Volunteers who will have their brainwaves measured are needed for a study into signs of mental illness.

A team of psychiatrists and psychologists in Scotland are ­pulling together the first project of its kind looking for early symptoms of psychosis.

They are seeking 100 people willing to have electrical activity in their brain recorded and report back on their mental wellbeing over the course of two years.

Participants will be asked to sit with their head in magnetoencephalography (MEG) equipment - described as resembling the large helmet-shaped hairdryers once popular in hair salons. This technology measures very small changes in magnetic fields and can therefore map how electrical signals are being sent in the brain.

Dr Peter Uhlhaas, a reader at Glasgow University's Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, explained the MEG machine could detect the kind of mental activity that occurs when someone is trying to remember an event or recall their best friend's phone number.

He said: "The brain is like a very complex orchestra that requires constant co-ordination so that it works as an ensemble. Looking at brain waves is a very good way of measuring this co-ordination."

Research has already shown that people who are suffering from psychosis - a serious mental health condition that can involve hallucinations, hearing voices, delusions and paranoia - have different brain wave patterns. Dr Uhlhaas said that in such patients "the brain is less organised; the conductor is not so in charge".

He believes it may be possible to detect disruption in the brainwaves of people who are likely to develop psychosis before they suffer severe symptoms.

The researchers are therefore looking for volunteers aged 16 to 35 who may have experienced mild problems such as low tolerance of stress, issues with their memory or interacting with other people, or feelings of suspiciousness.

Volunteers will be asked to undertake simple concentration exercises during their time using the MEG machine, such as observing changes to an image on a screen or listening to sounds and detecting a shift in pitch. Over the following two years they will be contacted regularly and asked about their mental wellbeing.

Dr Uhlhaas stressed the process was "completely safe" and did not interfere with the brain in anyway.He said: "The particular frequencies we're looking at play a key role in controlling cognitive and perceptual processes, which are seriously affected in those suffering from psychosis. By identifying shared characteristics in the brainwaves of those in the early stages of risk, we're hoping to find a specific 'fingerprint' which we can use to more easily identify people before they become seriously ill."

This, he said, could help predict who is likely to develop psychosis and should therefore be referred for particular treatment.

Dr Uhlhaas continued: "Getting insight into the causes of ­psychosis can also help the search for novel treatments. As a second objective, we could learn more about what actually causes psychosis and target it in a much better way. This is a big scientific and medical problem."

The project, costing £1 million, brings together researchers at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities and uses the only MEG equipment in Scotland, which is at Glasgow University.

Volunteers can find out more via the study's website at www.your-study.org.uk. Anyone who takes part will be offered access to mental health services if required at any stage during the study.