While this would lead us to expect only a partial correlation between the two measurement approaches at best, this does not explain the total lack of correlation between the Picture Sorts[R] and
brain waves measurements.
The increase in alpha-2-beta
brain waves during explicit learning "could reflect the building of a model of the task," Miller explains.
Researchers asked the volunteers to relax, concentrate or do an exercise in which they learned to control their own
brain waves.
EEGs provide good real-time measurements of
brain waves but lack precision in locating their source, while magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, provides good spatial maps but not in real time.
Let's consider it logically: Why wouldn't we have the same
brain waves when thinking the same thoughts?
In 1987, when we introduced in the Philippines the internationally known inner mind control seminars, we used a small, battery-operated device that made pulsating sounds at the rate of seven to 14 cycles per second, which is within the alpha
brain wave level.
Neurons transmit signals by electrical charges (similar to a battery) and hence give rise to signals that combine to form
brain waves. These electrical patterns vary in intensity and frequency, qualities of electrical energy that can be measured by sensitive electrodes placed on a person's scalp.
Blue light also triggered
brain waves suggesting that the volunteers were more awake.
These changes only happened during the breaks and were the only
brain wave patterns that correlated with performance.
The importance of
brain wave synchronicity The authors note that, so far, the working theory has been: This type of memory takes a hit later in life as a result of brain areas that would normally work together falling out of sync.
"This is a classic, well-studied
brain wave response to a sensory input, termed event-related desynchronization, or alpha-ERD," says Shimojo, Gertrude Baltimore Professor of Experimental Psychology and affiliated faculty member of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.
For the study, appearing in the journal PLOS ONE, the team examined the
brain wave patterns associated with language processing, including a pattern called the P600 -- a kind of "error signal" that occurs when a person encounters something linguistically unexpected.