🚀 go-pugleaf

	I'm looking for _recent_ (1992+) literature on 'brain' or 
'mind machines.' --- devices that employ photic stimulation via goggles
and pulsed sound/'binaural beats' to (allegedly) effect specific changes
in consciousness. You'll often see these devices (if you bother to look)
being hawked by new-age types. Please, no references from pop-science/new-age
books. Peer-reviewed journals are more what I'm looking for. I remember reading
a good article on the subject by Barry Beyestein (?) called 'Brainscams' or
something like that. Is this the only recent or semi-recent article out there
on this subject?
   
        Are there studies that substantiate the claims of the makers of 
these devices? --- Not being in science or medicine, I don't have
the requisite knowledge to evaluate these claims and seek your assistance. 

	_The_ major claim seems to be that shining pulsed light into the
eyes of a subject (say, 4 HZ) will 'entrain' the subject's brain-waves to
the frequency of the pulsed light. 

        The first objection I see to this claim is that the brain doesn't
produce just one frequency of brain-waves... so the claim is misleading.
Could someone comment further on this?

        The second objection I see to the claim is that, even if the
photic stimulation generates some brain-waves of the HZ of the pulsing
light...well, will consciousness really be altered in the expected way?
Can the brain-waves be present, but have no (or a weak) correlation with
consciousness? I know flashing lights beams into closed eye-lids can generate
some pretty interesting perceptions of mandala-like geometric shapes,
(spirals, tunnels, and so forth) but are they doing anything else?

	Something that concerns me is the use of 'mind machines' that
folks hook-up to their temples. These devices are legal, but are they
safe? The amount of electricity being pumped into the person's head 
is probably minute, but who knows what damage might be occuring...
Have any of the neuroscientists here heard of the Russian 'sleep machines' ?
Apparently, these devices apply current of a specific HZ to the temples
of a person, which in turn would cause the person to fall asleep. 
I've also heard references of folks in the drug sub-culture that use a
similar method to get 'high.' They're probably causing irrepairable damage
to themselves. Has anyone here heard of this pratice? I think it's called
'wire-tripping' or 'head-tripping.' 

	Lastly, can criticisms of the photic-stimulation ---> alteration
in consciousness claim be applied (more or less the same) to the
claim of binaural-beats/aural,pulsed-stimulation ---> alteration in
consciousness?

	If you can refute these 'mind-machine' claims, please do, as you
would be doing a great service in disabusing folks on the net regarding 
this stuff. If 'mind-machines' can do what their supporters claim they can
do (via the mechanisms they claim are doing the work... what about the
placebo effect... or the plain MONOTONY or hearing pulsed sound, etc.?),
so much the better.


                   Sceptically Yours,

                           X