Brainwaves as entry point for consumer tech

“He drives a truck. Not a small 190 tons truck.

No!

He drives a 400 tons mega truck.

In a mine.

He wears a grey shirt, an orange vest over it. Just in case.

A blue baseball cap shields his eyes from the sun. His employer mandates the cap.

Suddenly, a notification pops up on his phone.

“Based on your brain wave patterns we can see you are tired.

Please have a rest within the next 15 min.”

Two bands within the inner rims of his “SmartCap”, measure his brain wave patterns in regular intervals, and notify his employer about changes.”

No, this is not the beginning of my new e-book.

It is the reality for many people around the world working in mines, in factories or driving high-speed trains.

Chinese schools track the attention of their pupils and share the information with both school boards, parents, and the government.

Measuring brainwaves and their changes has become a tool to track concentration (and dedication?) at work.

It is the first mass rolled out brain tracking technology.

And understanding the basics of brainwaves provides insights into some very practical applications.

And - spoiler alerts - I could not find any research supporting binaural beats. So that won’t be a big topic today. But more on that later.

The brainwave basics

Individual neurons generate electrical signals called action potentials.

When large groups of neurons fire together in a synchronized manner, their combined electrical activity creates oscillations that can be measured as brainwaves. (Study)

Neuromodulators like acetylcholine, dopamine, and serotonin also modulate brainwave patterns.

That’s all we need to know right now about brainwaves’ origins.

There are different brainwave frequencies. This is where it gets interesting.

😴 DELTA (0.1 - 3.5Hz)

Typically found when: deep, dreamless sleep, non-REM sleep, unconscious

Associated mental tasks: lethargic, not moving, not attentive

Associated physical tasks: not moving, low-level of arousal

When actively triggered: can induce drowsiness, deeply relaxed states

Additional notes: dominant rhythm for infant brains, typically decreases when trying to focus; patients with ADHD see a delta wave increase, when trying to focus, so basically the other way around

😌 THETA (3.5 - 7.5Hz)

Typically found when: intuitive, creative, recall, switching thoughts, drowsy

Associated mental tasks: creative, intuitive; may be distracted, unfocused, anxiety

Associated physical tasks: integration of mind/body, meditative

When actively triggered: relaxed, quiet mind, emotionally stable state

Additional notes: regularly common in children up into early teens, induced memory and learning

😊 ALPHA (8 - 12Hz)

Typically found when: relaxed, not agitated, but not drowsy, conscious

Associated mental tasks: meditation, no action

Associated physical tasks: relaxed

When actively triggered: initial stage of relaxation

Additional notes: typical adult brain state, while not being totally focused, anxious or tired

🤔 BETA (13 - 30Hz)

Here we need to split into 3:

🤺 GAMMA (over 30hz)

Typically found when: mental activities, planning, calculating, coding

Associated mental tasks: meditation, no action

Associated physical tasks: relaxed

When actively triggered: alertness, may also produce agitation

Additional notes: A good memory is associated with well-regulated and efficient 40Hz activity, whereas a 40Hz deficiency creates learning disabilities. When the brain needs to simultaneously process information from different areas, it’s hypothesized that the 40Hz activity consolidates the required areas for simultaneous processing.

Above may sound like a lot of information. Here is a less detailed overview:

Active Activation

Remember, when we discussed anticipation (post here)? We looked into social anticipation of individuals’ to “get in sync” when they interact, and even more so when they agree. They groove into a similar brain wave length.

Further, research suggests a repetition of brainwave patterns during tasks which involve new activities. All this is to say, we are learning more about how human brains learn and process information from short term into long-term memory.

This in return could help to increase our own learnability, e.g. move information into long-term memory faster. As this research suggests, brain wave tuning before a learning session helps.

And maybe one day, memristic chip models, chips that use electric components that mimic the synaptic plasticity of the brain (i.e. neurons strengthening with use), will use brain wave like oscillations as well.

Who knows?

So, are we talking binaural beats finally?

I wanted to end today with binaural music. From Tim Ferris to Andrew Huberman, all over YouTube, binaural beats have become a turbo to get in the right “state of mind” - or frequency.

But then I looked at research and meta-research (1 / 2 / 3).

And it turns out scientifically, there is no compelling evidence of a correlation between binaural beats and faster or deeper entrainment into the necessary brain waves to either focus or relax (yet).

Long story short: it isn’t clear.

Funny though, I use them often, and I feel I can focus better. (Spotify / Youtube).

But that might be purely because the music is fairly uneventful and repetitive.

And because listening to “background noise” allows less distraction to come through to us.

And for that reason, our brain can focus on the task for longer.

So forget about binaural beats for now - or use them if they make you happy. Because placebo is a real thing.

And immensely powerful.

But that is a story for another day.

One thing remains: brain waves are being studied by labs around the world, there IS evidence that learning can be enhanced with right brain stimulation pre learning exercise or help focusing better (e.g. in ADHD).

But also, the knowledge is being used by technology companies to track people within various industries already today.

And certainly, I don’t want my kids to have to wear a brain scanner in school.

Or am I just getting old?