Alpha and Alcohol Dependence
A Recent research study revealed that alcohol dependence in Mexican-American young adults was associated with lower spectral power in the Alpha frequency range in the right and left occipital areas in the men but not in the women.

Alpha and Cognitive Processing
1) EEG peak alpha frequency has also been shown to correlate positively with cognitive performance and to correlate negatively with age after childhood. Alpha training in neurofeedback has been shown to improve cognitive processing speed and executive function in certain cognitive faculties.

2) Results another research study showed significant correlations of reading vocabulary and response control with peak alpha frequency in recrdings taken during and after reading, but not during initial rest. This study's research team believes that these findings may reflect some general cognitive ability involved with response control or the ability to acquire vocabulary (as opposed to memory or reading ability). Interestingly, these researchers suggest that cognitive ability traits are reflections of induced cognitive states. These findings seem to support the theory underlying the accelerated learning work of Georgi Lozanov; namely, that specific states of consciousness--largely those correlating with Alpha and Theta rhythms--support deep learning.

Alpha and Schizophrenia
Increases in peak alpha frequency have also been found to have significant effect in decreasing negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, researchers have successfully increased frontal Alpha amplitude, resulting in reports of significant relief from such symptoms.

SOURCES

Angelakis, Efthymios, et al. "EEG neurofeedback: a brief overview and an example of peak alpha frequency training for cognitive enhancement in the elderly." The Clinical Neuropsychologist 21.1 (Jan. 2007): 110-129.

Angelakis, Efthymios, Joel F Lubar, and Stamatina Stathopoulou. "Electroencephalographic peak alpha frequency correlates of cognitive traits." Neuroscience Letters 371.1 (16 Nov. 2004): 60-63.

Ehlers, Cindy L, and Evelyn Phillips.. "Association of EEG alpha variants and alpha power with alcohol dependence in Mexican American young adults." Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) 41.1 (Feb. 2007): 13-20.

Jin, Yi, et al. "Therapeutic effects of individualized alpha frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (alphaTMS) on the negative symptoms of schizophrenia." Schizophrenia Bulletin 32.3 (27 July 2006): 556-561.