Provoking Predetermined Aperiodic Patterns in Human Brainwaves

TL;DR

This study investigates how human brainwaves can be entrained by periodic and aperiodic stimuli, revealing potential for brainwave modulation in medical and biofeedback applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates for the first time that human brainwaves can be entrained to predetermined aperiodic patterns, expanding the scope of brainwave entrainment techniques.

Findings

Consistent visual entrainment observed

Inconclusive auditory entrainment

Aperiodic entrainment to predetermined patterns achieved

Abstract

In the present work, electroencephalographic recordings of healthy human participants were performed to study the entrainment of brainwaves using a variety of stimulus. First, periodic entrainment of the brainwaves was studied using two different stimuli in the form of periodic auditory and visual signals. The entrainment with the periodic visual stimulation was consistently observed, whereas the auditory entrainment was inconclusive. Hence, a photic (Visual) stimulus, where two frequencies were presented to the subject simultaneously was used to further explore the bifrequency entrainment of human brainwaves. Subsequently, the evolution of brainwaves as a result of an aperiodic stimulation was explored, wherein an entrainment to the predetermined aperiodic pattern was observed. These results suggest that aperiodic entrainment could be used as a tool for guided modification of brainwaves. This could find possible applications in processes such as epilepsy suppression and biofeedback.