মানুষের মস্তিষ্কের GOD SPOT কী সম্পূর্ণ মস্তিষ্কে ছড়িয়ে আছে ?

   
    

              মানুষের  মস্তিষ্কের  God Spot কী  সম্পূর্ণ  মস্তিষ্কে  ছড়িয়ে  পড়ছে ?

                     

Scientists Locate 'God Spot' in Human Brain

                 Scientists say they have located the parts of the brain that control religious faith. And the research proves, they contend, that belief in a higher power is an evolutionary asset that helps human survival

  

         এক  সময়ে  নৈতিকতার  উৎস  হিসেবে  ধর্মবাদীরা  ধর্মকে  উপস্থাপন  করে  বলতেন  যে  একমাত্র  ধর্মই  হচ্ছে   সামাজিক  সব  ধরণের   ভাল  কাজ  এবং  নৈতিকতার  মূল  উৎস  শক্তি  ৷  প্রাচীন  এমনকি  আধুনিক  যুক্তিবাদী  মানুষের  কিছু  অংশ   এখনও  ধর্মবাদীদের  এই  দাবী  সত্য  বলে  মেনে  নেন  ৷  ধর্মবাদীরা  আরো  বলতেন  যে  জৈববৈজ্ঞানিক  ভাবে  মানুষের   নৈতিকতা  এবং  মূল্যবোধের  ব্যাখ্যা  করা  সম্ভব  নয়  ৷ কারণ  এর  কোনো  জৈবিক  ব্যাখ্যা  নেই ৷  একমাত্র  ঈশ্বরই  এর  ব্যাখ্যার  মালিক ৷

          কিন্তু  পরিবর্তিকালে   বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা  বিবর্তন  প্রক্রিয়ার  মাধ্যমে  কীভাবে  পরার্থতা  এবং  পরস্পরের  মধ্যে  সহযোগিতার  মতো  ব্যাপারগুলো  প্রাণীজগতে  উদ্ভূত  হয়েছে  তার  বিজ্ঞানভিত্তিক  এবং  গ্রহণযোগ্য  ব্যাখ্যা  দিতে  সমর্থ  হয়েছেন  ৷  বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা  বলেন  প্রাকৃতিকভাবেই  পরার্থপরায়ণাতা , সহযোগিতা ,  নৈতিকতা  এবং  সামাজিক  মূল্যবোধের  মতো  অভিব্যক্তগুলো  জীবজগতে  উদ্ভূত  হয়েছে  ৷  এবং  পরবর্তিতে  ইহা  বিবর্তনের  পথ  ধরে  মানব  সমাজে  ( এমনকী  ইতরপ্রাণী  জগতের  মধ্যেও ) এসে  আরো  বিবর্ধিত  হয়ে  বিকশিত  হয়েছে  ৷

        এরই  ধারাবাহিকতায়  বোধহয়  মানুষের  মস্তিষ্কের  মধ্যেও  একটি  পরিবর্তনের ধারা  বিদ্যমান  আছে  ৷  কারণ   প্রাচীন  কালে  পৌরাণিক  বিশ্বাস  নামক  প্রথা  মানুষের  মস্তিষ্কে  প্রবেশ  করার  পরই  মানুষ  তার  নিজের  অজান্তে  বিপথে  চালিত  হচ্ছে  ৷  তাই  ক্ষেত্রবিশেষে  মানুষ  তাদের  বিশ্বাস  রক্ষার  জন্যে  নিজের  প্রাণ  পর্যন্ত বিষর্জন দিয়ে  ফেলে  ৷  নিজের  বিশ্বাসকে  মার্যাদা  দিতে  অন্যপক্ষকে  হত্যা  করা  সহ  অনেক  অনৈতিক  কাজ  সহজেই  তারা  করতে  পারে  ৷

        মনোবিজ্ঞানী  ডোরেল  রে  ২০০৯  সালে  একটি  গবেষণা  মূলক  বই    লেখেছেন ৷  IPS Press  থেকে  প্রকাশিত  বইটির  নাম  “ The  God Virus ; How  Religions  Enfects  our  live And Culture” ৷  এই  বইটিতে  তিনি  দেখিয়েছেন , জলাতঙ্ক  রোগের  জীবানু  মানুষের  দেহের  মধ্যে  ঢুকলে  কীভাবে  মানুষের  কেন্দ্রীয়  স্নায়ুতন্ত্র  অকার্য্যকর  হয়ে  যায়  ৷ জলাতঙ্ক  জীবানু দ্বারা আক্রান্ত  মানুষের  মস্তিষ্ক  তখন  সঠিক  নির্দেশ  প্রদান  করতে  সম্পূর্ণ  ব্যর্থ  হয়ে  পড়ে  ৷  ঠিক  তেমনি  ভাবে  মানুষের  ধর্মীয়  বিশ্বাসগুলো  তার  চিন্তা  চেতনাকে  আচ্ছন্ন  করে  দিয়ে  তাকে  বিপথগামী  করে ফেলে ৷  তখন যে  কেউ  তাকে দিয়ে  অনৈতিক  ও  সামাজিক  মূল্যবোধহীন  কাজগুলো  করিয়ে  নিতে  সমর্থ  হয়  ৷

          বৈজ্ঞানিকগণ  দীর্ঘদিন  গবেষণা  করে এর  জন্যে  মানুষের  মস্তিষ্কের  কোন  অংশটি  দায়ী  তা  বের  করতে  পেরেছেন  এখন  ৷  বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা  এখন  মানুষের      “ দিব্য  দর্শন ” , “ ঈশ্বর দর্শন “  এমনকী  “ ওহী  প্রাপ্তি” ইত্যাদি  ব্যাপারগুলোর  কারণও  বের  করতে  সক্ষম হয়েছেন  ৷  বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা  মনে  করেন  উল্লেখিত  বিষয়গুলো  কোনো  “ সর্বজনীন  সত্য” বিষয় নয়  ৷  ভিন্ন  ভিন্ন  সম্প্রদায়ের  মানুষের  আজন্ম  লালিত  ধর্মানুগত্য  আর  নিজ  নিজ    সংস্কৃতির  রকমফেরে  অনেক  সময়  ব্যক্তিবিশেষে  চিন্তাধারাও  পরিবর্তিত    হয়  ৷  তাই  এসবের  উংস    আসলে  মানব  মস্তিষ্কই অবস্থিত  ৷  বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা  দীর্ঘ  গবেষণার  পর  আবিস্কার  করেছেন  যে  মানুষের  মস্তিষ্কের ৪৪ টি  অংশের  মধ্যের  একটি  অংশের  নাম  টেম্পোরাল  লোব  ৷  আর  এই  টেম্পোরাল  লোবের  কার্যকারিতাকেই  এসব  ব্যাপারগুলোর  জন্যে  দায়ী  করেছেন  বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা  ৷ ১৯৫০  সালে  উইন্ডার  পেনফিল্ড  এবং  ১৯৭৫  সালে  স্নায়ু- বিশেষজ্ঞ  নরম্যান   গেসছ  উইন্ড  এই  সব  ব্যাপার  নিয়ে  প্রচুর  গবেষণা  করে  ইহা  প্রমাণ  করতে  পেরেছেন  ৷  এর  পরে  অধ্যাপক  মাইকেল  পারসিঙ্গার  মস্তিষ্কের  এই  অংশকে  অদীপ্ত  করতে  সক্ষম  একটি  মাথার  হেলমেট  প্রস্তুত  করেন  এবং  ৫০  জনের  অধিক আগ্রহী  মানুষের  দিয়ে  তা  পরিক্ষা  করান  ৷  হেলমেট  ব্যবহারকারীরা  সবাই  একটি  দৈব  উপলব্দি  প্রাপ্ত  হয়েছেন  বলে  জানিছেন  ৷  তিনি  ঐ  হেমলেট  ব্যবহারকারীদের  মধ্যে  কৃত্রিমভাবে  ধর্মীয়  প্রনোদনার  আবেশ  সৃষ্টি  করতে  সক্ষম  হয়েছেন  বলে  যে  দাবী  করছেন  ৷ আর  হেলমেট  ব্যবহারকারীরা  সে  দাবী  সঠিক  ছিল  বলে  মতামত  প্রকাশ  করেছেন  ৷

        কিন্তু  বৈজ্ঞানিকরা কোনো  বিষয়ে একটা  কিছু  আবিস্কার  করে  বসে  থাকেন  না  ৷  তখন  হয়ত  আর  একজন  বৈজ্ঞানিক  পূর্বের  আবিস্কারকে  আরো    এগিয়ে  নিতে  কাজ  আরম্ভ  করেন  ৷  God Spot এর  ব্যাপারেও  সে  রকম  হয়েছে  ৷  ২০১২  সালের  দিকে  টেম্পোরাল  লোব  এবং  গড  স্পট  নিয়ে  গবেষণার  আরো  একটি  ফল  প্রকাশিত  হয়েছে  ৷  এ  গবেষণার  কাজটি  করেছেন  Missouri  University ( M U ) এর  অধ্যাপক  Brick  Johnshone ৷   তিনি  তার গবেষণার  ফল  থেকে  বলেছেন ,মানুষের  আত্মাধীকতা  আমরা  যেমন  মনে  করি  তার  চেয়ে   আরো  অনেক  বশি  ডাইনামিক  ধারণা ৷  যা  মানুষের  মস্তিষ্কের  শুধু  টেম্পোরাল  লোব  এবং  গড  স্পট  ছাড়াও মস্তিষ্কের  আরো  অনেক  অংশ  জুড়ে  প্রসারিত  ৷  তাই  এই  সব  অংশগুলো  মানুষের  আত্মাধীকতার  ব্যাপারে  আরো  অনেক  গুরুত্বপূর্ণ  ভূমিকা  পালন  করে   থাকে  ৷  ২০১২  সালের  ২১ এপ্রিল  MAIL ON LINE নামক  একটি  অন  লাইম  পেপারে  Professor  Brick  Johnshone ( M .U ,) এর  মূল  গবেষণার  ব্যাপারে  একটি  রিপোর্ট  প্রকাশিত  হয়েছে  ৷  এই  লেখার  সঙ্গে  ঐ  রিপোর্টি  পেষ্ট  করে  সংযোজন  করা  হল  আগ্রহীদের  জন্যে  ৷   এব্যাপারে   ঐ লেখার  আগে  আরো একটি  লেখা  সরসরি যুক্ত করা হল ৷   
   NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty spent a year exploring the science of spirituality for her book Fingerprints of God, and what she concluded was that science can't prove or disprove the existence of God.

"But there was something that I saw in interviewing dozens of scientists," Bradley Hagerty tells NPR's Michele Norris. "The science of spirituality is like a Rorschach test — that you can look at the evidence and come to opposite conclusions."

Bradley Hagerty says that a materialist would say a spiritual experience is just brain chemistry — or firings in the temporal lobe of the brain — and it's all explainable by material means. But someone else could look at the same evidence and say that people are wired to be able to connect with the divine and that brain chemistry is a reflection of an encounter.

Bradley Hagerty says she could have taken 10 more years to research the book.

"One of the great pleasures was interviewing people who have had spiritual experiences; it's not just the scientists," she says, adding she talked with Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, people who were spiritual but not religious. "One of the interesting things is what they described as a spiritual experience was basically the same: An encounter with light, an encounter with love, often an out-of-body experience. What that told me is spiritual experience is spiritual experience — it's a human phenomenon and in fact, it may be divine."

 

The God spots revealed: Scientists find areas of the brain responsible for spirituality 

                Scientists have speculated for years that the human brain features a 'God spot,' one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality.

                    Now, University of Missouri researchers have completed research that indicates spirituality is a complex phenomenon and that multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences.

The new work is based on a previously published study that indicated spiritual transcendence is associated with decreased right parietal lobe functioning,

+3

New research has indicated that there is no one God-spot in the human brain and that in fact spirituality is stimulated across all lobes in the brain

                    Missouri University (MU) researchers replicated their findings. In addition, the researchers determined that other aspects of spiritual functioning are related to increased activity in the frontal lobe.

More...

•             You're more likely to believe in God as you get older: Study reveals almost half of over-68s are 'certain' that He exists
• Cloud Nine? Hubble captures 'face of God' in plumes of space dust (although the Second Coming might be delayed, as He is 75 million light years away)
• 
  

                      'We have found a neuropsychological basis for spirituality, but it’s not isolated to one specific area of the brain,' said Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions. 

'Spirituality is a much more dynamic concept that uses many parts of the brain.'

'Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals’ spiritual experiences.'

+3

Previous research had pointed to the existence of a single God-spot that was stimulated by religious experience but a new study claims that is not the case

                  In the most recent study, Johnstone studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries affecting the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain situated a few inches above the right ear.

He surveyed participants on characteristics of spirituality, such as how close they felt to a higher power and if they felt their lives were part of a divine plan.

He found that the participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe showed an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power.

                    'Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one’s focus on the self,' said Johnstone.

                    'Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self. 

+3

Professor Brick Johnstone of Missouri University's study sees no difference in the mind of a Buddhist or Christian when religious experiences occur

                      'This is is consistent with many religious texts that suggest people should concentrate on the well-being of others rather than on themselves.'

Johnstone says the right side of the brain is associated with self-orientation, whereas the left side is associated with how individuals relate to others.

                   Although Johnstone studied people with brain injury, previous studies of Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns with normal brain function have shown that people can learn to minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains to increase their spiritual connections during meditation and prayer.

Professor Johnstone's findings claim that even the mind of world-renowned atheist Richard Dawkins is stimulated in the same way as a Christian or Muslim when they experience their minds version of spirituality

                  In addition, Johnstone measured the frequency of participants’ religious practices, such as how often they attended church or listened to religious programs.

                       He measured activity in the frontal lobe and found a correlation between increased activity in this part of the brain and increased participation in religious practices.

The research indicated that there are all kinds of spiritual experiences that Christians might call closeness to God and atheists might call an awareness of themselves.

'This finding indicates that spiritual experiences are likely associated with different parts of the brain,” said Johnstone.

           

     এই  সব  ব্যাপার  নিয়ে  ইনটারনেট  থেকে  সংগ্রহ  করা  আরো  একটি  লেখা  বিষয়টি  স্পষ্ট  করতে  যুক্ত  করা  হল  ৷
     

          A belief in God is deeply embedded in the human brain, which is programmed for religious experiences, according to a study that analyses why religion is a universal human feature that has encompassed all cultures throughout history.

                  The researchers said their findings support the idea that the brain has evolved to be sensitive to any form of belief that improves the chances of survival, which could explain why a belief in God and the supernatural became so widespread in human evolutionary history.

                "Religious belief and behaviour are a hallmark of human life, with no accepted animal equivalent, and found in all cultures," said Professor Jordan Grafman, from the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, near Washington. "Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and they support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary-adaptive cognitive functions."

                   Scientists are divided on whether religious belief has a biological basis. Some evolutionary theorists have suggested that Darwinian natural selection may have put a premium on individuals if they were able to use religious belief to survive hardships that may have overwhelmed those with no religious convictions. Others have suggested that religious belief is a side effect of a wider trait in the human brain to search for coherent beliefs about the outside world. Religion and the belief in God, they argue, are just a manifestation of this intrinsic, biological phenomenon that makes the human brain so intelligent and adaptable.

                 The latest study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved analysing the brains of volunteers, who had been asked to think about religious and moral problems and questions. For the analysis, the researchers used a functional magnetic-resonance imaging machine, which can identify the most energetically-active regions of the brain.

They found that people of different religious persuasions and beliefs, as well as atheists, all tended to use the same electrical circuits in the brain to solve a perceived moral conundrum – and the same circuits were used when religiously-inclined people dealt with issues related to God.

The study found that several areas of the brain are involved in religious belief, one within the frontal lobes of the cortex – which are unique to humans – and another in the more evolutionary-ancient regions deeper inside the brain, which humans share with apes and other primates, Professor Grafman said.

                    "There is nothing unique about religious belief in these brain structures. Religion doesn't have a 'God spot' as such, instead it's embedded in a whole range of other belief systems in the brain that we use everyday," Professor Grafman said.

                    The search for the God spot has in the past led scientists to many different regions of the brain. An early contender was the brain's temporal lobe, a large section of the brain that sits over each ear, because temporal-lobe epileptics suffering seizures in these regions frequently report having intense religious experiences. One of the principal exponents of this idea was Vilayanur Ramachandran, from the University of California, San Diego, who asked several of his patients with temporal-lobe epilepsy to listen to a mixture of religious, sexual and neutral words while measuring their levels of arousal and emotional reactions. Religious words elicited an unusually high response in these patients.

                   This work was followed by a study where scientists tried to stimulate the temporal lobes with a rotating magnetic field produced by a "God helmet". Michael Persinger, from Laurentian University in Ontario, found that he could artificially create the experience of religious feelings – the helmet's wearer reports being in the presence of a spirit or having a profound feeling of cosmic bliss.

                     Dr Persinger said that about eight in every 10 volunteers report quasi-religious feelings when wearing his helmet. However, when Professor Richard Dawkins, an evolutionist and renowned atheist, wore it during the making of a BBC documentary, he famously failed to find God, saying that the helmet only affected his breathing and his limbs.

                         Other studies of people taking part in Buddhist meditation suggested the parietal lobes at the upper back region of the brain were involved in controlling religious belief, in particular the mystical elements that gave people a feeling of being on a higher plane during prayer.

                     Andrew Newberg, from the University of Pennsylvania, injected radioactive isotope into Buddhists at the point at which they achieved meditative nirvana. Using a special camera, he captured the distribution of the tracer in the brain, which led the researchers to identify the parietal lobes as playing a key role during this transcendental state.

                       Professor Grafman was more interested in how people coped with everyday moral and religious questions. He said that the latest study, published today, suggests the brain is inherently sensitive to believing in almost anything if there are grounds for doing so, but when there is a mystery about something, the same neural machinery is co-opted in the formulation of religious belief.

                      "When we have incomplete knowledge of the world around us, it offers us the opportunities to believe in God. When we don't have a scientific explanation for something, we tend to rely on supernatural explanations," said Professor Grafman, who believes in God. "Maybe obeying supernatural forces that we had no knowledge of made it easier for religious forms of belief to emerge
.  এ  ব্যাপারে   এই  বিষয়ের  সঙ্গে  সম্পর্কযুক্ত   গড  হেলমেট  সংক্রান্ত  একটি  লেখা  ইন্টারনেট  থেকে  এই  লেখার  সঙ্গে  যুক্ত  করা  হল  , আগ্রহী  পাঠকদের  জন্যে  ৷
 
       

THE GOD HELMET Todd Murphy, 2012

| |  |  | |

|  | Book with Chapter explaining The God Helmet

The Koren Helmet uses a snowmobile helmet to hold it's magnetic coils in place.  . The God Helmet is a popular name given to a laboratory apparatus originally called the"Koren Helmet", after Stanley Koren of Laurentian University's Neuroscience Department, who built it according to specifications provided by Dr. M.A. Persinger, it's director. Used as a research tool to investigate the brain's role in religious and mystic experiences, the Koren Helmet has been given the name God Helmet. A few Journalists gave it this name when they learned that some people had visions of God while participating in Koren Helmet experiments. The name has stuck. The Koren Helmet applies complex (having an irregular shape) magnetic signals to the head of the person who is wearing it. The fields don't work by inducing current in the brain. They have patterns that bear information, and magnetic fields that appear from the electrical activity in the brain pick up the information. It's a field-to-field interaction, and not current induction. The fields pass into the brain, unaffected by the scalp or skull, because there is no such thing as a magnetic insulator. Nothing can block a magnetic field 1  2. Some psychologists, not understanding this, have mistakenly claimed that the fields used in the God Helmet aren't strong enough to reach the brain. Magnetic fields pass "through all head structures with no attenuation and can stimulate the brain without discomfort" reference. (Further Discussion). An independent God Helmet study found that its effects are not from suggestibility, and that they do indeed have an influence on the brain. The subjects (in this recent and independent study) who received the magnetic fields spoke about their experiences in different ways than those who received no fields. The apparatus used in this new study was not identical to the Koren Helmet, but it still produced measurable effects in spite of its limitations. (Research Publication) The Koren Helmet is connected to a PC computer through a 'black box' that cycles the signals through four coils on each side of the head, above over the place where the temporal lobes of the brain meet the parietal lobes. This is the area of the brain many researchers feel is the source of spiritual and religious experiences link. This illustration shows how the signal shifts from one coil to the next. This is a side view. There is also another set of coils working on the other side. The two coils at the top are no longer used. The sessions are done in an Acoustic Chamber - a completely silent room. A large part of the temporal lobes ongoing activity is dedicated to monitoring ambient sound. The temporal lobes are the source of religious and mystic experiences, so that silence helps a great deal in creating them in the lab. The same chamber also has a layer of electromagnetic insulation, so that the ambient energy emitted from lab equipment, cell phone towers, and computer monitors is screened out. Because magnetic fields can still pass through this   screen (a Faraday Cage), the God Helmet research has included some interesting discoveries about the earth's magnetic field. Stanley Koren shows us the most recent version of the God Helmet, which no longer has a helmet shell. The unused coils have been removed.   I asked Dr. Persinger how many people had seen God using the Koren Helmet, and this is what he said in reply: "The problem is producing an environment in which people will report what they experience without anticipating ridicule on the one hand and not encouraging this type of report (demand characteristics) on the other. Thus far, about 20 or so people have reported feeling the presence of Christ or even seeing him in the chamber (The acoustic chamber where the experimental sessions took place). Most of these people used Christ and God interchangeably. Most of these individuals were older (30 years or more) and religious (Roman Catholic). One male, age about 35 years old (alleged atheist but early childhood RC (Roman Catholic) training), saw a clear apparition (shoulders and head) of Christ staring him in the face. He was quite "shaken" by the experience. I did not complete a follow-up re: his change in behavior. Of course these are all reports. What we did find with one world-class psychic who experiences Christ as a component of his abilities was we could experimentally increase or decrease his numbers of his reported experiences by applying the LTP pattern (derived from the hippocampus) over the right hemisphere (without his awareness). The field on-response delay was about 10 to 20 sec. The optimal pattern, at least for this person, looked very right hippocampal. By far most presences are attributed to dead relatives, the Great Forces, a spirit, or something equivalent. The attribution towards along a devil to angel continuum appears strongly related to the affect (pleasant-terror) associated with the experience. I suspect most people would call the "vague, all-around-me" sensations "God" but they are reluctant to employ the label in a laboratory. The implicit is obvious. If the equipment and the experiment produced the presence that was God, then the extrapersonal, unreachable and independent characteristics of the god definition might be challenged."  That's the important thing about the God Helmet. Even if only a few people saw God because of it, it creates a host of new questions - questions theology has never had to face before.         The experiences of those who have come face-to-face with God might just be an example of a very rare brain activity. If they actually met the true God, then why did they do so in this experimental setting, but not at other times? Can one control God by controlling someone's brain? The implications for theology are obvious. Perhaps God exists, but has been waiting until humanity developed enough to find him in the brain before he would appear under any circumstances humans could control. Perhaps God exists only in our brains. Perhaps he exists, and chose to bless 1% of Dr. Persinger's research subjects with visions of him, because these people were beloved to him. Perhaps he exists, but he appears to those with the right neural history in moments when the right pattern of brain activity is present, and not according to what he sees in their hearts. There is much more to the God Helmet than just the Koren Helmet alone. There is also a computer program called complex, authored by Stanley Koren, which allows the computer to create the signals. These signals are derived from EEG traces that appear in certain parts of the brain. Just as the brain responds to chemicals with specific shapes, it also responds to magnetic signals with certain shapes. Because these signals are complex, irregular things, it takes a special computer program to produce them. A third component is the acoustic - completely silent - chamber where the sessions take place. The last component is the 'black box' which converts output from the computer into input for the Koren Helmet. This box (not shown) is a specialized DAC (digital-to-analog converter). It's the core of the technology. The rest of the components of the God Helmet are quite common. Another part of the experiment is that the subjects are told they're going to participate in a relaxation experiment. This makes them expect to relax, but without telling them what's going to happen. The God Helmet doesn't work as well when the subjects are tense. The DAC produces the signals that are fed to the magnetic coils (called "solenoids" in the scientific papers). FIrst, one signal is fed to the right side of the brain, and then another signal is fed to both sides. When the signals are changed halfway through the experimental session, the corresponding shift in brain activity can create a religious experience. The God Helmet is a misleading name. It gives the impression that it can produce the experience of God on demand. In fact, only one percent of the subjects had the experience. In contrast to the one percent who saw God, 80% of the subjects felt a presence of some kind, but did not call it God. Of course, there were probably some subjects who experienced an appearance of God, but were shy about saying they had seen God in a laboratory. That kind of thing is not only intensely personal, but can also get you ridiculed. If you saw god, would you tell your story, just as it happened, if you thought you weren't going to be taken seriously? A lot of people assume that, just because someone wears a lab coat, they won't believe such a vision can happen, or that they'll think it's a sign of mental illness. Nothing could be further from the truth in this laboratory, but how would these subjects know that? They had been told they would be participating in an experiment to study relaxation response, and the experimenters were very careful not to encourage glamorous reports.   The Koren Helmet has also produced visions of demonic beings, out-of-body experiences, visions of other realities, and a range of other paranormal experiences. It could have been named after any of them, but journalists prefer more sensational names, and you can't get more sensational than God. One question that comes up often about the Koren Helmet is whether it's possible to obtain one. The Koren Helmet is found only in the laboratory where it was made, and is not available to the public. However, a PC version of the God Helmet, The Shiva Neural Stimulation System, does exist. The Koren Helmet has more coils than are actually used in experiments. The two on the top are no longer in use, and the one in the center - between the four over each temporal lobe - is also no longer used. They are still on the helmet, but they no longer output anything. A picture of the sign on the door to the laboratory. The names are in alphabetical order by first name. ... A Few Lab Reports: Examples of dialog (from audiotape) from subjects participating in these experiments. Source Subject 1 A Middle-aged professional journalist. Chirp signal applied over the right side. "I see shadows along my left side . . . there is someone touching my left side . . . there is a flash of light . . . a tunnel experience. I feel as if I am shrinking and expanding. There is a tingling inside of my thigh . . . sexual excitement. There's a cold rush (subject shivered; EEG showed paroxysmal activity). I see a visual... it's an apparition."       Subject 2 A 21-year-old female with history of diabetes. Amygdala signal applied over both sides "I felt a presence behind me and then along the left side. When I tried to focus on its position, the presence moved. Every time I tried to sense where it was, it moved around. When it moved to the right side, I experienced a deep sense of security like I had not experienced before. I started to cry when I felt it slowly fade away" (the field parameters had been changed). Subject 3 A 30-year-old woman. Chirp signal applied over the right side "I feel detached from my body. I am floating up . . . there is a kind of vibration moving through my sternum . . . there are odd lights or faces along my left side. My body is becoming very hot. . . . tingling sensations in my chest and stomach . . . now both arms. There is something feeling my ovaries. I can feel my left foot jerk. I feel there is someone in the room behind me." Subject 4 A 25-year-old man, childhood history of three "mild" head injuries. Chirp signal applied over both sides "I feel as if there was a bright white light in front of me. I saw a black spot that became a kind of funnel . . . no tunnel that I felt drawn into. I felt moving, like spinning forward through it. I began to feel the presence of people, but I could not see them; they were along my sides. They were colorless, grey-looking. I know I was in the chamber but it was very real. I suddenly felt intense fear and felt ice cold." Common Themes in God Helmet Reports. The most frequent themes and events reported or displayed by subjects who were asked to press one of two hand buttons when they felt a presence while being exposed to successive sequences of different magnetic field patterns over the right hemisphere or periods of no field. These themes occurred when the fields were present. 1. A dark, ominous force looming right above the person (as if it was going to descend). 2. A feeling of suffocation or pressure on the chest. 3. The sensation of "blacker than black" during brief periods within a minute of the onset of a specific pattern. 4. Re-experiencing previous altered states, such as haunts, kundalini, and psychotropic drug experiences. (These individuals had not experienced the unusual events again until they were exposed to the fields.) 5. About 20% of the participants who clicked one or two buttons indicating they were experiencing a sensed presence had no memory of the experience about 15 to 20 min later. 6. Religious figures, images of "priests," and, human skeletons, occurred as "flickering" but repeated phenomena. St-Pierre LS, Persinger MA. "Experimental facilitation of the sensed presence is predicted by the specific patterns of the applied magnetic fields, not by suggestibility: re-analyses of 19 experiments." International Journal of Neuroscience. 2006 Sep;116(9):1079-96. Link