Last Updated on January 13, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
Krisztián Hofstädter uses OpenBCI Cyton with 8 EEG channels with a Greentek Gelfree S2 multi-electrode cap:
- Krisztián has a very clear high alpha signal in the OpenBCI GUI, when he is listening to music, as shown in this example.
- High alpha correlates with inner peace.
- To monitor high alpha, an EEG cap is not necessarily required. A Muse headband with 4 channels and the Mind Monitor app is sufficient to monitor alpha brain waves.
- But if we want to monitor happiness or well-being, we are interested in gamma waves in the left prefrontal cortex.
- This correlation has been demonstrated by the group of Richard R. Davidsons in the example of Mingyur Rinpoche:
- If we want to monitor inner peace, which correlates with high alpha waves in the brain, we don t need urgently an EEG cap.
- If we want to monitor happiness or well-being, we are looking for gamma brain waves in the left prefrontal cortex. This is a localized brain signal, therefore, an EEG cap his helpful for this purpose, and the more channel the better. Richard Davidsons group used 256 EEG channels and fMRI in their study with Buddhist monks, where they studied the effect of practicing meditation on brain waves: