Saletu and Grunberger have published considerable pioneering research on EEG correlates of vigilance, and the effects of various products on EEG recordings. They report that "..Human brain function as measured by... electroencephalogram (EEG) shows significant alterations in normal and pathological aging characterized by an increase of [slow wave] delta and theta activity and a decrease of alpha and ... beta activity [fast wave] as well as by slowing of the dominant [EEG] frequency.

These changes are indicative of deficits in the vigilance regulatory systems, [which includes the Lc neurons]. By the term vigilance we [mean] the ... dynamic state of total neural activity ... Elderly subjects with bad memory exhibit slower [EEG] activity and less alpha and alpha-adjacent beta activity than those with good memory ... Antihypoxidotic / nootropic products such as ... vincamine-alkaloids [Vincamine and Vinpocetine] induce interestingly just oppositional changes [to the age related slowing of EEG waves] in human brain function, thereby improving vigilance."¹


1. B.Saletu & J. Grunberger (1985) “Memory dysfunction and vigilance; neurophysiological and psychopharmacological aspects” Ann N.Y Acad. Sci 444, 406-207