
Barraza, P.; Parra, I. (2026). The evolution of shared worlds: teaching and the origins of cumulative culture. Frontiers in Education, 11.
The theoretical article proposes understanding teaching as a specialized organization of relational practices extending across generations.
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1977228
7. Cooperation may involve measurable neural coordination without demonstrating identical experiences or collective consciousness.
Leiva-Cisterna, I.; Barraza, P.; Rodríguez, E.; Dumas, G. (2025). Sensory multi-brain stimulation enhances dyadic cooperative behavior. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 20(1), nsaf104.
The study investigates relationships between rhythmic sensory stimulation, interbrain coupling, and cooperative behavior under specific experimental conditions.
https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf104
8. Built environments participate in opportunities for action, movement, and interaction among different Body-Territories.
Cionek, J. (2026). O espaço também participa do Nós — quando a arquitetura permite Ser [Space Also Participates in Us — When Architecture Allows Us to Be]. BrainLatam.
The essay develops an original perspective on relational neuroarchitecture, accessibility, environments, and collective participation.
https://brainlatam.com/blog/o-espaco-tambem-participa-do-nos-quando-a-arquitetura-permite-ser-8778
9. Combining neural, bodily, and behavioral recordings requires consideration of the particular conditions of each experimental environment.
Reviewing digital collaborative interactions with multimodal hyperscanning through an ever-growing database. (2026). Frontiers in Neuroergonomics.
The review examines collaborative hyperscanning studies and identifies opportunities to improve the integration of techniques and experimental designs.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnrgo.2026.1756956
10. Studying the brain in context can expand scientific questions through dialogue among different techniques, organisms, and environments.
UFABC (2026). 8th Symposium on Neuroscience and Cognition — The Brain in Context: Contemporary Challenges in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience.
The event provides opportunities to connect neuroscience, behavior, the body, the environment, and research technologies.
Scientific and conceptual note: Body-Territory, 5D Consciousness, Jiwasa, and the interpretation of the laboratory as an Artificial Biome are original formulations or conceptual extensions developed by BrainLatam. EEG, fNIRS, and autonomic recordings measure different dimensions of brain and bodily activity. None of these techniques directly demonstrates shared consciousness, belonging, or collective autonomy. The 2017 and 2018 studies are feasibility demonstrations and do not establish universal conclusions about learning, performance, or behavior.
BRAINLATAM · W45/2026 · BLOG 08 · ENGLISH EDITION
