Michael Persinger

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Michael Persinger

Michael A. Persinger (born June 26, 1945 in Jacksonville , Florida ; † August 14, 2018 ) has been Professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury , Ontario , Canada since 1971 . Since then, he has published over 200 newspaper articles and written six books. He became known through his experiments in neurotheology .

Life

Michael Persinger was born in Jacksonville , Florida and grew up in Virginia , Maryland, and Wisconsin . From 1963 to 1964 he attended Carroll College in Wisconsin . In 1967 he successfully completed his studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison . He received an MA in Physiological Psychology from the University of Tennessee ; he then received his doctorate in 1971 from the University of Manitoba .

Scientific work

Michael Persinger placed the focus of his work on researching the similarities between different sciences. The Behavioral Neuroscience Program can also be traced back to him. This is one of the first attempts to teach chemistry , biology and psychology in one subject. He published a large part of his interdisciplinary studies in public forums .

Experiments on neurotheology

During the 1980s he became famous for his experiments on neurotheology . With his religion helmet he tried to prove religion as a pure construct of the brain. He electro-magnetically stimulated the temporal lobe of test subjects and wanted to induce a spiritual experience .

The religious helmet

In a soundproofed room, the test subjects were given a helmet developed by Michael Persinger. This helmet generated a magnetic field , the strength of which was about a tenth of the earth's own magnetic field. In doing so, he now acted on the brain of the test subjects. They believed it was a relaxation exercise. He carried out this experiment with approx. 1000 test persons and with 80% of the participants he was of the opinion that they had demonstrated a spiritual experience.

Some test persons described a state of floating or thought they felt the presence of a guardian angel . Some described having met God personally. But also non-religious test persons had transcendent experiences with the magnetic stimulation . For example, atheists described an attachment to the universe .

He concluded that religion, which has and will provoke wars, only harms people. He also believed that he had demonstrated a God module in the brain . The experiences of the test subjects and the brain functions were similar to those of epileptics during a seizure. He also wanted to explain historically transmitted phenomena in this way. These were caused by changes in the earth's magnetic field. In the same way he explains light phenomena in connection with UFOs .

Failed attempt to confirm

A review of Persinger's experiments took place at the University of Uppsala in Sweden with 43 students in a double-blind study . More than half of the test subjects had spiritual experiences. However, it was the case that in 11 of the 22 tested people who felt a slight change, and in two of the three participants who had strongly mystical experiences, the magnetic fields were not active. It is highly likely that all of the changes reported were a placebo effect .

literature

  • PM History , 11/2008, editor: Sascha Priester
  • Patterns in the head of why we think what we think . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg, 2006
  • The brain, the most important answers . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2007

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Death report (English)
  2. P. Granqvist, M. Fredrikson, P. Unge, A. Hagenfeldt, S. Valind, D. Larhammar, M. Larsson: Sensed presence and mystical experiences are predicted by suggestibility, not by the application of transcranial weak complex magnetic fields . In: Neurosci. Lett. tape 379 , no. 1 , April 2005, p. 1-6 , doi : 10.1016 / j.neulet.2004.10.057 , PMID 15849873 .