EEG studies and measurements of highly creative people have shown a consistently high level of Alpha brain activity compared to people who according to recognised creativity tests are less able to think in creative ways.
Creativity is generally understood to require a type of state of mind that cuts out non necessary external distractions and encourages inter-hemisphere (sides of the brain) communication.
Alpha often gets labelled as an idling state of the brain. Although this has some merit it is not really the true story. Alpha is in fact quite dominant during demanding creative tasks so is actually quite an active state of mind. Alpha has also been labelled as a bridge between the unconscious and conscious parts of the mind. Again not entirely true but it seems accurate when you consider that creativity requires a ‘whole brain’ type of thinking.
In fact this particular study engaged people in active creative tasks and applied external 10Hz Alpha stimulation (tCAS in this case) to some of the group, and a false stimulation o the other part to get a controlled result.., and found that the stimulation group did in fact increase their creativity score by about 7.4% on average.
A second test at 40Hz stimulation did not have any effect on creativity thus also confirming that Alpha specific frequencies are beneficial and responsible for heightened creativity.
So it would appear practising a state of mind rich in Alpha either by traditional means or by technology can and does improve concentration and creative skills.
It’s therefore no coincidence that Alpha band brain frequencies are the main goal of most mindfulness, meditation and biofeedback processes.