Hemispheres synchronization

Hemispheric synchronization is a method that tries to change brain activity in such a way that brain waves of the same type are measured in both hemispheres . A technique ( HemiSync ) was developed by the American sound engineer Robert Allan Monroe , with the help of which this state is to be achieved in a targeted manner and which, based on it, wants to achieve positive mental effects.

Neurological Aspects

The human cerebrum is divided into a left and a right hemisphere. The summed electrical activity ("brain waves") can be measured with the help of electroencephalography . Hemispherical synchronization aims to ensure that simultaneous energy impulses take place in both hemispheres .

Hemispheric synchronicity has been observed in schizophrenic patients, during epileptic seizures , in delta comas, and in dying individuals. It goes hand in hand with decreased mental performance.

Monroe's Hemi-Sync

Monroe believed that the thinking processes of the cerebrum in the hemispheres are realized with different clock frequencies. He called the artificial alignment of the clock frequencies hemispherical synchronization. To achieve this alignment, he used acoustic tone signals (so-called binaural beats ): A listener believes he hears an acoustic beat when a low-frequency tone (<1000 Hz) is played to one ear, and when these two tones only have a small frequency difference (<30 Hz) (if the frequency difference is greater, two separate tones are heard).

Monroe suspected a subsequent reaction in the brain in which nerve impulses occur simultaneously in groups of neurons. He put forward the thesis that sound signals of this kind can bring about a synchronization of the hemispheres of the brain, and that these are then associated with positive effects such as pain relief and an increase in learning ability. He developed the Hemi-Sync method using mind machines and founded the Monroe Institute to disseminate and research it . According to Monroe, hemispherical synchronization is the biological prerequisite for an out-of-body experience and lucid dreaming . It can be brought about with a pure mental technique just as deliberately and in a controlled manner as with a so-called mental system.

Investigations

The method is scientifically implausible and its effectiveness has not been proven in studies. Stuart Coupland, for example, noticed an increased asymmetry between the hemispheres when using Hemi-Sync - instead of the desired symmetry. Against the hoped-for effect, the fact that the sound signals act on the brain stem and not on the hemispheres.

George Adelmann warned that the pulsating stimuli used in Hemi-Sync can trigger epileptic seizures. The Monroe Institute nevertheless recommended Hemi-Sync for the treatment of epilepsy.

Monroe himself has not submitted any scientific publications about his method.

A 2004 study found reduced need for narcotics with Hemi-Sync in one form of surgery, but not in the others considered in the study.

literature

CP Johnson, MA Persinger: The sensed presence may be facilitated by interhemispheric intercalation: relative efficacy of the Mind's Eye, Hemi-Sync Tape, and bilateral temporal magnetic field stimulation. In: Perceptual and motor skills. Volume 79, Number 1 Pt 1, August 1994, pp. 351-354, ISSN 0031-5125 . PMID 7991330 .
S. Dabu-Bondoc, J. Drummond-Lewis, D. Gaal, M. McGinn, AA Caldwell-Andrews, ZN Kain: Hemispheric synchronized sounds and intraoperative anesthetic requirements. In: Anesthesia and analgesia. Volume 97, Number 3, September 2003, pp. 772-775, ISSN 0003-2999 . PMID 12933400 .
S. Dabu-Bondoc, N. Vadivelu, J. Benson, D. Perret, ZN Kain: Hemispheric synchronized sounds and perioperative analgesic requirements. In: Anesthesia and analgesia. Volume 110, Number 1, January 2010, pp. 208-210, ISSN 1526-7598 . doi : 10.1213 / ANE.0b013e3181bea424 . PMID 19861358 .

Individual evidence

^ Fenwick: Meditation and the EEG. In: West (Ed.): The Psychology of Meditation. Clarendon Press, 1987
↑ Thatcher, R. Kraus, P., Hrybk, M .: Cortico-cortical association and EEG coherence. In: EEG and Clinical Electroencephalography No. 64, 1986
^ Beyerstein, Barry: Pseudoscience and the Brain: Tuners and Tonics for Aspiring Superhumans. In: Della Sala, Sergio: Mind-Myths. Wiley and Sons, 1999
^ Reston, J .: Mission to a mind. In: Omni 7/1984
^ Oster, G .: Auditory beats in the brain. In: Scientific American 229, 1994
^ Adelmann, George: Review of Hutchinson's Megabrain. In: The Library Journal, No. 15, 3/1986, p. 73
^ Beyerstein, Barry L .: Brainscams: Neuromythologies of the New Age. In: International Journal of Mental Health Vol. 19, No. 3/1990
^ AK Lewis, IP Osborn, R. Roth: The effect of hemispheric synchronization on intraoperative analgesia. In: Anesthesia and analgesia. Volume 98, Number 2, February 2004, pp. 533-6, table of contents, ISSN 0003-2999 . PMID 14742401 .

[1] Fenwick: Meditation and the EEG. In: West (Ed.): The Psychology of Meditation. Clarendon Press, 1987

[2] Thatcher, R. Kraus, P., Hrybk, M .: Cortico-cortical association and EEG coherence. In: EEG and Clinical Electroencephalography No. 64, 1986

[3] Beyerstein, Barry: Pseudoscience and the Brain: Tuners and Tonics for Aspiring Superhumans. In: Della Sala, Sergio: Mind-Myths. Wiley and Sons, 1999

[4] Reston, J .: Mission to a mind. In: Omni 7/1984

[5] Oster, G .: Auditory beats in the brain. In: Scientific American 229, 1994

[6] Adelmann, George: Review of Hutchinson's Megabrain. In: The Library Journal, No. 15, 3/1986, p. 73

[7] Beyerstein, Barry L .: Brainscams: Neuromythologies of the New Age. In: International Journal of Mental Health Vol. 19, No. 3/1990

[PMID14742401-8] AK Lewis, IP Osborn, R. Roth: The effect of hemispheric synchronization on intraoperative analgesia. In: Anesthesia and analgesia. Volume 98, Number 2, February 2004, pp. 533-6, table of contents, ISSN 0003-2999 . PMID 14742401 .