Talk:Alpha wave

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I was listening to 'A History of the Brain' on British BBC Radio 4, via the Iplayer on demand service. On that programme, it was stated that the inventor of the EEG was 'one of the 11% of people who do not produce alpha waves'. My google-fu may be lacking, but I can't find any information confirming/elaborating on this. I have a a particular interest as someone close to me has unusual sleep patterns and a general inability to relax. I know the inventor suffered a serious car accident injury and was then able to create alpha waves. Any help on non-production would be appreciated.

Jp Quinlan

"Alpha waves are electromagnetic oscillations (...)" AFAIK the brainwave activity is an electric potentials [voltage] measured on the scalp. So where that "electromagnetic" came from? :P EEG is measured by electrodes connected with differential amplifiers [voltage amplifiers - so, voltage again]. Conclusion: brainwaves are NOT electromagnetic waves, and don't radiate out from the scalp like if it were some radio waves or so :P The "waves" are the electric potential [voltage] changes. --SasQ

A wave is irrelevant to the method you use to pick it up. In EEG one detects electric voltage changes. However, in MEG on detects magnetic flux changes. In both cases the frequency defines the alpha wave (or beta etc.). "Electromagnetic" is a good generalization for both techniques.

I think alpha activity refers primarily to oscillatory activity in neural tissue. That this activity can be recorded by EEG and MEG is secondary. I therefore changed electromagnetic oscillations to neural oscillations.TjeerdB (talk) 22:55, 20 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is not incorrect to refer to them as neural oscillations, but for the record it is also not incorrect to refer to alpha as electromagnetic oscillations, since that is what is being recorded by either a change in voltage or a change in magnetic field. The neural oscillations cause these changes in electromagnetic oscillations. A failure to measure such a pattern does not mean the neural populations are not firing rhythmically, as the measurement of alpha is an indirect measure of the activity of those neurons.137.111.13.204 (talk) 02:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The article says "They usually can be detected with the naked eye". Does that mean on an EEG printout, or that I could see them with my eyes closed as imprints on my visual field? P.r.newman (talk) 17:47, 29 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was wondering what this meant too. Given the preceding sentence i would guess it refers to imprints on one's visual field, however the statement is a bit lacking in clarity as it stands. Could someone clarify what it refers to?62.254.133.139 (talk) 14:12, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This point seems to have now been addressed in the main article - thanks P.r.newman (talk) 15:39, 17 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

While alpha waves can be seen through measurement, that is not all of what alpha waves are. Researchers have found that alpha waves are strongly associable with certain types of consciousness, namely that found in the meditation of experienced meditators. Also, alpha waves better propagate the various tissues of the brain as compared to other waveforms generated by the brain, indicating alpha waves may be a universal modulation. I argue for adding this info. 74.195.24.134 (talk) 21:14, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What can modulate alphawaves? "Suzuki et al. in 1976 studied changes in the brain waves from 262 fasting patients and noted a slowing and synchronization of alpha waves" (http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1981/emay81/psyfast.shtml). 74.195.16.39 (talk) 14:41, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is poorly written and confusing: "Alpha wave intrusion occurs when alpha waves appear with non-REM sleep when delta activity is expected. It is hypothesized to be associated with fibromyalgia[9], although the study may be inadequate due to a small sampling size.

Despite this, alpha wave intrusion has not been significantly linked to any major sleep disorder, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CNF), and major depression. However, it is common in chronic fatigued patients, and may amplify the effects of other sleep disorders.[10]"

In particular it is the line "alpha wave intrusion has not been significantly linked to any major sleep disorder, including...." Since fibromyalgia, CFS/CNF, and depression are NOT sleep disorders, that part doesn't make sense. In addition, I'm not sure why you would 'link' alpha wave intrusion to another sleep disorder when it IS a recognized sleep disorder itself. Centerone (talk) 20:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

From the article: "Zen-trained meditation masters produce noticeably more alpha waves during meditation. This fact has led to a popular trend of biofeedback training programs for everyday stress relief."

Where is this from? And how is that statement even a "fact"?

58.163.175.193 (talk) 12:15, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've tagged it as needing a citation. I do, however, remember seeing reliable sourcing for the first sentence, somewhere. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:55, 19 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Misleading. Wording of this section implies the gelatin generates a signal. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.120.241.248 (talk) 13:09, 19 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with you, and I renamed the section accordingly. I also wonder whether the whole section should just be deleted as trivial. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:56, 19 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sources that I'm looking at distinguish between alpha1 (8-9 Hz) and alpha2 (10-12 Hz). Should we talk about this distinction in the article? Thanks. TimidGuy (talk) 19:30, 3 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's a good idea. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:40, 3 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Will look into it more and try to write something up. TimidGuy (talk) 17:37, 6 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The article vacillates between stating that alpha waves originate in the thalamus, the occipital lobe/visual cortex, both, and/or other areas:

In the introductory sentence:

   Alpha waves are neural oscillations [...] arising from the [...] electrical activity of thalamic pacemaker cells [...]

In the second paragraph of the introduction:

   They predominantly originate from the occipital lobe during wakeful relaxation with closed eyes. [...] Historically, they were thought to represent the activity of the visual cortex in an idle state. More recent papers have argued that they inhibit areas of the cortex not in use, or alternatively that they play an active role in network coordination and communication.

And in the Types of alpha waves section:

   Some researchers posit that there are at least two forms of alpha waves,[...] Alpha waves are present at different stages of the wake-sleep cycle. The most widely researched is during the relaxed mental state, where the subject is at rest with eyes closed, but is not tired or asleep. This alpha activity is centered in the occipital lobe, and is presumed to originate there, although there has been recent speculation that it instead has a thalamic origin.

   The second occurrence of alpha wave activity is during REM sleep. As opposed to the awake form of alpha activity, this form is located in a frontal-central location in the brain. The purpose of alpha activity during REM sleep has yet to be fully understood.

These statements are mutually exclusive: either the origin is thalamic, occipital/VC, or varied/multiple. Another possible consistent interpretation would be that the "clock signal" is thought to be generated by the thalamus and picked up and potentiated by other brain regions at various times, however, this is not clear from the text.

The article should thus be amended (especially the introduction) to state that the origin is unclear/disputed and/or by emphasizing the most widely adopted hypothesis and then elaborating on other proposed origins (e.g. "[...] are generally thought to originate from the visual cortex and/or thalamic areas, however, other explanations of their origin have been proposed.").

Kind regards, -J Jay Hodec (talk) 23:16, 9 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The second paragraph states that "Alpha waves are reduced with open eyes and sleep, while they are enhanced during drowsiness", while the second paragraph of the Research section states that "Alpha waves are present at different stages of the wake-sleep cycle. The most widely researched is during the relaxed mental state, where the subject is at rest with eyes closed, but is not tired or asleep."

There may be subtleties here that would lead to both statements being true, but the current text is confusing.

Bapu vaitla (talk) 16:38, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are alpha waves related to the default mode network? 96.28.65.49 (talk) 16:30, 5 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]