Scientists recorded the brain waves of a dying person for the first time, and published their findings in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in February 2022. Alpha brain waves are produced when we’re alert, but calm, and help us with activities like learning and coordination. Gamma waves are the fastest brain waves, and are associated with high-level alertness, cognition, memory, and focus. emergence of functions) that are ordinarily depressed by our usual brain activity,” such as those we use to get through our day-to-day tasks. That the team was able to capture the 87-year-old patient’s brain waves as he died occurred entirely by happenstance, after all.