Beta and delta brain waves were always present to some degree during wakefulness.

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.

“All these things converge on this idea that low-frequency oscillations reflect the brain’s plans; they are really critical,” study author Schroeder said.

“The slow [delta] rhythm is kind of like the rhythm section [in a band], and you anticipate notes at particular moments in time based on that slower rhythm,” author Hatsopoulos explained.

“There are lots of stimuli in the world that have rhythm,” said Jacob Reimer, post-doctoral researcher at Baylor College of Medicine and another author of the study. “If you’re waiting for a signal that is informative, you could pay attention constantly for a long period of time. But if that thing you’re waiting for has some rhythmicity to it, maybe a more efficient method is to only pay attention ‘on the beat.’”

So what happens at those times when you feel you just can’t seem to pay adequate attention? Like during a lecture you really want to remember, or while listening to a conversation you really want to understand – but just can’t seem to get yourself “into it”? Perhaps your delta brain waves are off just a tiny bit. Other than implanting a delta frequency generator into your brain, could there be an easier, less intrusive method of nudging your brain into gear when you want it to?

I wonder if practicing with external delta frequencies might help attention and timely alertness. A metronome can very easily be set up for delta frequencies – and it makes sense to me that setting a metronome to your particular delta frequency for attentiveness might be effective. It would certainly be simple and inexpensive to try.

Many say that the classical music of the Baroque era, especially that of Handel helps foster attentiveness. Particularly proponents of superlearning touted the value of Baroque music for learning, which requires good attentiveness skills. Perhaps they were on to something that is just now being demonstrated scientifically.

Personally, I’ve gained quite a bit of value from a light and sound mind machine that exercises delta frequency brain waves by presenting them as a display on my eyelids. I can tell which frequency works best for my particular delta attentiveness frequency by noticing how attentive I feel to the display I’m seeing. The more attentive I feel, the closer that particular display frequency is to my particular delta attentiveness frequency. By practicing that frequency more often, I think I strengthen the attentiveness frequencies in my brain – with the result that I am better able to attend to those things to which I want to be especially attentive.

If you’ve never tried a light and sound mind machine, I refer you to www.1derworks.com where you will find a selection of those I have used and recommend.

Study source:
“Fast and Slow Oscillations in Human Primary Motor Cortex Predict Oncoming Behaviorally Relevant Cues,” February 25, 2010 Neuron. Other authors on the paper include Richard Penn of Rush University Medical Center and Catherine L. Ojakangas of the University of Chicago.