EcoMeditation and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Produce Elevated Brain-wave Patterns and States of Consciousness

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-40
Author(s):  
Judith Pennington ◽  
Debbie Sabot ◽  
Dawson Church
Keyword(s):  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Mental States ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Brain Wave ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Gamma Synchrony ◽  
Emotional Freedom Techniques

Background Stress-reduction techniques can be used in combination with each other. Two such methods are Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and EcoMeditation. EFT is an evidence-based self-help method. Reviews and meta-analyses examining more than 100 studies demonstrate the efficacy of EFT for anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EcoMeditation is a secular meditation technique that combines neurofeedback, mindfulness, and heart coherence. Studies demonstrate that EFT and EcoMeditation can improve cortisol levels, heart rate, and other health markers. Objectives EFT is most commonly used to relieve stress and treat traumatic childhood memories, while EcoMeditation is used to produce calm emotional states. This study sought to elucidate whether the release of traumatic stress facilitated by EFT would enhance entry into meditative states, and secondly whether EcoMeditation prior to EFT might establish a baseline of wellbeing that assists in the resolution of trauma. Methods The Mind Mirror 6 (MM) electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to assess brain states in eight participants attending a weekend workshop. The MM measures changes in three advanced neurophysiological states of consciousness characterized by relative amplitude relationships between brain-wave frequencies: 1) the Awakened Mind pattern of lucid awareness, creativity, insight, intuition, and spiritual connection; 2) the Evolved Mind of nondual unity consciousness; and 3) the Gamma Synchrony pattern of whole-brain synchrony, mental integration, nonlocal awareness, and insight. Assessments included eyes-closed (EC) and eyes-open (EO) states, in order to determine whether changes in consciousness were sustained in waking life. Baselines were collected at the start and end of each day, and after EcoMeditation, which was performed for 20 minutes on day two. Results A statistically significant EO posttest change was found in the Awakened Mind pattern (p = 0.003). Cohen’s d = 0.79 indicated a large treatment effect. Increased brainwave coherence—a measure of efficient brain function—was found in all participants in at least one frequency category, while six increased EO Gamma Synchrony. Coherence analytics showed increased brain-wave coherence primarily in alpha but also in theta and delta and occasionally in low and midrange gamma. During EcoMeditation, all participants generated high-amplitude 45–65 Hz gamma frequencies and Gamma Synchrony values, some at the top of the statistical range, with high synchrony at posttest. Conclusions EcoMeditation produced extraordinarily high levels of Gamma Synchrony. In two days, many participants acquired elevated brain states normally found only after years of meditation practice. EcoMeditation facilitated participants’ ability to induce and sustain the alpha brain waves characteristic of high-level emotional, mental, and spiritual integration. A combination of the two methods produced statistical gains in the EO Awakened Mind, indicating that participants were able to carry elevated mental states into waking consciousness.

Mother–infant attachment, musical idol worship, and the origins of human behaviour

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 474-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Parncutt
Keyword(s):  
Later Life ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Evolutionary Response ◽  
And Coping ◽  
By Products

Actors, sportspeople, and politicians may be idolised for their appearance, personality, skills, or ideals. The idolisation of musicians additionally involves transcendental musical emotions. Fans devote extraordinary amounts of time, energy and money to following, empathising with, identifying with and imitating their idols. During great performances, fans experience altered states of consciousness. Existing evolutionary approaches can explain social dominance hierarchies but not specific fan behaviours. Another approach involves the mother schema: the perceptions, cognitions, and emotions that the late foetus and early infant (3rd and 4th trimesters) associate with the mother and her changing behaviours and physical/emotional states. The mother schema was an evolutionary response to the fragility (altriciality) of human infants, born earlier due to a larger brain and upright gait. Active reciprocal interactions between infants and carers (e.g. motherese) involve both the carer’s infant schema and the infant’s mother schema. In later life, the typical emotions of the mother schema are evoked by stimulus patterns reminiscent of the mother as perceived by the infant. In ritual situations, where the focus is on shared subjectivity, similar patterns and emotions are created. Evolutionary by-products of the mother schema include musical behaviours, religious behaviours and musical idol worship. The theory can explain why musical idols are perceived as all-loving, all-knowing and/or all-powerful, and is consistent with psychosocial functions of music and religion such as social cohesion and identity, collective motivation, empathy and mood regulation, catharsis and coping, distraction and entertainment, conflict resolution, and skill transfer.

scholarly journals BSoniq: A 3-D EEG Sound Installation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Mathew ◽  
Mert Cetinkaya ◽  
Agnieszka Roginska
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Wave ◽  
Sound Installation ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Additional Process ◽  
Event Based ◽  
Exciting Possibility

Brain Computer Interface (BCI) methods have received a lot of attention in the past several decades, owing to the exciting possibility of computer-aided communication with the outside world. Most BCIs allow users to control an external entity such as games, prosthetics, musical output etc. or are used for offline medical diagnosis processing. Most BCIs that provide neurofeedback, usually categorize the brainwaves into mental states for the user to interact with. Raw brainwave interaction by the user is not usually a feature that is readily available for a lot of popular BCIs. If there is, the user has to pay for or go through an additional process for raw brain wave data access and interaction. BSoniq is a multi-channel interactive neurofeedback installation which, allows for real-time sonification and visualization of electroencephalogram (EEG) data. This EEG data provides multivariate information about human brain activity. Here, a multivariate event-based sonification is proposed using 3D spatial location to provide cues about these particular events. With BSoniq, users can listen to the various sounds (raw brain waves) emitted from their brain or parts of their brain and perceive their own brainwave activities in a 3D spatialized surrounding giving them a sense that they are inside their own heads.

scholarly journals Understanding of Emotional States in Persons with Pedophilia / Pedophilic Disorder

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-99
Author(s):  
L.Y. Demidova ◽  
N.V. Dvoryanchikov
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Sexual Crimes ◽  
Sexual Drive ◽  
Emotional Perception ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Icd 10 ◽  
High Level

This article highlights the problem of emotional perception in pedophilia (ICD-10) / pedophilia disorder (ICD-11). In present paper, emotional perception is considered as abilities of recognizing and identifying a wide range of mental states like emotions, affects, moods, feelings. The assumption about relations of alexithymia and disturbances in the recognition of emotions, perspective taking, empathy with pedophilia and regulatory mechanisms of activity verified empirically. Two groups of persons accused of sexual crimes are compared: 44 people with pedophilia, 32 people without the disorder; also 95 persons who haven't been accused were examined for the control group; as well intra-group comparison of pedophilic persons with egosyntonic and egodystonic attitude toward sexual drive was made. Contradictions of earlier studies are resolved in the result: it is shown that in pedophilia the ability of understanding emotional states remains normal at first sight (in comparison with the deficits found in the accused without pedophilia). However, the group with pedophilia is characterized by extremely high level of alexithymia and based on this the consistently conclusion is made about disturbances of emotional regulation in egosyntonic form of this disorder.

scholarly journals Increased signal diversity/complexity of spontaneous EEG, but not evoked EEG responses, in ketamine-induced psychedelic state in humans

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Farnes ◽  
Bjørn E. Juel ◽  
André S. Nilsen ◽  
Luis G. Romundstad ◽  
Johan F. Storm
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Eeg Signal ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Eyes Open ◽  
Signal Diversity

AbstractObjectiveHow and to what extent electrical brain activity is affected in pharmacologically altered states of consciousness, where it is mainly the phenomenological content rather than the level of consciousness that is altered, is not well understood. An example is the moderately psychedelic state caused by low doses of ketamine. Therefore, we investigated whether and how measures of evoked and spontaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) signal diversity are altered by sub-anaesthetic levels of ketamine compared to normal wakefulness, and how these measures relate to subjective assessments of consciousness.MethodsHigh-density electroencephalography (EEG, 62 channels) was used to record spontaneous brain activity and responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in 10 healthy volunteers before and after administration of sub-anaesthetic doses of ketamine in an open-label within-subject design. Evoked signal diversity was assessed using the perturbational complexity index (PCI), calculated from the global EEG responses to local TMS perturbations. Signal diversity of spontaneous EEG, with eyes open and eyes closed, was assessed by Lempel Ziv complexity (LZc), amplitude coalition entropy (ACE), and synchrony coalition entropy (SCE).ResultsAlthough no significant difference was found in the index of TMS-evoked complexity (PCI) between the sub-anaesthetic ketamine condition and normal wakefulness, all the three measures of spontaneous EEG signal diversity showed significantly increased values in the sub-anaesthetic ketamine condition. This increase in signal diversity also correlated with subjective assessment of altered states of consciousness. Moreover, spontaneous signal diversity was significantly higher when participants had eyes open compared to eyes closed, both during normal wakefulness and during influence of sub-anaesthetic ketamine doses.ConclusionThe results suggest that PCI and spontaneous signal diversity may be complementary and potentially measure different aspects of consciousness. Thus, our results seem compatible with PCI being indicative of the brain’s ability to sustain consciousness, as indicated by previous research, while it is possible that spontaneous EEG signal diversity may be indicative of the complexity of conscious content. The observed sensitivity of the latter measures to visual input seems to support such an interpretation. Thus, sub-anaesthetic ketamine may increase the complexity of both the conscious content (experience) and the brain activity underlying it, while the level, degree, or general capacity of consciousness remains largely unaffected.

Stress Reduction

2016 ◽  
pp. 262-301
Keyword(s):  
Electric Power ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Printed Circuit Board ◽  
Power Converters ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Power Converter ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Circuit Board ◽  
Inrush Current

After evaluation of reliability in the previous chapters and its consideration as a converter figure of merit, in this and the next chapters, guidelines for improvement of reliability are presented. These methods are used in both design and operation process of the converter. The focus of this chapter is on the component stress reduction in the design process. Based on background of chapter two, reliability of a converter increases if it operates at a set point with low stress. It is assumed that the converter is under design process or operates without fault. The methods for reliability improvement in faulty converters are discussed in the next chapters. In this chapter, methods for reducing electric field are described at both system and printed circuit board level. Low temperature operating conditions for an electric power converter are described and tools for this goal are presented. Series connection for voltage sharing and parallel connection for current sharing is explained. Novel control methods of power converters for reducing the complexity and reliable operation are presented. Control of inrush current as a typical transient problem in electric power converters is presented. Methods for preventing the over stress condition on the components in faulty cases are described. Techniques for reducing mechanical and environmental stress are expressed. Mechanical dampers for preventing the high amplitude vibration and insulating colors against humidity are presented. Industrial and real samples are presented to demonstrate application of the proposed methods.

scholarly journals Prediction of Individual User’s Dynamic Ranges of EEG Features from Resting-State EEG Data for Evaluating Their Suitability for Passive Brain–Computer Interface Applications

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 988
Author(s):  
Ho-Seung Cha ◽  
Chang-Hee Han ◽  
Chang-Hwan Im
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Computer Interface ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Computer Interface ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg ◽  
Eeg Features

With the recent development of low-cost wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) recording systems, passive brain–computer interface (pBCI) applications are being actively studied for a variety of application areas, such as education, entertainment, and healthcare. Various EEG features have been employed for the implementation of pBCI applications; however, it is frequently reported that some individuals have difficulty fully enjoying the pBCI applications because the dynamic ranges of their EEG features (i.e., its amplitude variability over time) were too small to be used in the practical applications. Conducting preliminary experiments to search for the individualized EEG features associated with different mental states can partly circumvent this issue; however, these time-consuming experiments were not necessary for the majority of users whose dynamic ranges of EEG features are large enough to be used for pBCI applications. In this study, we tried to predict an individual user’s dynamic ranges of the EEG features that are most widely employed for pBCI applications from resting-state EEG (RS-EEG), with the ultimate goal of identifying individuals who might need additional calibration to become suitable for the pBCI applications. We employed a machine learning-based regression model to predict the dynamic ranges of three widely used EEG features known to be associated with the brain states of valence, relaxation, and concentration. Our results showed that the dynamic ranges of EEG features could be predicted with normalized root mean squared errors of 0.2323, 0.1820, and 0.1562, respectively, demonstrating the possibility of predicting the dynamic ranges of the EEG features for pBCI applications using short resting EEG data.

scholarly journals Brain Connectivity Analysis Under Semantic Vigilance and Enhanced Mental States

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fares Al-Shargie ◽  
Usman Tariq ◽  
Omnia Hassanin ◽  
Hasan Mir ◽  
Fabio Babiloni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Vigilance State ◽  
The Right

In this paper, we present a method to quantify the coupling between brain regions under vigilance and enhanced mental states by utilizing partial directed coherence (PDC) and graph theory analysis (GTA). The vigilance state is induced using a modified version of stroop color-word task (SCWT) while the enhancement state is based on audio stimulation with a pure tone of 250 Hz. The audio stimulation was presented to the right and left ears simultaneously for one-hour while participants perform the SCWT. The quantification of mental states was performed by means of statistical analysis of indexes based on GTA, behavioral responses of time-on-task (TOT), and Brunel Mood Scale (BRMUS). The results show that PDC is very sensitive to vigilance decrement and shows that the brain connectivity network is significantly reduced with increasing TOT, p < 0.05. Meanwhile, during the enhanced state, the connectivity network maintains high connectivity as time passes and shows significant improvements compared to vigilance state. The audio stimulation enhances the connectivity network over the frontal and parietal regions and the right hemisphere. The increase in the connectivity network correlates with individual differences in the magnitude of the vigilance enhancement assessed by response time to stimuli. Our results provide evidence for enhancement of cognitive processing efficiency with audio stimulation. The BRMUS was used to evaluate the emotional states of vigilance task before and after using the audio stimulation. BRMUS factors, such as fatigue, depression, and anger, significantly decrease in the enhancement group compared to vigilance group. On the other hand, happy and calmness factors increased with audio stimulation, p < 0.05.

scholarly journals The Mind-Brain Relationship as a Mathematical Problem

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio A. Ascoli
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Connectivity ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Scientific Phenomena ◽  
The Mind

This paper aims to frame certain fundamental aspects of the human mind (content and meaning of mental states) and foundational elements of brain computation (spatial and temporal patterns of neural activity) so as to enable at least in principle their integration within one and the same quantitative representation. Through the history of science, similar approaches have been instrumental to bridge other seemingly mysterious scientific phenomena, such as thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, optics and electromagnetism, or chemistry and quantum physics, among several other examples. Identifying the relevant levels of analysis is important to define proper mathematical formalisms for describing the brain and the mind, such that they could be mapped onto each other in order to explain their equivalence. Based on these premises, we overview the potential of neural connectivity to provide highly informative constraints on brain computational process. Moreover, we outline approaches for representing cognitive and emotional states geometrically with semantic maps. Next, we summarize leading theoretical framework that might serve as an explanatory bridge between neural connectivity and mental space. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of this framework for human communication and our view of reality. We conclude by analyzing the practical requirements to manage the necessary data for solving the mind-brain problem from this perspective.

Attributing mental states to story characters: A comparison of narratives produced by autistic and mentally retarded individuals

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Tager-Flusberg ◽  
Kate Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Standard Test ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Narrative Ability

ABSTRACTThis study investigated narrative abilities and their relation to theory of mind in autistic and mentally retarded subjects, who were matched for their linguistic competence on standardized measures of comprehension and production. We asked 27 autistic, 27 mentally retarded, and 17 normal subjects (whose age range matched the verbal mental age ranges of the developmentally disordered groups) to tell the story from a wordless picture book. Following their spontaneous narratives, a set of probe questions was asked about the story characters' feeling states. The autistic and mentally retarded subjects were also given a standard test of false belief. The main findings were that, when closely matched on language ability, no significant group differences were found on measures of narrative length, use of lexical cohesion devices, and mental state terms. On the probed questions, the autistic and mentally retarded subjects gave fewer appropriate emotion responses than the normal subjects, and the autistic subjects had difficulty explaining the emotional states correctly. For the autistic sample, the narrative measures were significantly correlated with performance on the theory of mind task. The findings are interpreted in terms of the contributions of both linguistic and social–cognitive factors in narrative ability.

scholarly journals ARM Controller and EEG based Drowsiness Tracking and Controlling during Driving

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
B. Naresh ◽  
S. Rambabu ◽  
D. Khalandar Basha
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Traffic Signals ◽  
Electrical Signal ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Brain Wave ◽  
Computer Interfaces ◽  
Medium Level ◽  
And Control ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Brain

<span>This paper discussed about EEG-Based Drowsiness Tracking during Distracted Driving based on Brain computer interfaces (BCI). BCIs are systems that can bypass conventional channels of communication (i.e., muscles and thoughts) to provide direct communication and control between the human brain and physical devices by translating different patterns of brain activity commands through controller device in real time. With these signals from brain in mat lab signals spectrum analyzed and estimates driver concentration and meditation conditions. If there is any nearest vehicles to this vehicle a voice alert given to driver for alert. And driver going to sleep gives voice alert for driver using voice chip. And give the information about traffic signal indication using RFID. The patterns of interaction between these neurons are represented as thoughts and emotional states. According to the human feelings, this pattern will be changing which in turn produce different electrical waves. A muscle contraction will also generate a unique electrical signal. All these electrical waves will be sensed by the brain wave sensor and it will convert the data into packets and transmit through Bluetooth medium. Level analyzer unit (LAU) is used to receive the raw data from brain wave sensor and it is used to extract and process the signal using Mat lab platform. The nearest vehicles information is information is taken through ultrasonic sensors and gives voice alert. And traffic signals condition is detected through RF technology.</span>

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