🚀 go-pugleaf

x@asylum.sf.ca.us (Xochi Zen) writes:


>	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?
>   

I found the following reference:

   Title: A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION  
          EFFECTS INDUCED BY AN OPTICAL-ACOUSTIC MIND MACHINE AND   
          RELAXING MUSIC                                           
  Author: BRAUCHLI-P.                                             
  Source: ZEITSCHRIFT FUR EXPERIMENTELLE UND ANGEWANDTE PSYCHOLOGIE, 
          vol. 40, issue 2,  (1993) : pp. 179-193.                  
Sections: SocBeh                                                   
                                                                  
Abstract: The present study was designed to test the effectiveness of 
          an optical-acoustic mind machine (brain machine)           
          in inducing relaxation. The mind machine used in this     
          study stimulates the user with flickers of light and pulsating  
          sounds. During the treatment the stimulation decreases from 10 
          to 2 hertz and increases again at half time. No other relaxation 
          inducing effects were used. Sixteen subjects received two or    
          three sessions of instruction with the mind machine.           
          Afterwards the parameters listed below were continuously      
          recorded during one session with the mind machine and        
          one session with the presentation of relaxing environmental 
          sounds, which was conducted one week later: Frontal EMG, SCL on 
          the left hand, heart rate. Pre- and posttreatment samples of   
          saliva were collected and assessed for salivary IgA (S-IgA) and 
          salivary cortisol (S-cortisol). Changes in the subjects'       
          self-report were measured with a bipolar adjective list.      
          ANCOVA with repeated measures revealed a decrease for all    
          electrophysiological parameters during the mind machine     
          session. S-cortisol concentration decreases as S-IgA increases.
          The mind machine made the subjects feel warmer and            
          calmer. The results of this withindesign revealed no reliable
          differences between the mind machine and the relaxing       
          sounds of nature on the physiological and self-esteem      
          parameters. The significantly greater decrease of SCL during the 
          mind machine session was due to the elevated baseline of        
          this parameter.                                                
          The results lead to the conclusion that the mind machine      
          seems to be useful in inducing relaxation, but is no more    
          effective than the relaxing nature sounds used in this study. 
                                                                       
                        *** End of Citation ***                       


A problem with this article is that it is in German.

Charles Phelps
Science & Engineering Library
University of Southern California