MindMods CogSciTech Blog - The latest on biofeedback, consciousness, neuroscience & neurotechnology. http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods 2010-03-14T11:53:28+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/images/M_images/mindmods_rss.png text/html 2009-12-14T12:20:45+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/laxman-entrainment-efficiency-clinical-proven.html Laxman efficiency clinical proven Study on the impact of audio-visual stimulation (AVS) with the Laxman on cognitive performance, psycho-vegetative tension, general mental state and sleep - Summary - Dr. med. A. Gabriel specialist for psychiatry and psychotherapy Psychiatric University Hospital of the Charité at St. Hedwig Hospital Große Hamburger Str. 5-11, 10115 Berlin 1. Introduction Principal purpose of the study is to find out by means of neuropsychological tests and psychopathological rating procedures, whether and into to what extent a daily application of the AVS with the Laxman of Neurotronics GmbH, over a period of three weeks, leads to an improvement of cognitive performance, a reduction of psycho-vegetative tension and anxiety, an improvement of general mental state and sleep. The tests were carried out with 20 test persons before and after the three-week application phase and evaluated afterwards. In a preceding first investigation a positive trend could already be pointed out concerning the improvement in the aforementioned items. The following items were evaluated with 11 test persons before and after an AVS application with the Laxman: general mood, vitality, relaxation, concentration ability, anxiety, nervousness, depression. The test persons indicated improvements in all items, the improvement in relaxation was significant. Stress, fears, and sleep disturbances, as well as concentration and attention deficits, are wide-spread problems in our society. They often lead to psychotherapeutical and medicamentous treatments. It is to be examined whether and into what extent the AVS represents an alternative treatment method resp. can support a primary treatment. In particular, it is to be found out whether the AVS resp. the Laxman can be an answer to the stresses that accompany the rising complexity of our society. This includes the treatment and/or prevention of burnout as well as an up-to-date stress management. At the same time it is to be examined whether the AVS can parallelly lead to an improvement in cognitive performance, i.e. attention, concentration, and memory, in order to be able to provide an alternative method for complexity management for high performers. 2. Methods The audio-visual stimulation device Laxman of the company Neurotronics GmbH was used for the investigation. The Laxman is a device which sends audio-visual impulses by means of color Ganzfeld glasses and earphones, and for this purpose uses varied audio contents. Before and after an application phase of several weeks, neuropsychological tests and psychopathological rating procedures were carried out, which measure memory, attention and concentration performance, the psychomotoric speed, as well as the psycho-vegetative tension, anxiety, quality of life and sleep. During the application phase a 20-minute application with an alpha session was carried out daily on six days per week. The study was conducted over three weeks. 2.1 Study Participants Altogether 20 healthy test persons participated in the study (10 women, 10 men). The average age was 51 years. All test persons were interviewed about their medical history. Only study participants were recruited who showed no indication of preceding transient consciousness disturbances, synkopes or other evidence of epileptic seizures. The anamnesis was carried out by a neurologically and psychiatrically experienced physician. In order to form a group of test persons as naturalistic as possible and exclude possible factors of influence, e.g. persons were excluded who successfully use daily relaxation techniques such as autogenous training or progressive muscle relaxation, as well as persons who regularly get psychiatric medication. Likewise excluded were test persons with serious internal or neurological psychiatric illnesses. The tests carried out can be divided into two main groups: psychometric rating procedures and neuropsychological tests. The individual tests are briefly described in the following. 2.2 Psychometric Rating Procedures The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is a psychometric procedure for measuring anxiety. The two scales of the STAI with 20 items each serve to measure anxiety as a state (State Anxiety) and anxiety as trait (Trait Anxiety). The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-14) is a procedure to measure the general psychological health. The procedure is based on a self evaluation of the condition in the past week. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a common questionnaire to measure generally perceived stress. Statements concerning requirements, joy, concerns, and internal strain are evaluated on a four-stage frequency scale. The Munich Quality of Life Dimensions List (MLDL) is a full standardized procedure for the self evaluation of adults concerning the cognitive assessment of elementary components of the quality of life. The questionnaire consists of 20 elementary components of life which have to be evaluated on a scale from 0-10 concerning their satisfaction, importance, desire to be changed, as well as the belief of being able to bring about the change in the respective field. 2.3 Neuropsychological Tests The Concentration Endurance Test (d2 Test) is a universal test to measure the attention and concentration performance, which has been standardized and validated in psychological diagnostics for many years. On a test sheet there are 14 lines, each with 47 marks made up of combinations of the characters 'd', 'p', and 'q', and one, two, three, or four lines. Each 'd' that has two lines is to be crossed out from the random order After 20 seconds the test person is asked to switch to the next line. The concentration performance value (KL value), which is used in the evaluation, measures the overall performance. It is formed by the amount of characters crossed out correctly (d with two lines) minus the mistakes (type F2). Thus, the evaluation takes into account the psychomotric speed as well as the quality of the performance. The KL value is falsification-resistant, normally distributed and highly reliable. The Verbal Learning and Memory Test (VLMT) is a test for learning serial word lists in five test runs with subsequent distraction and renewed delayed call. The test material consists of two word lists (A and B) comprised of 15 semantically independent words each. There are two parallel test forms in order to exclude a recognition factor in the after test. By means of the VLMT different parameters of the declarative verbal memory such as the supraspan, the learning and encoding efficiency can be measured. The Digit span backward is a subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale, which measures the capacity of the working memory. It concerns the short term storage of information. For this test the test person is first given a row of digits consisting of two digits which have to be repeated backwards. After each successful test run the number of digits in the row is increased until the correct reproduction does not succeed any longer. The Digit Symbol Test is part of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and measures the general cognitive processing speed. In the test sheet, digits from 1 to 9 are to be connected with a certain symbol with the help of an allocation pattern. The Trail Making Test (TMTA) is a specific test procedure to assess the general cognitive speed as well as the attention. In this procedure the numbers of 1 to 25 are randomly distributed on a sheet of paper. The task is to connect them as fast as possible with a pencil. The test value is the time needed for the correct connection of the numbers. 3. Results 3.1 Cognition As shown in Table 1, there was an improvement in all examined fields. The improvement in concentration and attention was particularly obvious (D2, Digit Span). Table 1 Test Field Pre Value Post Value Improvement D2 concentration/ attention/speed 155,16 180,79 14,2 % TMTA cognitive speed (time in seconds) 33,21 24,37 26,6 % Wordlist VLMT memory 48,05 54,6 12,0 % Digit Symbol psychomotoric speed/ working memory 55,67 61,37 9,3 % Digit Span concentration/ working memory 5,2 6,05 14,1 % 3.2 Psychometric Rating Procedures Compared to the neuropsychological tests the conclusions of the psychometric rating resulted from the subjective experience of the test persons. An improvement could be determined in all examined psychometric dimensions. Predominant was a reduction of the individual stress feeling (by 21.6 per cent) as well as an improvement in the relaxation ability (by 21.5 per cent). Altogether the test persons indicated an improvement of the general psychological health by 27 per cent. The first three rating procedures (PSS, STAI, GHQ) use 'negative' questions, i.e. a smaller value represents an improvement. The MLDL, including its subtests, uses 'positive' questions, which means a higher value represents an improvement. Table 2 Scale Dimension Wert prä Wert post Verbesserung PSS Stress 23,85 18,7 21,6 % STAI (State) anxiety 39,95 34,05 14,8 % GHQ psychological health 14,05 10,2 27,4 % MLDL personal well-being 5,9 7,1 16,9 % relaxation ability 5,65 7,2 21,5 % total (item 1-20) 131,65 143,45 8,2 % 4. Discussion The study at hand is currently the most comprehensive investigation of the effect of audiovisual stimulation on cognitive and psychometric fields. Despite the effort towards a standardized execution, certain motivational, daily-temporal, and projektive factors of influence cannot be excluded, as with all studies on the psychological situation. Although the absence of a control group limits the statistical power, a high degree of objectivity is ensured by the use of tests and rating procedures that have been validated for many years. The consistent results concerning the improvement of concentration and attention (D2 and Digit Span) allow a valid interpretation, whereas the increase in cognitive speed by 26.6 per cent in the TMTA can be partially explained by a possible exercise effect. The improvement of the memory functions might be a secondary effect of the increase in concentration ability. The fact that there was an increase in the general psychological health by 27 per cent, whereas the general life situation improved only by 8 per cent, is an indication of the problem of social desirability when filling out psychometric questionnaires. 5. Forecast The version at hand is a first short evaluation of a multiplicity of data. These will be further edited for a publication. In this context the further sub scales and their correlations will be evaluated, as well as the sleep questionnaires to find out about the possible influence of an improved sleep quality on the test results. Despite certain limitations concerning the explanatory power of the findings, the study at hand shows a clear tendency to an increased stress tolerance and relaxation ability connected with an improvement of the concentration and attention performance. To what extent a larger number of test persons of matched age groups in relation to a control group will confirm these improvements, is subject to further investigations. Concerning the medical use of the AVS we plan the publication of data from clinical post marketing surveillance studies. By request the complete data records of the test results can be made available as file. Dr. med. A. Gabriel Specialist for psychiatry and psychotherapy Psychiatric University Hospital of the Charité at St. Hedwig Hospital Große Hamburger Str. 5-11, 10115 Berlin å text/html 2009-04-16T05:04:33+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/how-to-make-your-own-ganzfeld-mask-hack-your.html I just ran across this do it yourself guide detailing a method for creating your own ganzfeld mask. 'Classic' ganzfeld masks were constructed using ping pong balls. The author of the guide, found on instructables.com, has something else in mind. If you're wondering what the heck a 'ganzfeld mask' is, it's a device that creates the 'ganzfeld effect' when worn. The ganzfeld effect is experienced when your entire field of vision becomes completely featureless. The brain amplifies the senses when no depth or outlines of objects can be seen. This results in very peculiar psychedelic state similar to dreaming. This is one of the easiest (and cheapest!) ways to experience an altered state of consciousness. The author even includes a video. The image above (not exactly an irresistible visual tour de force?) was created by the author of the instructable, but seems to be uncannily similar to the image from the Boston Globe in our previous blog posting. Check it out here (http://www.instructables.com/id/Ganzfeld_Hack_Your_Brain_the_Legal_Way/). text/html 2009-02-10T05:51:43+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/consciousness-and-perception/hack-your-brain.html I found the below images while reading the Boston Globe. (Boston Globe?!)These are great little examples of how you can trick your senses into perceiving things that you know are not real. The experiences produced by the experiments are something much like hallucinations. Try them out for yourself! The Ganzfeld Procedure Incredible Shrinking Pain The Rubber Hand Illusion ; The Pinocchio Illusion Purkinje Lights text/html 2009-01-29T00:12:17+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/games/mattel-jumps-into-the-neurofeedback-game-with-mind.html The Force Trainer wasn't the only new product unveiled at CES 2009 that uses Neurosky's new EEG neurofeedback system. Even the toy mammoth Mattel has decided to test the waters with this new technology. Mind Flex is a game featuring an obstacle course that you must use your mind to navigate a small sphere through. The headset looks slightly different than the one included with the Force Trainer - it has one sensor that rests against your forehead and two more that clip onto your earlobes. Apparently the sensors use only theta-wave activity to control the sphere around the course - most likely triggered only during concentration and focus. The headset is wireless and transmits signals to the game using radio frequencies.The sphere moves around the course using a small fan activated by your brainwaves. The fan actually makes the ball appear to levitate as it navigates through a series of hoops around the mouse-trap like course.Let's hope Mattel actually follows through with this thing into production. They plan on selling it for only $80! text/html 2009-01-28T23:56:36+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/games/the-force-trainer-a-new-eeg-biofeedback-controlle.html The Force Trainer from Uncle Milton Industries will be one of the first mainstream EEG neurofeedback toys on the market. This revolutionary new game monitors brainwave activity and allows you to control a small ball that moves through a 10 inch training tower using focus and concentration. Uncle Milton unveiled their new toy at CES 2009. With a fall 2009 release date, it will one of the first products using NeuroSky's neurofeedback hardware. The headset included with the toy appears to be simple and unobtrusive.Let's hope they do it right so that more products from other manufacturers will follow. We're excited to see EEG neurofeedback being used in a toy. Expect some serious innovaction as more people become aware of EEG and this technology hits mainstream. We'll keep you updated with any new information about this and other new products using similar technologies. text/html 2008-12-20T22:07:50+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/new-alpha-theta-neurofeedback-creativity-study.html A theory of alpha/theta neurofeedback, creative performance enhancement, long distance functional connectivity and psychological integration. Gruzelier J. Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW, UK, j.gruzelier@gold.ac.uk. Professionally significant enhancement of music and dance performance and mood has followed training with an EEG-neurofeedback protocol which increases the ratio of theta to alpha waves using auditory feedback with eyes closed. While originally the protocol was designed to induce hypnogogia, a state historically associated with creativity, the outcome was psychological integration, while subsequent applications focusing on raising the theta-alpha ratio, reduced depression and anxiety in alcoholism and resolved post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). In optimal performance studies we confirmed associations with creativity in musical performance, but effects also included technique and communication. We extended efficacy to dance and social anxiety. Diversity of outcome has a counterpart in wide ranging associations between theta oscillations and behaviour in cognitive and affective neuroscience: in animals with sensory-motor activity in exploration, effort, working memory, learning, retention and REM sleep; in man with meditative concentration, reduced anxiety and sympathetic autonomic activation, as well as task demands in virtual spatial navigation, focussed and sustained attention, working and recognition memory, and having implications for synaptic plasticity and long term potentiation. Neuroanatomical circuitry involves the ascending mescencephalic-cortical arousal system, and limbic circuits subserving cognitive as well as affective/motivational functions. Working memory and meditative bliss, representing cognitive and affective domains, respectively, involve coupling between frontal and posterior cortices, exemplify a role for theta and alpha waves in mediating the interaction between distal and widely distributed connections. It is posited that this mediation in part underpins the integrational attributes of alpha-theta training in optimal performance and psychotherapy, creative associations in hypnogogia, and enhancement of technical, communication and artistic domains of performance in the arts. more here (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19082646?dopt=AbstractPlus) text/html 2008-12-17T21:34:58+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/games/comparing-the-3-major-brain-computer-interfaces-for-g.html The Epoc from Emotiv Release Date: Summer 2009 Number of Electrodes: 16 Electrode Type: Pure Neural Signals / EEG Movements: Head Rotation through two-axis gyros Estimated Cost: $299 SDK Available? YES The ThinkGear from NeuroSky Release Date: Will be released OEM only from 3rd party software/game developers Number of Electrodes: 1 Electrode Type: Pure Neural Signals / EEG Movements: Estimated Cost: Available only to companies developing games or software. SDK Available? YES The NIA from OCZ Release Date: May 2008 Number of Electrodes: 3 (Front) Electrode Type: Uses Biopotentials from forehead. Mixture of muscle, skin nerve activity (sympathetic and parasympathetic) Movements: Multiple mapped profiles Estimated Cost: $160 SDK Available? NO text/html 2008-12-12T17:03:54+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/scientists-reconstruct-images-from-inside-the-mind-on-a-mon.html I can't verify this because it is in Japanese. Original article here: http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2008121102000053.html (http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2008121102000053.html) Researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Labs have created a new brain analysis technology that can recontruct images inside of a person's mind and then display them on a monitor. The researchers want to try to view the contents of dreams in the future. Sounds like either the journalist or the scientist is exaggerating their findings, but I could be wrong. I just have a hard time believing this could be possible. Here's how they are claiming to do it: 'The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs. Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based solely on their brain activity.' The researchers also discuss applying the technology to reading feelings and complicated emotional states, but may have a difficult time displaying these things on a monitor. The blog 'Pink Tentacle' (http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/12/scientists-extract-images-directly-from-brain/) says that this research is in the December 11 issue 'Neuron', but I haven't been able to find it. lolwut? more later... Update - this is being reported about all over the place now. Scientific American also uses Pink Tentacle as a source, but claim that the scientists have 'reported it' to the journal 'Neuron', not that 'Neuron' has published anything about it. Big difference. We'll see where this goes. text/html 2008-12-06T03:02:18+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/light-sound-mind-machines/excellent-new-study-on-mind-machines-brainwave-entrai.html A systematic review and analysis of 20 of the major studies done on Brainwave Entrainment. The effect of photic stimulation (Mind Machines) on cognition, stress anxiety, pain, headaches migraines, mood, and PMS are are all discussed. Below you'll find a link to the entire article and a conclusion extract. One of the authors of the study, Christine Charyton, PhD, is an employee of Transparent Corporation (http://www.transparentcorp.com). Comprehensive Review of the Psychological Effects of Brainwave EntrainmentTina L. Huang, PhD; Christine Charyton, PhD From _Alternative_ Therapies, Sep/Oct 2008, Vol. 14, No. 5 The immediate psychological effects of memory, attention, stress, pain, and headaches/migraines were shown to benefit from even a single session of BWE. Many practitioners and developers of BWE tools believe that repeated exposure to BWE will allow the user to enter the desired brain states unassisted. Indeed, the study by Patrick, which found improvements in overall intelligence and behavior, gradually withdrew the stimulus until users could produce the targeted brainwave frequencies on their own. Most studies that examined long-term effects did not withdraw stimulus over a specified time period before testing, so the duration of the effects are unclear. Nor are there studies that compare the effects of duration or frequency of stimulation, so it is not known whether there is a minimal length or frequency of entrainment required to achieve each positive outcome or if there is a limit to the intensity of symptom relief from BWE. ... Further studies are needed to compare the effects of auditory, photic, and AVE stimulation at the same frequencies for each outcome and to compare the clinical benefi ts of monaural, binaural, and isochronic beats and the use of white noise vs music as a background. ... In conclusion, preliminary evidence suggests that BWE is effective in several cognitive domains and can relieve acute and long-term stress, reduce pain, headaches, migraines, and PMS and improve behavior. ... Preliminary evidence suggests that alpha stimulation was preferable for trigram recognition, short-term stress, and pain relief, whereas beta was used to enhance attention, increase overall intelligence, relieve short-term stress, and improve behavior. The alternating alpha and beta protocol was used successfully to improve behavior, verbal skills, and attention. A protocol that alternatively ascended and descended from beta to gamma enhanced arithmetic skills and attention. A protocol that alternated between 14 and 22 Hz increased overall intelligence. Several protocols, including a combination of theta and delta and a progressive slowing over 30 minutes to delta, were effective in relieving short-term stress. Migraines were prevented with a 30-Hz stimulus that alternated between left and right hemispheres, and a few studies that allowed the subject to choose the frequency of stimulation were successful in alleviating long-term stress, pain, and migraines. It is clear that more research needs to be conducted to confi rm the effectiveness of specific protocols to each outcome, but given the evidence so far, we conclude that BWE is worthy of further consideration by clinicians and researchers as a therapeutic tool. Original article is here (http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/web_pdfs/0908_huang.pdf) text/html 2008-12-04T22:52:41+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/addiction/two-papers-on-ganzfeld-hallucinations.html Ganzfeld-induced hallucinatory experience, its phenomenology and cerebral electrophysiology (http://www.cortexjournal.net/article/S0010-9452(08)00143-3/fulltext) Unfortunately I can't post them here in their entirety, but here's the abstracts: Ganzfeld-induced hallucinatory experience, its phenomenology and cerebral electrophysiology AbstractGanzfeld, i.e., exposure to an unstructured, uniform stimulation field, elicits in most observers pseudo-hallucinatory percepts, and may even induce global functional state changes (‘altered states of consciousness’). The present paper gives a comprehensive overview of the phenomenology of subjective experience in the ganzfeld and its electrophysiological correlates. Laboratory techniques for visual or multi-modal ganzfeld induction are explained. The spectrum of ganzfeld-induced phenomena, ranging from elementary percepts to complex, vivid, dream-like imagery is described, and the latter illustrated by transcripts of subjects' reports. Similarities and differences to related sensory/perceptual phenomena are also discussed. Earlier findings on electrophysiological correlates of the ganzfeld are reviewed. Our own studies of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the ganzfeld are presented in some detail, and a re-analysis of data on EEG correlates of hallucinatory percepts in statu nascendi is reported. The results do not support the hypothesis of the hypnagogic origin of the percepts; the ganzfeld-induced steady-state is an activated state, and the spectral EEG dynamics in the alpha frequency range reveals processes of attention shifts and percept formation. The final section is devoted to the controversial topic of allegedly anomalous communication between human subjects (‘ganzfeld telepathy’). It is shown that the use of ganzfeld in this research field relies partly on unsupported hypotheses concerning ganzfeld-induced states, partly on a weak conceptual background of the experimental procedure. The rôle of a particular belief system shared by the participants and experimenters is critically discussed. Jiří Wackermann, Peter Pütz, Carsten AllefeldDepartment of Empirical and Analytical Psychophysics, Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg i. Br., Germany. EEG correlates of multimodal ganzfeld induced hallucinatory imagery. Abstract Multimodal ganzfeld (MMGF) frequently induces dreamlike, pseudo-hallucinatory imagery. The aim of the study was to explore EEG correlates of MMGF-induced imagery. In a screening phase, seven 'high-responders' were selected by frequency and quality of their reported hallucinatory experience in MMGF. Each of these subjects then participated in three MMGF sessions (45 min) with simultaneous 19 channel EEG recordings and indicated occurrences of imagery by pressing a button. Relative spectral power changes during percept formation (30 s preceding subjects' reports) with respect to intra-individual baselines (no-imagery EEG) were analysed. At the beginning of the 30-s 'image formation' period alpha was slightly reduced than in the 'no-imagery' periods. This was followed by increased power in the higher alpha frequency band (10-12 Hz) which then declined in a monotonic fashion. This decline in higher alpha power was accompanied by increased power in the beta frequency bands. Throughout the image formation period there was a steady decline in power of low frequency alpha (8-10 Hz). Correlations between descriptors of subjective experience and EEG power changes were evaluated in terms of their global average magnitude and variability in time. Results indicate that the acceleration of alpha activity is a nonspecific effect of MMGF. In contrast, the tri-phasic profile of faster alpha activity seems to be a specific correlate of the retrieval and transformation of memory content in ganzfeld imagery. Peter Pütz, MatthiasBraeunig, Jiří WackermannDepartment of Empirical and Analytical Psychophysics, Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology, Wilhemstrasse 3a, D-79098 Freiburg i. Br., Germany. text/html 2008-12-04T21:30:42+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/light-sound-mind-machines/laxman-light-sound-machine-will-arrive-here-in-a-week-o.html Mind Modulations has something new coming in from Germany: http://www.mindmodulations.com/prod-neurotronics-laxman-mind-machine.html (http://www.mindmodulations.com/prod-neurotronics-laxman-mind-machine.html) More to come... text/html 2008-12-04T01:36:45+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/games/emotiv-epoc-brain-wave-pc-controller-delayed-until.html The release of the much anticipated Emotiv Systems Epoc (http://emotiv.com) is delayed until next year, according to Big Download (http://news.bigdownload.com/2008/12/01/emotiv-epoc-brain-wave-pc-controller-delayed-until-2009/). They were told by a Emotiv PR representative that the device is being delayed so that it works as planned when released. The new release date will be sometime in 2009. text/html 2008-12-03T21:51:09+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/synesthesia/tactile-emotion-synaesthesia.html I just saw this on the great blog 'Neuro Philosophy'. (http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2008/12/tactile_emotion_synaesthesia.php) Two researchers (http://cbc.ucsd.edu/ramabio.html) from the Center for Brain and Cognition (http://cbc.ucsd.edu/) have found a rare new form of synaesthesia that they have labeled 'tactile-emotion synaesthesia' (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a903073357~db=all~jumptype=rss). They have found two individual cases of patients experiencing specific emotions whenever touching particular textures! The feeling of denim, in one of the cases, caused strong feelings of depression and disgust. Abstract: We discuss experiments on two individuals in whom specific textures (e.g., denim, wax, sandpaper, silk, etc.) evoked equally distinct emotions (e.g., depression, embarrassment, relief, and contentment, respectively). The test/retest consistency after 8 months was 100%. A video camera recorded subjects' facial expressions and skin conductance responses (SCR) were monitored as they palpated different textures. Evaluators' ratings significantly correlated with the valence of synesthetes' subjective reports, and SCR was significantly enhanced for negative synesthetic emotions. We suggest this effect arises from increased cross-activation between somatosensory cortex and insula for 'basic' emotions and fronto-limbic hyperactivation for more subtle emotions. It may represent an enhancement of pre-existing evolutionarily primitive interactions between touch and emotions. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18821168 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18821168) text/html 2008-12-03T21:49:49+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/dreaming-general/can-freuds-theory-of-dreams-hold-up-against-modern-neurosci.html HOBSON'S CHOICECan Freud's Theory of Dreams Hold Up Against Modern Neuroscience? This following is an excerpt from an article printed in 'The Believer' magazine written by Rachel Aviv. Oct 2007 It wasn’t until the 1950s, fifty years after the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams,that scientists began bringing people into their labs for sleepovers. They’d spray water on them, or rub their faces with cotton puffs, or ring a bell and then wake them up and see what happened. Volunteers were kept up for days and watched closely, to see whether or not they’d go insane. The early experiments were crude and often conducted by psychiatrists trained in Freudian theory. One prominent researcher studied sexual dream symbols by attempting to correlate erections (he wrapped a nooselike device around the sleeper’s penis) with aggressive dream content, like dog- and snakebites, knife fights, and scenes of choking. He was able to correctly predict tumescence seven times out of eight. Other researchers took a sociological approach to dreams, meticulously cataloging their content: women dream of men more than men dream of women; black people are more likely to be physically damaged in their dreams than white people; 80 percent of adult dreams have a negative component—their hair looks bad or they can’t find their keys or their kid won’t stop crying—and after ninth grade, children’s dreams become significantly more aggressive. The field of dream research deals with the worst kind of data: reported by groggy volunteers, grasping at half-formed memories. Once you wake someone up, you’ve already interfered with the evidence. Hobson’s Activation-Synthesis model was so well received, in part, because it was based on neuroscience, not subjective reports. Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who is well known for her research on how dreams affect mood, recalls first hearing Hobson propose his model at a conference in the early ’70s. “A bunch of us were sitting next to each other and we said, ‘You got it the wrong way around! We won’t let your physiological tail wave our psychological dream-dog!’ I used to say about Allan, ‘Oh the trouble is, he’s looking at cell recordings, he’s not talking to people—if he were paying attention to his own dreams, he would be smarter at it.’ When he did start paying attention to these things, I felt he modified his ideas a good deal.” Only in recent years has Hobson become willing to talk more about the part of dreams that most people are interested in—feelings, symbols, characters, themes. After waking up from a particularly vivid nightmare, few of us are wondering, What part of my brain was just functioning? With practice and the help of a Nightcap (a bandanna device that beeps every few hours, wakes you up, then records whatever you say about your interrupted dream), Hobson began focusing more on the softer side of his field. “I love to talk about my dreams,” he said at the consciousness conference last year. “I’m not sure any of it really makes any difference, or that I learn anything I didn’t know, but it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing to do.” His enthusiasm for dreams became even more pronounced when, for a startling month in 2001, he lost the ability to have them. While vacationing in Monte Carlo, Hobson suffered a stroke that affected the precise part of the brain stem that he began his career studying. He knew how his body would respond because he had done countless experiments on how damage to this area affects lab cats. He became nauseous, lost balance, and felt he was drowning in his own saliva. For eight days, he lost the ability to fall asleep. For a month, he couldn’t dream. He felt himself becoming psychotic with exhaustion. Like Freud, inventor of the talking cure, dying of oral cancer, Hobson seemed to have the perfect affliction. “I was wide awake all night long,” he recalls. “I said to myself, I am a cat. I am an experimental animal. But this is no experiment.” Click 'Read More' below for the rest. text/html 2008-12-03T21:15:00+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/eeg-coherence-effects-of-audio-visual-stimulation.html EEG coherence effects of audio-visual stimulation (AVS) at dominant and twice dominant alpha frequency Jon A. Frederick, Ph.D.* DeAnna L. Timmermann, Ph.D.** Harold L. Russell, Ph.D.*** Joel F. Lubar, Ph.D.**** Journal of Neurotherapy, In Press *Corresponding author. Center for Computational Biomedicine, University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, 7000 Fannin Suite 600, Houston, TX 77030. (713) 500-3464, email: smiile@psynet.net **Department of Psychology, Eastern Oregon University, One University Avenue, LaGrande, OR 97850. ***P.O. Box 240, Galveston, TX, 77553. ****Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, 307 Austin Peay, Knoxville, TN 37996. SUMMARY. The effects of a single session of audio-visual stimulation (AVS) at the dominant alpha rhythm and twice-dominant alpha frequency on EEG coherence were studied in 23 subjects. An eyes-closed baseline EEG determined each subject's dominant alpha frequency. Subjects were stimulated at their dominant alpha frequency or at twice dominant alpha frequency for twenty minutes, while EEG was recorded in 5-minute intervals. A post-session baseline was recorded 30 minutes after each session. AVS decreased coherence in the intrahemispheric projections from the occipital region and the parietal midline, and generally increased coherence, with few exceptions, among all other longitudinal pairs. Interhemispheric coherence increased posteriorily and high frequencies, and tended to decrease frontally and low frequencies. Alpha AVS was more effective than twice-alpha AVS at producing interhemispheric synchronization, and tended to produce more effects overall. Although main effects of frequency and time were observed, when individual coherence pairs changed, they almost always changed in only one direction. Overall coherence was greater during the first ten minutes than the last ten minutes, and greatest in the beta 1 and delta 2 bands, and lowest in the alpha and delta 1 bands. Few, if any, significant effects persisted into the post-stimulation baseline. A new method of assessing the effects of multiple comparisons on experimentwise error, based on randomization theory, is proposed and implemented. Click 'Read More' below for the rest text/html 2008-08-27T15:40:24+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/nintendo-wii-to-use-eeg-for-controlling-games-5.html From T3 (http://www.t3.com/news/nintendo-wii-as-it-might-look-in-2010?=36036) Mind-controlled Nintendo Wii 2.0 set to rock Mario's console galaxy? The Nintendo Wii may have revolutionised gaming but we wouldn't bet against it further upping-the-ante, should a mind-controlled Wii 2.0 ever grace our living rooms. Our awesome artist's impressions, part of the future tech feature in the new issue of T3 Magazine, showcase a Wii headset accessory that uses brainwaves to control characters and also feature immersive in-ear headphones. Sweet. We've also imagined a streamlined Wii Remote with just the one button. You point and press, your frontal lobes do the rest. Brain-wave technology is already becoming a reality with Emotiv pioneering in-game systems, but our crystal ball of gadge is advising us to stick a few quid on Nintendo knocking-out the first mind-controlled console on the market. Hopefully we'll have more info on this soon. Some more images: text/html 2008-06-13T00:17:12+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/products/thinking-up-beautiful-music.html By Andrew WebbTechnology reporter, BBC News Researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London have developed technology to translate thoughts into musical notes. The Brain Computer Interface for Music requires electrodes to be attached to the head. They pick up electrical impulses from the brain which are passed through an electroencephalography (EEG) machine and analysed. The man behind the project, Dr Mick Grierson, demonstrated the system to BBC News. When musical notes flash the scientist stares at the display while thinking of a note he wants to play. When the same note appears it unconsciously triggers a change in his brain activity - a change registered by the computer he was plugged into. After a while it will make a decision about which note I am thinking about and it tries to play it, he said. Dr Grierson has run trials in which 6 out of 8 notes played were the same as those being thought of. text/html 2008-06-13T00:13:45+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/products/g-tecs-thought-control-hat.html From Engadget: Hey you. Yeah, you, listen in close; we've seen the future here at CeBIT. If you thought that the idea of controlling your gaming rig with only your mind was just a bit too Tomorrowland, then you haven't laid eyes on the brain-computer interface developed by Austria's Guger Tecnologies (g.tec). We're happy to report that in a game of thought-control vs. Engadget man-editor, we were totally pwned at Pong. 10-to-4 if you must know. Our competition sat smug in his stool thinking about where he wanted his paddle to go, as we flailed about helpless with mouse and keyboard in a wake of alpha waves. At least we didn't have to smear gel on our scalp and wear a funny hat -- ha! The system works by cleverly measuring fluctuations in electrical voltage in the brain and then translating them into computer commands. The technology has already been commercialized into the size of an iPAQ Pocket PC for hospitals and research institutes. It costs about $5,000 with a 99 - 100% level of accuracy for trained subjects. We had our hat handed to us by a person who just started using the system, yesterday. Hell, that's a shorter learning curve than Graffiti. Although the technology shows great promise in controlling prosthetics and assisting the disabled with communications, we found ourselves (and our new best scientist friends, Christoph Guger and Ingo Niedermayer) eagerly discussing its use as a Second Life controller and of course, in robotics. Be sure to click the read link below for all the details; check the gallery for the gore. link: http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/16/g-tecs-thought-control-hat/ text/html 2008-06-05T13:08:03+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/the-science-of-sarcasm.html From the New York Times: There was nothing very interesting in Katherine P. Rankin’s study of sarcasm — at least, nothing worth your important time. All she did was use an M.R.I. to find the place in the brain where the ability to detect sarcasm resides. But then, you probably already knew it was in the right parahippocampal gyrus. What you may not have realized is that perceiving sarcasm, the smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Dr. Rankin’s study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, “Nice weather we’re having.” text/html 2007-12-03T18:46:12+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/young-chimps-are-better-than-adults-in-numerical-memory.html Sana Inoue and Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University showed a computer screen grid of nine numbers to six chimpanzees. The chimps were previously trained to recognize the ascending nature of the numbers. They were also shown to nine college students. When subjects touched one of the numbers, all of the others vanished. They then had to touch the squares in the order of the numbers that used to be there. When the numbers flashed for just four-tenths of a second or less, one of the chimps beat all of the college students. Here's the press release from 'Current Biology', a publication of Cell Press: text/html 2007-11-21T21:22:21+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/general/a-young-persons-guide-to-brainwave-music.html This is a great article from the now defunct Canadian magazine 'HorizonZero'. The zine was a multimedia web magazine about digital art and culture in Canada. This article is from issue 15 published in 2004 - but this is the first time I've seen it. This article was written by Andrew Brouse. You can check out the other issues at http://www.horizonzero.ca (http://www.horizonzero.ca) A Young Person's Guide to Brainwave Music Forty years of audio from the human EEG by Andrew Brouse It is mid-August 2003. In the midst of a sweltering heat wave, James Fung and other students of University of Toronto Cyberman professor Steve Mann are hectically preparing sophisticated electronic and computer technology for a unique sonic and visual event: an improvised collective musical piece created interactively from the brainwaves of audience participants. REGEN3: Regenerative Brainwave Music will be orchestrated by feeding tiny micro-voltages gathered from forty wired performers into a responsive EEG network: a cyborg collective comprising the cybernetic interactions between performers, musicians, electronics, and computing machines. Norbert Wiener, the originator of cybernetics, would be impressed. Unfortunately, the planned performance coincides with the largest blackout in North America's history. Major cities from New York to Toronto are effectively shut down. Pre-empted by the failure of a far more massive network - the North American power grid - this networked performance of music and minds has to wait for another day. Music of the Mind Two weeks later on August 30, 2003, Steve Mann and James Fung do manage to gather together the needed human energies to present REGEN3 / Regenerative Brainwave Music. [http://regen.eyetap.org (http://regen.eyetap.org) Using hardware from Thought Technology [www.thoughttechnology.com (http://www.thoughttechnology.com) and the PD interactive programming environment, [www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software (http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software) the brainwaves of the audience-performers are channelled into the creation of an interactive sonic and visual environment, where the participants' brainwave patterns create the music and lighting effects for the evening. Readers having sensations of déjà-vu are not entirely mistaken: this event was only the most recent salient example in the history of brainwave music in which diligent visionary individuals, artists and scientists, have worked together to synthesize hybrid works of art-science. Since 1965, when Alvin Lucier composed the first piece of music using human brainwaves as a generative source, brainwave music has undergone a fascinating evolution. To fully appreciate the directions this music is taking today, it is helpful to reflect upon the history of bioelectricity, brainwaves, and the context in which brainwave music has evolved. Bioelectricity Brainwaves are a form of bioelectricity , or electrical phenomena in animals or plants. The history of research into bioelectricity began around 1780 with Luigi Galvani, who discovered that he could cause muscles in a frog's leg to contract by applying an electrical current to exposed nerves. This work was followed by that of Emil Heinrich Du Bois-Reymond, considered the founder of modern electrophysiology, who in the 1840s began to measure biological currents in electric fish and later in humans via electrodes embedded directly in his own arm. In 1875 the British neurophysiologist Richard Caton succeeded in measuring brain electrical activity using electrodes implanted directly in the brain tissue of rabbits and monkeys. At the time, it was not believed to be possible to extract meaningful data by measuring more non-invasively, with electrodes placed on the human scalp. (Electrical implants directly into the brain were not widely used on humans for obvious ethical reasons.) History of Brainwaves Human brainwaves were first measured in 1924 by Hans Berger, at the time an unknown German psychiatrist. He termed these electrical measurements the electroencephalogram (EEG), which literally means brain electricity writing . Berger published his brainwave results in 1929 as Über das Elektrenkephalogramm des Menschen ( On the Electroencephalogram of Man ). The English translation did not appear until 1969. Berger is a complex and enigmatic figure in the history of medical science. He had a lifelong obsession with finding scientific proof of a causal linkage between the psychical world of human consciousness and the physiological world of neurological electrical signals. He pursued this quest in the most methodical, disciplined scientific manner possible, determined to explain observed telepathic phenomena in terms of theories of the conservation of energy. Yet Berger's belief in this hypothesis stemmed not from his research itself, but from a personal subjective experience. Berger had almost died in an accident in his youth. The very same day he received a sudden unexpected telegram from his family inquiring into his health. Berger believed that his family had received some sort of telepathic communication from him at his moment of near-death. Sonification of Brainwaves Initially, Berger's work was largely ignored. It was not until five years after his first paper was published (when E.D. Adrian and B.H.C. Mathews verified Berger's results) that his discovery began to draw attention. In their 1934 article in the journal Brain [http://brain.oupjournals.org (http://brain.oupjournals.org) , Adrian and Matthews also reported successfully audifying and listening to human brainwaves which they had recorded according to Berger's methods. This was the first example of the sonification of human brainwaves for auditory display. Music from Brainwaves If we accept that the perception of an act as art is what makes it art, then the first instance of the use of brainwaves to generate music did not occur until 1965. Alvin Lucier [http://alucier.web.wesleyan.edu/ (http://alucier.web.wesleyan.edu/) had begun working with physicist Edmond Dewan in 1964, performing experiments that used brainwaves to create sound. The next year, he was inspired to compose a piece of music using brainwaves as the sole generative source. Music for Solo Performer was presented, with encouragement from John Cage, at the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University in 1965. Lucier performed this piece several more times over the next few years, but did not continue to use EEG in his own compositions. Spacecraft In the late 1960s, Richard Teitelbaum [http://inside.bard.edu/teitelbaum (http://inside.bard.edu/teitelbaum) was a member of the innovative Rome-based live electronic music group Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV). In performances of Spacecraft (1967) he used various biological signals including brain (EEG) and cardiac (EKG) signals as control sources for electronic synthesizers. Over the next few years, Teitelbaum continued to use EEG and other biological signals in his compositions and experiments as triggers for nascent Moog electronic synthesizers. Ecology of the Skin Then in the late 1960s, another composer, David Rosenboom [http://music.calarts.edu/~david/ (http://music.calarts.edu/~david/) , began to use EEG signals to generate music. In 1970-71 Rosenboom composed and performed Ecology of the Skin, in which ten live EEG performer-participants interactively generated immersive sonic/visual environments using custom-made electronic circuits. Around the same time, Rosenboom founded the Laboratory of Experimental Aesthetics at York University in Toronto, which encouraged pioneering collaborations between scientists and artists. For the better part of the 1970s, the laboratory undertook experimentation and research into the artistic possibilities of brainwaves and other biological signals in cybernetic biofeedback artistic systems. Many artists and musicians visited and worked at the facility during this time including John Cage, David Behrman, LaMonte Young, and Marian Zazeela. Some of the results of the work at this lab were published in the book Biofeedback and the Arts (Aesthetic Research Centre of Canada, 1976). A more recent 1990 monograph by Rosenboom, Extended Musical Interface with the Human Nervous System [ http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/MONOGRAPHS/ROSENBOOM/rosenboom.html (http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/MONOGRAPHS/ROSENBOOM/rosenboom.html) , remains the definitive theoretical document in this area. Simultaneously, Manford Eaton was also building electronic circuits to experiment with biological signals at Orcus Research in Kansas City. He initially published an article titled Biopotentials as Control Data for Spontaneous Music (Orcus) in 1968. Then, in 1971, Eaton first published his manifesto Bio-Music: Biological Feedback Experiential Music Systems (Orcus; republished in 1974 by Something Else Press), arguing for completely new biologically generated forms of music and experience. Corticalart In France, scientist Roger Lafosse was doing research into brainwave systems and proposed, along with musique concrète pioneer Pierre Henry, a sophisticated live performance system known as Corticalart (art from the cerebral cortex). In a series of free performances done in 1971, along with generated electronic sounds, one saw a television image of Henry in dark sunglasses with electrodes hanging from his head, projected so that the content of his brainwaves changed the colour of the image according to his brainwave patterns. Brain-Computer Interface Unbeknownst to these various composers, Jacques Vidal, a computer science researcher at UCLA, was working to develop the first direct brain-computer interface (BCI) using a batch-processing IBM computer. In 1973, he published Toward Direct Brain-Computer Communication (Annual Review of Biophysics and Bioengineering Vol. 2). Incidentally, the computer used in Vidal's research was one of the nodes on the nascent Arpanet, precursor to the Internet. Vidal has recently revisited this field in his speculative 1998 article Cyberspace Bionics. [www.cs.ucla.edu/~vidal/bionics.html (http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~vidal/bionics.html) Burst of Alpha Throughout most of the 1970s there was a burst of activity in brainwave music and art. Parallel to the work in Toronto, the Montréal group SONDE, along with Charles de Mestral, did some brainwave performances. At Logos in Ghent, Belgium, real-time brainwave triggered concerts were presented in 1972 and 1973. In Baltimore the Peabody Electronic Music Consort did performances. Rosenboom and others continued their work at Mills College. Toward the end of the 1970s, biofeedback and brainwave research fell into a period of quiescence due to many factors, primarily a lack of funding and of sufficiently powerful computers. Almost nothing happened in the field for about ten years. BioMuse Then in 1990 two scientists, Benjamin Knapp and Hugh Lusted, began working on a computer interface called the BioMuse. [www.biocontrol.com/biomuse.html (http://www.biocontrol.com/biomuse.html) It permitted a human to control certain computer functions via bioelectric signals including EEG and EMG (electromyogram: a measure of muscle-related bioelectricity). In 1992, Atau Tanaka [www.sensorband.com/atau/ (http://www.sensorband.com/atau/) was commissioned by Knapp and Lusted to compose and perform music using the BioMuse as a controller. Tanaka continued to use the BioMuse, primarily as an EMG controller, in live performances throughout the 1990s. In 1996, Knapp and Lusted wrote an article for Scientific American about the BioMuse called Controlling Computers with Neural Signals. [www.absoluterealtime.com/resume/SciAmBioCtl.pdf (http://www.absoluterealtime.com/resume/SciAmBioCtl.pdf) Current Work During the past five years or so there has been a renewed interest in brainwave music and a resurgence in its performance. Much of this new work is naive in the sense that the musicians are not fully cognisant of the rich history of brainwave music and research which has preceded them. There has also been something of a bifurcation between those using hobbyist biofeedback equipment or techniques and those preferring to take a more rigorous scientific approach. Nonetheless, current advances in Brain-Computer Interface technology, along with advanced digital signal processing and more sophisticated aesthetic theoretical foundations, will inevitably drive the field forward into a new era of possibilities and music not yet imagined. Below is a sampling of some of the new and promising projects currently underway. Music and Art Artist/musician Neam Cathode showed Cyber Mondrian [www.oboro.net/archive/exhib0001/neam/neam.html (http://www.oboro.net/archive/exhib0001/neam/neam.html) at Montreal's Oboro Gallery in 2001. This work incorporated Mondrian-like generated images with synthesized sound that was controlled using the Interactive Brainwave Visual Analyzer or IBVA system. [www.ibva.com (http://www.ibva.com) New York improviser David First created OPERATION: KRACPOT [http://davidfirst.com/krac.html (http://davidfirst.com/krac.html) in 2002 using brainwave entrainement and the phenomenon of the Schumann resonances [www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/Schumann.html (http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/Schumann.html) to create haunting music. Paras Kaul, the so-called Brain Wave Chick , [www.brainwavechick.com/ (http://www.brainwavechick.com/) has been using the IBVA system in her own brainwave music at George Mason University for many years. Adam Overton, a student of David Rosenboom at CalArts, has very recently performed his series of works entitled Sitting.Breathing.Series and Other Biometric Work. [ http://www.calarts.edu/~aoverton/projects/Sitting.Breathing/ (http://www.calarts.edu/~aoverton/projects/Sitting.Breathing/) Andrew Brouse, the author of this article, created his InterHarmonium [www.music.mcgill.ca/~brouse/interharmonium (http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~brouse/interharmonium) in 2001. This Internet-enabled brainwave performance system uses Max/MSP [www.cycling74.com/products/maxmsp.html (http://www.cycling74.com/products/maxmsp.html) and OpenSoundControl [http://cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl/ (http://cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl/) software. BCI Research Jessica Bayliss has a background in music technology, and has been working on Brain-Computer Interfaces for real-time control of computers at the Rochester Institute of Technology. [www.cs.rit.edu/~jdb/research/bci.sigproc.html (http://www.cs.rit.edu/~jdb/research/bci.sigproc.html) Eduardo Miranda runs the Neuromusic lab at the University of Plymouth, [http://neuromusic.soc.plymouth.ac.uk/neuromusic.html (http://neuromusic.soc.plymouth.ac.uk/neuromusic.html) where researchers are trying to further earlier research into brainwave music using the latest advances in Brain-Computer Interfaces. There are other active BCI research projects at universities around the world, including the University of British Columbia, [www.ece.ubc.ca/~garyb/BCI.htm (http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~garyb/BCI.htm) the Wadsworth Centre [www.bciresearch.org (http://www.bciresearch.org) in Albany, the University of Tubingen, [www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/tci/ (http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/tci/) and the University of Technology Graz. [www.dpmi.tu-graz.ac.at/bci.htm (http://www.dpmi.tu-graz.ac.at/bci.htm) Andrew Brouse is a multidisciplinary musician, composer, artist, and technologist. He has worked in the contemporary intermedia arts and music for over fifteen years. He currently lives in Montreal. text/html 2007-09-19T14:16:48+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/dreaming-lucid-dreaming/the-passing-of-time-in-dreams-a-study-using-lucid-d.html The following is a study used lucid dreamers to determine the subjective measurement of time in dreams - by Daniel Erlacher and Michael Schredl from Germany. Time required for motor activity in lucid dreams Daniel Erlacher - Institute for Sport and Sport Science, University of Heidelberg, GermanyMichael Schredl - Sleep laboratory, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany Summary The present study investigated the relationship between the required time for specific tasks (counting and performing squats) in lucid dreams and in the waking state. Five proficient lucid dreamers (26-34 years old, M = 29.8, SD = 3.0; one woman and four men) participated in this study. The results showed that the time needed for counting in a lucid dream is comparable to the time needed for counting in wakefulness, but motor activities required more time in lucid dreams than in the waking state. Introduction The relationship between subjectively estimated time in dreams and real time has intrigued scientists for centuries (cf. Hall, 1981). Maury (1861) reported a long and intense dream about the French revolution which ended with the dreamer in the guillotine and the sleeper waking up with a piece of his wooden bed top having fallen on his neck. Because of the logical line of dream action, Maury (1861) hypothesized that the dream was generated backwards by the arousing stimulus. Nowadays, the hypothesis is widely accepted that the subjectively experienced time in dreams corresponds with the actual time (overview: Schredl, 2000). This relationship was first experimentally demonstrated by Dement and Kleitman (1957). In this study, the participants were awakened in a random order either after 5 or 15 minutes of REM sleep. After awakening, participants were asked to estimate whether the elapsed sleep interval was 5 or 15 minutes. From 111 awakenings, 83 % judgments were correct. Furthermore, the elapsed time of the REM period correlated with the length of the dream report (from r=.40 to r=.71). The latter findings were replicated by Glaubman and Lewin (1977), as well as by Hobson and Stickgold (1995). Rosenlicht, Maloney, and Freiberg (1994) found only small differences between time of REM sleep and the reported length of dreams. Overall, these studies support the idea that dreams take the same amount of time the actions would take in waking. Lucid dreams might be particularly applicable to study time intervals in dreams, because lucid dreamers are able of executing prearranged tasks in their lucid dreams and mark the beginning and the end of the task with eye signals that can be measured objectively by electrooculogram (EOG) recording (cf. Erlacher, Schredl, LaBerge, 2003). The term “lucid dream” designates a dream in which the dreamer, while dreaming, is aware that she or he is dreaming and she or he can consciously influence the action in the dream (Tholey Utecht, 1997; LaBerge, 1985). In a pilot study, LaBerge (1985) showed that time intervals for counting from one to ten in lucid dreams (by counting from one-thousand-and-one to one-thousand-and-ten) are close to the time intervals for counting during wakefulness. We hypothesized, that there is no difference between the time needed for counting or performing a motor activity in a lucid dream and the time needed for the same activities performed in the waking state. more after the jump text/html 2007-09-19T12:56:20+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/dreaming-lucid-dreaming/an-article-on-lucid-dreaming-from-the-new-york.html This was from yesterday's New York Times - an article called 'Living Your Dreams, in a Manner of Speaking'. It talks a little about the concept of lucid dreaming, but also focuses on a new movie being written and directed by Jake Paltrow called The Good Night . Living Your Dreams, in a Manner of Speaking Established sleep researchers say lucid dreaming is occasionally reported by subjects, though it is difficult to validate scientifically. “Yes, lucid dreaming exists,” said Dr. Rodney Radtke, the medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Duke University. “Yes, people certainly can, within their dream, realize ‘this is just a dream’ and continue to participate.” “Do I believe that someone could potentially alter or interact with their dreams in such a way that they could change the dream? Yes,” he said. “Do I think that you could essentially design a dream — ‘Oh, I want to go to Honolulu and have this big hunk hit on me’? It’s a bit of a stretch. But I can’t say it can’t happen.” He added: “Only in New York or California do they worry about this stuff.” Stephen LaBerge, a psychophysiologist and the founder of the Lucidity Institute (lucidity.com), conducts lucid dream research and teaches people to do it.“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible,” Dr. LaBerge said. “Fly. Dream sex. That’s what everybody likes to do. There’s also the possibility of creative problem-solving, overcoming nightmares and anxieties, learning more about yourself.”A student at Stanford University, where Dr. LaBerge conducted much of his research, wrote in The Stanford Daily: “In one of my earliest experiences with lucidity, I announced to an auditorium full of people that I was their god (wasn’t I?). When they did not respond deferentially, I used telekinesis to send one of them flying across the room.”It can be particularly appealing to those who have nightmares, as it allows them to realize while still asleep that they are just dreaming.Interest in these potential real-world benefits and the otherworldly freedoms of lucid dreaming — as well as the questions it provokes about the precarious nature of reality — has spurred the invention and evolution of seemingly wacky dream aids. There are masks with lights and sounds; Orwellian devices that announce THIS IS A DREAM! in the middle of the night; and pills.At the Hawaii gathering next month, attendees will be able to check out Dr. LaBerge’s NovaDreamer, a mask meant to light up during REM sleep and cue the person entangled in the sheets that he or she is dreaming. It is based on the notion that people can make a plan while awake and then execute it in their dreams. A light or sound is meant to remind them of their goal of lucid dreaming without actually waking them up. Participants may also take part in experiments with an herbal version of a drug that impacts acetylcholine, a neurotransmitting compound that affects memory.As bizarre as these things may sound, there is a scientific rationale for cueing users during REM sleep. “REM-sleep dreams are much more visual,” said Matthew P. Walker, the director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former assistant professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School. “They have a strong narrative that runs through them. They’re hallucinogenic.”There are several reasons for this, including that the lateral prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in logical reasoning and working memory, becomes more inactive during REM sleep, while other areas of the brain, like the visual and emotional centers, rev up.Scientists, however, are still trying to discover the difference between the dreaming brain and the lucid-dreaming brain. The leading candidate, Dr. Walker said, is the lateral prefrontal cortex. He thinks that during REM sleep, the activity level of this logic-oriented part of the brain begins to rise back to waking levels, and when it does, an invisible switch is flipped and the sleeper gains lucidity. “In the next five years, I think somebody will demonstrate that,” he said.Lucid-dream researchers say there are myriad mental exercises a person can do during waking hours to try to become cognizant while dreaming. One technique involves performing various reality checks many times a day — such as looking at the numbers on a watch, looking away, and then looking at them again to make sure that night has not suddenly become day. The theory is that if a person does this regularly while awake, he or she will likely repeat it while dreaming and will recognize inconsistencies — if, say, the watch is melting in a Dali-esque way. Then the sleeper will think: “This looks surreal. I must be dreaming.”more after the jump text/html 2007-09-19T11:58:08+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/unidentified-flying-objects-ufo-/video-interesting-experiment-richard-dawkins-on-the-god-ma.html Michael Persinger is a neuropsychologist at Canada's Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. His theory isthat the sensation described as having a religious experience is merely a side effect of our bicameral brain'sfeverish activities. He has attempted to create experiments to show that when the right hemisphere of the brainis stimulated in the cerebral region presumed to control notions of self, and then the left hemisphere is calledupon to make sense of this nonexistent entity, the mind generates what is felt as a 'sensed presence.' Many of Persinger's studies detail the reactions that people have when their temporal lobes are stimulated with complex magnetic fields. Some of the subjects experience a 'sensed presence' in the form of the deity from the culture that they were raised in. They see the God (or spirits associated with their God - the Virgin Mary, Mohammed, etc) that they believe in. Others have had experiences that mimic the feeling that one would have during alien/UFO visitation - these people tend to be more agnostic. In 2003 the BBC arranged for Prof. Richard Dawkins to be a subject in one of Persinger's experiments. The results are shown in the video below: text/html 2007-09-19T11:41:12+01:00 http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/disorders/video-split-brain-behavioral-experiments.html The patient in the video had his corpus callosum removed in order to stop his seizures due to epilepsy. The procedure prevented the hemispheres from communicating with one another in any way and caused a sort of 'split consciousness'. To reduce the severity of his seizures, Joe had the bridge between his left and right cerebral hemisphers (the corpus callosum) severed. As a result, his left and right brains no longer communicate through that pathway. Here's what happens as a result: