ALPHA CONDITIONING: A CONTROLLED STUDY

Abstract
The enhancement of occipital alpha abundance in human subjects with eyes open was studied. The initial acquisition, the effects of contingent reinforcement, and the extinction of the “alpha-producing response” were investigated. It was found that: a) subjects who received contingent feedback produced significantly more alpha than did yoked and nonreinforced controls; b) subjects acquired the alpha-producing response rapidly, reaching 80 per cent of asymptotic performance in 20 minutes; and c) no extinction of the response was noted. A discussion of the nature of the eyesopen alpha-producing response and the methodology of alpha-enhancement paradigms is presented.