1. An optical electrode device, comprising: a) a carrier; b) a plurality of electrodes supported on the carrier, at least one of which is a recording electrode configured to sense electrical signals from tissue, wherein the recording electrode comprises: i) an electrically conductive material selected from the group consisting of gold, platinum, iridium, platinum-iridium, titanium nitride, and iridium oxide; and ii) a roughened external material having a back side attached to the electrically conductive material to thereby provide the recording electrode with a roughened external surface forming a front side of the roughened external material, wherein the roughened external material is selected from the group consisting of PEDOT/PSS (poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene)/poly(styrene sulfonate), iridium oxide, glass nanospheres, glass microspheres, poly-styrene nanospheres, and poly-styrene microspheres, and iii) wherein the roughened external surface of the recording electrode has an average roughness as an arithmetic average of absolute values of a series of maximum and minimum vertical height measurements in nm on the roughened external surface that is greater than 10 nm; and c) a light source supported by the carrier, the light source configured to emit light that is directed at the roughened external surface of the recording electrode.