A study published in Neuron, helps us understand the value of delta and beta brain waves in a new way. Basically, the study showed that beta brain waves denote attention and attentiveness while the much slower delta brain waves tell us when to pay attention. It makes sense that we don’t pay attention to everything all the time – we’d be overwhelmed. Some mechanism within us figures out the patterns of attention we need to employ in order to better utilize our attentive powers. Timing is everything…
Through a series of experiments utilizing a brain-computer interface, the study authors discovered that beta and delta brain waves were always present to some degree during wakefulness. The frequency and intensity of the delta wave helped the authors predict when attention would be paid while the frequency and intensity of the beta wave helped them predict how attentive the subject would be at any given time. Fundamentally, this demonstrates that our brains are always bathed in delta AND beta waves during times of outward attention such as when noticing something important or just paying attention to something. The study did not investigate sleep states.
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