Alpha brainwave training and perception of time passing: preliminary findings

The ability to generate alpha brainwaves has been associated with the self-regulation of stress. It has been suggested that generation of these brainwaves, above what is to be expected in a normal 24-hour EEG, contributes to an expanded state of consciousness. This study attempted to test Newman's theory that expansion of consciousness could be observed in perception of time passing. Twenty female college students were randomly assigned to an alpha brainwave training or beta (mock) brainwave training group. Following ten 30-minute training sessions over a five-week period of time, each subject in each group was asked to produce ten randomly assigned time intervals. Mean scores were obtained for each of the ten intervals for each group. An analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to analyze the time interval perceptions of each group. According to results obtained, both main effects and interaction effects were highly significant (p < .0001). This study offers a beginning effort to examine the consciousness altering capability of alpha brainwave generation.