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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Scientists Scanned A Woman's Brain During An Out-Of-Body Experience — And What They Found Was Amazing



YAHOO!

 Yahoo Finance

Scientists Scanned A Woman's Brain During An Out-Of-Body Experience — And What They Found Was Amazing

 

Business Insider
It may sound like the plot of the Twilight Zone, but a psychology graduate student at the University of Ottawa says she can voluntarily enter an out-of-body experience. This was a lucky break for scientists, who were able to scan her brain during the episode.

Usually out-of-body experiences are a part of, say, a near-death experience. A patient may float above their own body as surgeons work on them. These experiences are usually attributed to the drugs in a patient's system, or the hormones released into their system by trauma.

A unique experience 


The study — which only involved this one person — was published Feb. 10 in the journal Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, a peer-reviewed open access publication. The researchers are members of the School Of Psychology at the University of Ottawa.

According to the paper, this woman enters her out-of-body state right before sleeping, visualizing herself from above. She started doing so during naptime in preschool, they write. She currently only does it sometimes.

The researchers wrote in the paper:


She was able to see herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling along with the horizontal plane. She reported sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving "real" body...

She told the researchers: 


I feel myself moving, or, more accurately, can make myself feel as if I am moving. I know perfectly well that I am not actually moving. There is no duality of body and mind when this happens, not really. In fact, I am hyper-sensitive to my body at that point, because I am concentrating so hard on the sensation of moving. I am the one moving – me – my body. For example, if I ‘spin’ for long enough, I get dizzy. I do not see myself above my body. Rather, my whole body has moved up. I feel it as being above where I know it actually is. I usually also picture myself as moving up in my mind’s eye, but the mind is not substantive. It does not move unless the body does.

The brain out of the body 


The researchers did a fMRI before and after asking her to enter her out-of-body state to find out what that looked like in the brain. They compared these to when she was imagining, but not actually entering, the state.

Interestingly, the pathway that seemed to be activated during her out-of-body experience is also involved in the mental representation of movements.

brain scan activated areas
 

Brain regions activated by the out-of-body experience include the supplementary motor area, the cerebellum, the supramarginal gyrus, the inferior temporal gyrus, the middle and superior orbitofrontal gyri.
Some parts of her brain involved in interpreting vision were turned down in activity, as shown below:


brain scan inhibited areas
 

Brain regions inhibited by the out-of-body experience include the visual cortex.
She didn't have any specific emotions surrounding this experience, and i t seems to be a kind of hallucination she can turn on at will.

What's happening?  


Even if there is no soul stuck in our bodies, this woman isn't making this up. There's obviously something happening in her brain that is making her experience the world in a different way — but researchers can't yet say exactly what it is.  Plus, this study was about one woman's out-of-body experience, not all out-of-body experiences. 

Still, the changes they observed could be similar to how the brain can be trained using meditation. The researchers even suggested that this could be something many kids can do, but that with practice could be carried into adulthood. 
Interestingly, the researchers suggested that this kind of experience may be much more common than we thought. The woman in question actually "appeared surprised that not everyone could experience this," the researchers wrote.

They compared it to synesthesia — the condition in which people hear colors or smell sounds — which was thought of as "out there" but has become widely accepted in the last few decades.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

ESP: Extended Sense Perception


http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/




Unexplained Mysteries is always on the look out for new article writers and contributors. If you've written articles, reviews, news stories or other material that you would like published for free on the site then we want to hear from you - Click here for details.
  Columnist: Marc Berry

Image credit: stockxpert

ESP: Extended Sense Perception


Posted on Wednesday, 11 April, 2007 | 5 comments
Columnist: Marc Berry


As I have been ill for the last little while, my wife has kindly allowed me to present to you, dear reader, one of her articles. In legalese: this article is reprinted with permission. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. CeruleanBlue: When most people think of ESP, they think of extrasensory perception and defining it as a sixth sense. However, if you look at the categories of this area of human ability they each fall into one of the five senses: Clairvoyance – sight, clairaudience – hearing, psychometry (to handle something and gain knowledge from that interaction) – touch. Smell and taste are not as well understood in the West, but we've all heard ourselves or someone else say that a situation "smells wrong", and maybe it does quite literally. But the main point here is that each one is not an extra sense; they are each an extension of an already known sense. There is another term often associated with this phenomenon; PSI. This word comes from the Greek word psyche meaning mind or soul. Substitute the current popular word – consciousness – and you have the mechanism: Consciousness, which doesn't have local interaction only restrictions, acting through a particular regular sense to gain feedback from the environment at a distance, whether in space or time.

The implications of understanding this frame of reference is that anyone and everyone is "psychic". In other words, if you have a mind and you have senses, you can reach beyond your immediate environment to gain information. Perhaps we are extending our senses into a pervasive holographic information field (see Double Slit Experiment under observation) and depending on the nature of the information, a particular sense becomes the receiver of that information. So if the nature of the encoded information is visual, we see it. If it's encoded in sound, we hear it. Perhaps the information has a strong texture, so we feel it and so on.

Of course there are crossovers such as sound that is felt rather than heard and others that can be interpreted by more than one sense as say smoke can be (seen, smelt, tasted and felt). It may actually be these that get us mixed results when we try to test for these abilities and this would be the majority of information in this field – holistic encoding if you will . Look at any life event, big or small, it happens in complete packets (moments): You don't suddenly go blind to get one moment and deaf to get the next. Now, if we think of each sense as a channel or frequency and we're only looking for information on one channel, trying to fine tune that pick up, we will tend to miss the bulk of what's available. So our own bias of how we think the information "should" be encoded, prevents us from seeing it as it really is. Basically we're determining our content , right or wrong (objectively not morally).

Now, this proposed holographic field may have a feedback feature to it that could be likened to a sort of conversation we have with it when we engage in getting knowledge from it (which, by the way, we do all the time consciously or not). To store, as it were, information in this way, could be said to be a kind of memory spread across time, forwards and backwards. What if this field were conscious itself? In the Double Slit Experiment, the end result would produce interference wave patterns, but if watched, marbles hitting a screen. Why would these atomic particles produce a holographic-like pattern when not observed, but when consciousness interacts with it the information seems to change its expression? By not taking in the whole did communication break down?

What if you took all the consciousness on the planet – and that's far more than just humans – and had it stream around in the electromagnetic field that's all over the world. Then add a consciousness that is focusing on something specific that stream is carrying, is electrochemical and can communicate through sound (see this story at CBC) with this stream – in effect being a perfect antenna and relay station – and you may have a reason for psychic phenomenon and synchronicity: Query and response. Communication that is a conversation, two way, and holistic. If we really learn how to do this, nothing breaks down. Instead, it connects.

MBerry is co-founder of NewBranes.com, a blog covering all aspects of the paranormal.

His ultimate long term goal is to discover the General Unified Theory of Everything Weird.

http://www.newbranes.com

Article Copyright© Marc Berry - reproduced with permission.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Hyperthymesia: People with Extraordinary Autobiographical Memory


Individuals with hyperthymesia can recall almost every day of their lives in near perfect detail, as well as public events that hold some personal significance to them. Those affected describe their memories as uncontrollable associations, when they encounter a date, they "see" a vivid depiction of that day in their heads. Recollection occurs without hesitation or conscious effort.

It is important to draw a distinction between those with hyperthymesia and those with other forms of exceptional memory, who generally use mnemonic or similar rehearsal strategies to memorise long strings of subjective information. Memories recalled by hyperthymestic individuals tend to be personal, autobiographical accounts of both significant and mundane events in their lives. This extensive and highly unusual memory does not derive from the use of mnemonic strategies; it is encoded involuntarily and retrieved automatically. Despite being able to remember the day of the week on which a particular date fell, hyperthymestics are not calendrical calculators like some people with autism or savant syndrome. Rather, hyperthymestic recall tends to be constrained to a person's lifetime and is believed to be an unconscious process.



Quirks of Memory

A Retrieval System Roundup
The unique brains of those with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) 
In 2006, Parker, Cahill and McGaugh reported the first known case of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) in a research participant known as “AJ”. When provided with a date, AJ could specify on which day of the week it fell and what she did that day. Since then, more people with this extraordinary ability have been identified (click here to view a “60 Minutes” episode on them or here for another Psychology Today blog post on this), and researchers have now discovered structural brain differences in people with HSAM compared to people without it (LePort et al., 2012). This is especially interesting given that people with HSAM do not show exceptional memory in other domains besides autobiographical memory. Among the brain differences that the researchers note is “amplified white matter tract coherence” (p. 12), which they suggest may indicate that the transfer of information among connecting neural regions is enhanced in participants with HSAM and that this may contribute to their superior autobiographical memories.

As LePort and colleagues point out, however, whether the structural brain differences that they discovered are a cause of HSAM or the result of activities that themselves cause HSAM is not yet known.

It might be easy to jump to the conclusion that people with HSAM are simply born with brains that differ from normal brains and that innate structural differences in the brains of people with HSAM are what allow for their exceptional autobiographical memory abilities. For example, maybe they are born with enhanced connectivity among brain regions critical to autobiographical memory.

A more interesting possibility, however, is that the brain differences (as well as the remarkable autobiographical memory ability) result from unique experiences that occur during development.

Experiences themselves cause changes in the brain to take place. For example, it has long been known that the brains of rats exposed to an enriching environment during development differ from those of rats exposed to an impoverished environment—rats in an enriched environment show increased cortical weight and numbers of glial cells and also show benefits to memory ability.

Research on musical training is an excellent example of how experiences can impact the structure of the human brain, as discussed in this New York Times article and this Scientific American blog and reviewed here.
Researchers have known for some time that the brains of musicians differ from those of non-musicians, but researchers have questioned whether this is due to innate differences between musicians and non-musicians. However, recent evidence suggests that musical training itself contributes to the brain differences between the musically trained and untrained. One study showed that children given 15 months of musical training exhibited structural changes in their brain relative those that did not. More recently, researchers at Northwestern showed that neural changes that appear to result from musical training in childhood persist into adulthood.

If structural brain differences between the musically-trained and untrained in adulthood can result from childhood training in that domain, then what type of experience or training could potentially underlie the brain differences shown in people with HSAM?

Actress Marilu Henner, who was one of the participants in the research by McGaugh and colleagues (as shown in this "60 Minutes" episode), may provide some clues in her book on her experience with HSAM and on autobiographical memory. In it, she describes a pastime of hers during childhood. “I decided to play a little game with myself, in which I tried to remember every day that had led up to that moment starting with the most recent What did I do a week ago? Two weeks ago? Three weeks ago? I even started to go back to the previous years and the year before that, remembering specific days from first grade and kindergarten. Over time, this exercise became not only my routine to fall asleep, but also a way to mentally challenge and exercise my brain to the point that I could ‘time-travel’ back to: What did we do each day of our vacation? What was I doing when I was exactly the day my younger brother Lorin’s age? My Niece Lizzy’s age?”

It seems plausible that this type of “training” or memory practice during childhood could lead to structural changes in the brain that are detectable in adulthood and correlated with HSAM.

As McGaugh and colleagues suggest in their article, future research on children with HSAM might shed light on this issue. But perhaps an approach similar to that taken with recent research on musical training could be taken as well. Specifically, maybe children could be randomly assigned to either a no-memory-training control condition or to an autobiographical memory training condition in which they receive a daily autobiographical memory training exercise similar to what Marilu Henner describes in her book. Would structural brain differences be shown 15 months later? If so, would they still be shown in adulthood? Would characteristics of HSAM be found? This would be an interesting study indeed.






Science News

... from universities, journals, and other research organizations
 

Brains Are Different in People With Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory



July 30, 2012 —


UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10.


UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10. (Credit: © James Steidl / Fotolia)

 
The phenomenon of highly superior autobiographical memory -- first documented in 2006 by UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh and colleagues in a woman identified as "AJ" -- has been profiled on CBS's "60 Minutes" and in hundreds of other media outlets. But a new paper in the peer-reviewed journal Neurobiology of Learning & Memory's July issue offers the first scientific findings about nearly a dozen people with this uncanny ability.

All had variations in nine structures of their brains compared to those of control subjects, including more robust white matter linking the middle and front parts. Most of the differences were in areas known to be linked to autobiographical memory, "so we're getting a descriptive, coherent story of what's going on," said lead author Aurora LePort, a doctoral candidate at UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory.

Surprisingly, the people with stellar autobiographical memory did not score higher on routine laboratory memory tests or when asked to use rote memory aids. Yet when it came to public or private events that occurred after age 10½, "they were remarkably better at recalling the details of their lives," said McGaugh, senior author on the new work.

"These are not memory experts across the board. They're 180 degrees different from the usual memory champions who can memorize pi to a large degree or other long strings of numbers," LePort noted. "It makes the project that much more interesting; it really shows we are homing in on a specific form of memory."

She said interviewing the subjects was "baffling. You give them a date, and their response is immediate. The day of the week just comes out of their minds; they don't even think about it. They can do this for so many dates, and they're 99 percent accurate. It never gets old."

The study also found statistically significant evidence of obsessive-compulsive tendencies among the group, but the authors do not yet know if or how this aids recollection. Many of the individuals have large, minutely catalogued collections of some sort, such as magazines, videos, shoes, stamps or postcards.

UCI researchers and staff have assessed more than 500 people who thought they might possess highly superior autobiographical memory and have confirmed 33 to date, including the 11 in the paper. Another 37 are strong candidates who will be further tested.

"The next step is that we want to understand the mechanisms behind the memory," LePort said. "Is it just the brain and the way its different structures are communicating? Maybe it's genetic; maybe it's molecular."

McGaugh added: "We're Sherlock Holmeses here. We're searching for clues in a very new area of research."

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Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by University of California - Irvine.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:
  1. Aurora K.R. LePort, Aaron T. Mattfeld, Heather Dickinson-Anson, James H. Fallon, Craig E.L. Stark, Frithjof Kruggel, Larry Cahill, James L. McGaugh. Behavioral and neuroanatomical investigation of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2012; 98 (1): 78 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2012.05.002

Friday, December 20, 2013

What HSPs Can Give and Get from Animals and Babies


The Highly Sensitive Person





Back to Comfort ZoneJanuary 2007 : Comfort Zone ONLINE


What HSPs Can Give and Get from Animals and Babies

 

In observing and talking with many HSPs, I have learned how much our sensitivity helps us know what is happening in those who can not speak in words--animals, infants, those speaking in languages foreign to us, the elderly with dementia, the human body itself, and even plants. Because we can notice the subtle signs they give, we understand them better than others and that puts us in a unique position to help them.

But I also think that we gain from these interactions, not just in the usual ways of gaining a friend or being able to feel helpful, but also by being effective. Using our trait makes us enjoy and take pride in it. Reading nonverbal signs well also gives us a window into other realms of being. Again, all of this can make our sensitivity a great pleasure, something we always need to notice.

Sensitive as we are, practicing our nonverbal skills can also develop them even further, as when a person skilled at learning languages still has to study one in order to become fluent. And nonverbal skills are important. For example, a medical professor at the University of Arizona gives a course called "Medicine & Horsemanship: An Introduction to Human Nonverbal Interaction at the Bedside" just in order to make doctors more sensitive to the feelings of cancer patients and their families. He chose horses because they have especially strong emotional reactions. (It also must help that they are big enough to be threatening to a doctor behaving like a non-sensitive oaf!)

The instructor, Dr. Hamilton, said "Horsemanship requires the understanding of body language and sensitivity. There is no endeavor that will more quickly and effectively teach you awareness of your own body language and energy level than learning the principles of working with horses. You learn patience, gentleness and a method of physically relating to patients that is nonverbal, effective and powerful."

Of course most doctors are not highly sensitive, and I doubt they can be trained to be in the way that HSPs are. But there is also something learnable here, even for us. I am sure sensitive health care providers, gardeners, translators, and many others could tell you not only the benefits of being highly sensitive in general, but also of developing your sensitivity in your specific line of work. Indeed, I can't imagine any kind of work that could not be done better with both innate and attentively developed sensitivity. But I'd like to focus on animals and infants because everyone is or could be around them. They are the "line of work" of the human race.

HSPs and Wild Animals

You might wonder if I really meant that animals as well as infants are the "line of work" of humans. I do include animals, because we humans share the planet with millions of other animal species, so humans have had to evolve innate knowledge about animals. We also must come with an innate ability to learn additionally by reading nonverbal cues about those animals and animal species that happen to be around us, whether they are predators, prey, pets, livestock, or nasty insects. And I'm sure HSPs have always been the leaders in this.

Looking to the future, however, I am thinking this is our species' line of work because of something I read once--that we should think of other animal species as other nations or nationalities. As with human nations, we must learn to get along because we share the earth. It is the work of all humans to be good world citizens, but you might say that when thinking of animal nations, HSPs are naturals for working in the diplomatic corps!

Thinking of other species as their own nations helps us keep our own borders or boundaries, as when ants, ticks, flies, or cougars would like to feed on our bodies or our food. But more important these days, seeing these species as nations helps us respect their borders, letting them live where they have chosen or where they need to be. Since they are independent nations, we don't have to feed them, give them health care, or otherwise do what they can do for themselves, unless we have disturbed their "national life." It's like the "prime directive" in Star Trek: You can visit other societies, but leave them unaltered when you depart.

The fact is, however, that we have long ago passed the point where we live on the planet as if animals were our "national equals." Even wild animals have become our responsibilities because of our impact on them. I suspect that someday we will have on computer every individual of every species of the larger wild animals. Given the pressures on their habitats, we will decide which DNA should be preserved, which can die out. And I think many HSPs will choose to be involved in the fate of wild animals, as many are already.

Still it makes sense to think of animal species as independent nations in the sense that we can visit them, try to communicate with them in their language or ours, and grow from this contact. But we must be mindful of whether they want to communicate. In some cases it can be very rewarding for both, as when you "introduce yourself" to a bird in the wild and the bird responds and hangs around as if enjoying it. Or it can be dangerous for both. For example, in getting to know each other's eating habits--very often the main topic of conversation among all of us animals--we may unwittingly cause harm to one or both, as when bears start to eat our food or we become their food.

If you are like me, you often notice wild animals before others do. You like to be quiet out in the wilds and wait until they feel safe enough in your presence to begin to speak to each other again. If there is an opportunity, you like to try to communicate with them. You are also concerned about their habitats, because you hate to hear about extinct or endangered species. You want them to be out there, whether you are there or not. It expands who you are.

HSPs and Domesticated Animals

For good or ill, our ancestors bred many animals to be dependent on us. Further, in each generation a few wild animals are captured and made dependent on someone's care. Some can and do return to the wild, but as long as they are "ours," we are responsible for their welfare. I don't have to tell that to HSPs, but sometimes we have to tell it to others. We see an animal's discomfort more clearly than others do, or care more. Intervening is difficult, but often it's the suffering of animals (or infants) that forces us HSPs to be our most heroic.

Many HSPs speak of having a special relationship with one domesticated species--dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, potbellied pigs--or with their own particular "companion animal." Of course anyone can love animals, love their pets in particular, and feel they can communicate with them. But as I said, although I have no research comparing HSPs and non-HSPs on this, I think both the love and ability to communicate with them are much more common with us.

I also realize that many animal psychics and animal trainers have weighed in on the subject of communication with animals and the importance of sensitivity for success, so I apologize in advance if I am missing aspects of this subject that are important or obvious to you. But I have my own perspective, as I do find that I am able to communicate very well with animals--even a dog passing by on a leash, if our eyes meet. We acknowledge each other and I know the dog's general state of mind. Does the dog know mine? It seems to. I do not think of this very often as psychic, but rather as nonverbal, often unconscious or preconscious. It is intuition, in that I know some things about an animal without knowing how I know it. And many HSPs say the same.

As I said before, there is a give and get in this. Being sensitive to the animals around us can benefit them--not just their physical well being but their mental health, too. And it benefits us by connecting us with individuals who are generally sensitive, subtle, discriminating, and loyal to their friends--like most of us.

Animal Intelligence

HSPs are often thought to attribute more to animals than is there--more intelligence, insight, intentional communication, emotion, suffering, and all the rest. Well, it is there. For example, I think most HSPs appreciate that each species has its particular forms of intelligence. Some can read scents especially well, others see (and understand what they see) better than we do. Some can even read the meaning in the vibrations of the earth or its magnetic fields.

The horse I ride finds my intelligence very low when it comes to dangers that might be around the next curve in the trail. I am oblivious until she "says" with her rigid and trembling body that has refused to move forward, "There could be a cougar waiting for us, stupid. What about that sound you don't even hear?" And later she may also want to say, "And while we are on the subject of your lack of intelligence, you sure can't do much with your muzzle. Hardly have one. I can tell everything about a person with a few nuzzles, lip feels, and whiffs."

We humans can get awfully huffy ourselves about intelligence, even with our fellow humans, with all our obsessing about IQ. In our culture intelligence means abstract thinking--using symbols and testing hypotheses. But other animals, and other human individuals and cultures, do not specialize in that kind of intelligence. What about intelligence regarding spatial relationships or tool use, and what about intelligence in the form of sensitivity and intuition?

What about teamwork? Look at how well dogs can work with humans. But it is not just the human being who is so smart. Predators that work as teams are able to read each other's signals and devise strategies, such as when to circle and close in, or where to position themselves over miles in order to tire prey with a fresh pursuer. Sheep dogs simply trade the alpha male for a shepherd, showing the same ability to grasp the lead "dog's" plans.

Yes, abstract thinking allows us to test out ideas in our minds and choose the best one, and it certainly seems like in domains important to them, wild canines (to stay with my example) can formulate abstract plans, test alternatives, and apply them in new ways. That's pretty good. But we think of most other complex, adaptive animal behaviors--such as knowing how to build a good nest or navigate by the stars--as merely innate, instinctual knowledge. It's not "real" intelligence because it isn't conscious and flexible. Yet either way, knowledge is passed down from generation to generation. Humans would not be very smart if they had to learn everything new in every generation. Our information is simply passed down through culture and language more than through DNA.

On the other hand, we are learning that other primates have remarkably more of our idealized form of intelligence than we first thought. They can apply an idea to a new situation, take another's perspective, "lie," understand fairness, remember highly complex social relationships for years, communicate complex ideas to each other and to us when we teach them a language, and of course the big one, they can invent tools.

Dolphins and whales also show remarkable intelligence of the human sort. Indeed, there is evidence that dolphins may have a more complicated language-intelligence than we do. They have more space in the brain for it. And it has been impossible for us to learn their language because they talk about objects without the object being present, just as we do—a sign of abstraction. And they cease to have an emotional reaction to it being mentioned after they realize the object is absent, just as we do. That is the complicated message in the saying "never cry 'wolf.'" We humans can and do say wolf when one is not around, and if that is what you are doing, after awhile others will not respond.
Most people do not know that certain species of birds, especially those in the raven family (e.g. ravens, crows, and blue jays) and the various parrots, also display intelligence much like that of primates.
Interestingly, their brains are quite different, so their abstract, human-like intelligence evolved along a separate line. Intelligence really is not the special domain of the great apes.

I suggest you learn more about animal intelligence and communication for your own enrichment. It also will help if you have to defend these other nations. You probably don’t want to be categorized as an animal rights' "extremist," but I always point out that we are not talking only about animal rights. Anything cruel we do to an animal seems to mean we are never far from doing it to those humans whom someone has declared to be "less than human." Think of "horse whipping," cattle prods, and cattle cars.

Emotional Communication

HSPs have stronger emotional reactions than others, and also are affected more by others' moods. This makes us more like other animals and better able to communicate on their channel, which is mainly emotional. We sense what pleases, scares, or angers them, and we notice when they have sensed our emotions. A highly sensitive rider, for example, knows all too well how quickly fear passes back and forth between horse and rider.

Emotions are automatic responses that get us moving in circumstances that have been judged--often very quickly and usually by evolutionarily older parts of our brain--to require a strong response of a particular type. So we can rather automatically do everything involved in being angry, afraid, or whatever. The judgments to display that emotion are often as built in as the response. Something in us just knows, "Be careful, you're on a cliff." "Watch out for that snake." "Don't you dare hurt my baby." "What's that? Let's go see." "Don't cross that line or you're lunch." "Relax, the others are back." Emotions really are a form of intelligence, and a form much older than abstract-frontal-cortex intelligence.

Emotional life took a great leap forward with mammals (and birds, along a separate evolutionary line), probably because mammals raise their young in such an intimate way, and they usually live in groups. So not only do mammals show fear, anger, sadness, curiosity, contentment, disgust, and joy, but also the social emotions of pride, shame, guilt, grief, compassion, fear of abandonment, dread of banishment, joy at reunion, and so forth. They also have a wide range of built-in emotional reactions that arise in their various social bonds--as parent and child, mating or child-rearing partners, and friends. For example, when very young mammals are separated from their parents, they react with several strong, automatic emotions. In humans there's a loud protest, hopefully bringing the parent, followed by deep despair that amounts to giving up, which saves their energy. And romantic love can give rise to all the emotions--fear, anger, elation, sadness--and yes, animals do fall in love and can suffer as we do when that longing for the other is thwarted.
Emotions do more than energize an individual. They also energize and communicate to others, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. Animals, including humans, are designed to be sensitive to the emotions of others. There's information there, but also an urge to feel the same. We look down on this, calling it giving into "mass hysteria." But look at it as prey animals do, or domesticated animals that were once prey.
Zebra, antelope, and horses, as examples, evolved to be extremely sensitive to emotional communication from others. If one of them is afraid and starting to run, it is wise for the others to do the same. Or if one is angry and ready to fight back when cornered by a predator, it helps if they all feel the same. Horses much prefer to go out on a trail ride without another horse. Otherwise, they are stuck relying on the emotional reactions of their rider for additional information.
Predators also have to know the emotions of their prey as well as of each other. Humans, who have been both prey and predators, tend to have all of these characteristics.

Alas, many people mistake the quick emotional responses of animals for stupidity. But we are not receiving all the information that they have, or are not processing it through the same innate concerns. Very few dogs are born randomly vicious, but being predators, they can quickly lunge and bite something they should not. They do it because some sort of cue was there that told them to make their move.

Cats are not "lazy" because they sleep so much (so do lions) or "scaredy cats" when they hide themselves. These behaviors evolved--they are a form of very old intelligence.

Horses are very often scorned as stupid because they are very afraid of anything new, of walking close to anything such as the fence around a riding ring, of flapping things that brush their bodies (it might be prey leaping at them), of having their feet not on solid ground, and so much more. But they can plan rather nicely--when my horse sees me coming, she does her elimination in the pasture so she does not have to in the stable area or on the trail. These animals are NOT dumb and are not making stupid responses. They just have different concerns.

Facial Expression and Speech

Darwin showed that the same facial expression is seen for the same emotion in many species, especially primates. It's easy to see fear, anger, pain, curiosity, surprise, and so forth being expressed in some way by most animals. And it's true of social emotions too, although maybe only HSPs can see when an animal is ashamed--for example, a dog or cat in a silly costume. Or see them glow with pride, when a dog is freshly groomed or a cat brings in a mouse. Then there's their disgust when you make the same mistake over and over--I can see that in the raised head and glowering eye of my horse friend when I do something clumsy around her. And she expresses disagreement with a vigorous shake of her head, should I choose a route not to her liking. We who are sensitive are not imagining these communications, even if most people do not notice.

Of course animals do communicate through sounds, but rarely through words found in any human language. We have to translate those sounds. When annoyed my horse snorts; when pleased she blows loudly through her lips, making that sound children try to imitate when playing horse. Again, I suspect HSPs are able to notice more of these meaningful sounds and also can make more and better sounds that communicate back.

You and Animals

HSPs with any fondness of animals should get to know as many as possible, as intimately as they can safely do. Perhaps the first signs to learn, and the easiest for HSPs, are those that signal that an animal wants nothing to do with you right now. We know all about needing to be left alone, and we are also sensitive to signs of rejection. The rest the animal will help you with.

Still, each animal species has unique communication signs. You can learn these from keen observation, chatting with someone familiar with the species, books, or DVDs. You will also need to know the species' evolutionary history and details of how they lived in the wild. Above all, you will want to observe the personalities of the various individuals (they vary considerably) whom you meet. You will be drawn to some more than others--often to the sensitive ones.

As you know better than anyone, in every species some animals are more sensitive than others. The sensitive ones are slower to approach you and are very sensitive to touch. As a horse trainer showed me about sensitive horses, their skin is actually about five inches out from their bodies. (How far out is yours?) You'll know by how the horse behaves when your hand has approached that invisible outer skin. Reach inside that without warning the horse and you'll see a strong reaction.

Sensitivity in each species may look a little different, but you want to be able to recognize it as a trait, and to distinguish it from fear due to past abuse. At first meeting, sensitive animals hang back but look curious and meet your eyes as an equal. When they get to know you, the two of you are friends for life. An abused animal will look afraid, avoid your eyes, and slink up, looking submissive. And you have to go through this over and over. It is surprising how many people cannot see the difference and call sensitive animals fearful. There's a familiar story.

One other point, so you aren't surprised: If two or more social animals live together, they will have a hierarchy. When it is forming or shifting, they squabble a lot. When it is settled, the top animal may insist on taking whatever you have to offer, be it food or attention, and not allow the others to have any. Do not be disillusioned if you see what looks like "selfish" behavior. It's perfectly normal. These hierarchies serve many important functions. You can deal with it in various ways, but one of the easiest is to accept it as it is. You can still greet them all. And you can arrange to interact with an animal when others in their group are not around. Trying to feed the "poor beast" not getting anything may lead to it getting far too much in the way of aggression.

Potential Friends are all Around You

You do not have to have a pet to get to know animals. Neighbors often have pets that they would love to have walked or watched when they are away, or you can just visit when you pass them. Cats are often all over the neighborhood and quite sociable when you know their language. (I draw the line at city rats, although when I saw one in a Manhattan health food store, my husband was surprised that I was not more pleased at discovering some wild life in my neighborhood.) I know people who have developed interesting acquaintanceships with squirrels and ravens as well.

If you are in the suburbs or country, animals are often in nearby pastures. Horses usually love attention and a chance to communicate (except the cynical ones kept in stables too much or rented out to strangers). If you bring them apples and carrots or pick them better grass than they have inside the fence, they will come right to you of course. But I prefer to wait for them to come to me without bribes. Animals are curious (if they have not become fearful), so that is often enough to bring them to you. Then the "conversation" can be a little more far ranging than "do you have any more of that or if you don't would you please get some?"

How do you introduce yourself? Begin by thinking about the mood you are in, because animals will sense it. Usually you want to be in a good mood, although some animals love to comfort troubled humans. Most like to be talked to, in our speech or theirs. They also like to be touched--it is part of their language-- if you obtain their permission and know how to do it in ways that please them. Touch communicates a great deal to animals about your feelings. They especially like certain places scratched or rubbed. Most also like to be groomed if you take the trouble to learn how they like it done. And they like to play--the young ones or the young-at-heart sorts especially. But you probably know all of this.

Don't be limited to pets. Livestock are equally interesting and smart. For example, pigs being raised for meat are often kept in indoor group pens with heaters they can turn on themselves when cold by leaning on a lever. So the pigs take shifts during the night, each doing it for the others for a while. I'm sure a pig would enjoy meeting you. I became familiar with an entire herd of beef cattle--the personalities of each and what each wanted me to know about them. I would talk to them as a group, and then chat with my particular friends. They seemed to enjoy my visits. Of course they were gone one day...

The point is, animals are all around us. They do not know if you do not own them. They may have their first loyalty and strongest bond with someone else, but we all like to have other friends as well as our best friends, and animals like it, too. The only exceptions are those who have grown cynical about humans because of having seen too many come and go, are afraid of strange humans because they usually arrive only to hurt them, are furious with our entire species, or very busy with their other animal friends.

In sum, animals are worth knowing. And equally important, if you take the time to observe and communicate, your sensitivity will be sharpened in this important domain.

HSPS and Babies

Much of what goes for HSPs and animals goes for babies as well. They have their rights to their own boundaries, which HSPs can especially appreciate. As with animals, we can sense their extraordinary intelligence and nonverbal ways of communicating. They want to make friends, and we are innately interested in them, too. They like to be touched and they like to play--easy for an HSP to do well. Each has a unique personality, so that you are bound to hit it off with some better than others, the sensitive ones in particular.

All humans are designed to communicate with babies--to be interested and responsive, to coo and make baby talk. Humans do the same silly things with babies all over the world. It helps babies and adults bond and prepares the babies to learn their home language. But I am certain HSPs, men as well as women, are better at this communication. You will be surprised how quickly it comes to you, especially if you are not feeling self-conscious because of those around you. And don't try to imitate the non-HSPs' loud baby play. We do it differently. For example, babies sitting on the floor and playing love humans who are doing loud and crazy things. But they seem to like just as well someone quietly watching them, giving them something new to do when they are bored, but not interrupting or over stimulating them.

A Very Short Course on Babies

Learning just a little about babies makes you a far more effective friend. Tiny babies are newborns, and you'll find them either asleep; having a brief, quiet, alert time; nursing; or crying their lungs out. They cry so much because they are really in their "fourth trimester." They ought to still be in the womb, but because we humans come with such big heads (in more ways than one), we have to be born before we are fully ready.

Even before you know you will be meeting a newborn, watch the video by Harvey Karp called "The Happiest Baby on the Block." Don't try to read about this. You must see the video, which is probably found at most libraries. This doctor has figured out nonverbal communication in his line of work, and his video has revolutionized the parenting of newborns. I am not exaggerating. The first three months can be agony for parents and infants. But this video could turn even a not-at-all-sensitive bachelor truck driver into an expert at soothing crying infants. As for HSPs, it can make us into parenting Einsteins. But the point is, there are still things to learn about how to communicate nonverbally, even for the highly sensitive.

More information: Some human emotions "come on line" later than others. An infant's general negative emotion, expressed by crying, does not divide into anger and fear until about two months. A cry is a cry. Most babies are smiling and communicative by three months. They can sit up on their own around then too. At about six months they begin to want only certain familiar people to hold them. Even if you were holding the baby a month earlier, you may find you are not on the list any more until you are around and trying to communicate for a few days.

Real locomotion arrives around eight, when they start to crawl. Imagine how it must feel to be able to go where you go, more or less, for the first time. At about a year, they walk or are trying to walk. This is when they are the most trouble, in a way. They sleep less. They are into everything. They want to walk but are too slow. You pick them up and they are too heavy. This is an age when you can really help a parent just by entertaining a child in the grocery line for a moment when he or she is on the verge of fussing out of sheer boredom, or offering to carry a bag so the parent can carry the child.

They do not start to really talk until they are two years. But they understand quite a bit before then, so it is best to assume they do know what you are saying. And at every age they like to be talked to. It doesn't have to be silly talk. Babies also seem to like seriousness. My grandson will not take his eyes off Grandfather Art when he's on the phone giving a lengthy explanation about statistics to a student.

One value of knowing all of this is that when you see a baby in one of these stages, you can start to gain a mother's confidence by, for example, saying to one with a crawler, "Oh, must be about eight months, hey?" The more babies you see, the better you will become at guessing ages and other important baby miscellany that impress mothers. But try to avoid saying the baby's gender until you hear it. Some mothers can be insulted by a gender miscall--we humans are so touchy about gender.

Babies as Good Friends

Do not be limited in your friendships with babies just because you are not a parent or a close relative of one. There are always babies around--on airplanes, in restaurants, or at your neighbor's. If they are awake, they generally make themselves known. And parents are often very glad to have someone to hand them off to, once they trust you. Next time you are seated near a mother on a plane with a nine month old crawling all over her and wanting to get down in the aisle, don't wish you could change seats. Consider this to be an opportunity. Make some funny facial expressions or play peek-a-boo. You will quickly have two friends.

I hope you have a baby whom you can expect to know over the years as well--one you particularly love. That way you can watch all the changes. In a year a newborn becomes a walking, sort-of-talking person. From there, it is only about ten years--only ten--until they are for conversational purposes adults. The effort you put in over the years will pay off. There may be a period during adolescence when you are just a dopey adult, but around twenty seven there's a dramatic change and age becomes far less relevant. If you meet an infant when you are thirty, in twenty-seven years, you'll be fifty-seven. A twenty-seven year old and a fifty-seven year old can easily be friends. So a baby is just a friend who has not grown up yet.

Clearly I'm writing mostly for HSPs who are not parents. I'm especially thinking as I write of sensitive men. Sensitive men make amazing caregivers of infants. Whether the child is sensitive or not, when the mother is not an HSP, it is often the sensitive father who can resolve situations just because he senses better what is going on at the moment. But any sensitive man can built a strong rapport with an infant, once he has gained the parent's trust and learned some rudimentary skills.
Gaining a close connection to a baby is a very rewarding enterprise, for you and the baby. For you, it will both develop your sensitivity and make good use of it. For the baby, you will be an adult who truly gets this little being. So start looking for a baby friend.

As for sensitive babies, often it requires a sensitive man or woman who is not a parent or even a relative to spot the sensitive ones and fully understand them. Sometimes by meddling just a little you can make a great difference in their futures. Maybe mention high sensitivity and that it's normal. You have it, as do many successful people. But it can be tricky raising a sensitive child unless you understand what's going on. Then maybe you give the parents The Highly Sensitive Child.

So I can't resist ending with "It takes a village--with some HSPs in it--to raise a child." Another reason we are here.

February 2006 Articles:
A Letter from Elaine
Latest Research : What HSPs See: Our Brain Is Not as Easily Confused by Culture and Context
HSP Living: What HSPs Can Give and Get from Animals and Babies
Book Review : Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior - by Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Harvard University Press, 1998
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Last updated on November 26, 2013
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Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sensitive people use their brains differently




phys.org




Sensitive people may use their brains differently

Apr 08, 2010 by Lin Edwards report
Sensitive people may use their brains differently




(PhysOrg.com) -- An exploratory study has examined highly sensitive people and found the first evidence of neural differences between them and less sensitive people. Most studies have focused on the social implications of these traits, but the new study concentrates on the differences in how people's brains respond to stimuli.

Approximately one in five people are born with Sensory Sensitivity (SPS), a that can lead to people being highly sensitive, and sometimes inhibited, introverted, shy, or even neurotic. Children with SPS may seem to be slow to adjust to situations, or may cry easily, have unusually deep thoughts, or may ask odd questions. Until now, there has been little study of how the brain's responses may be different in highly sensitive people.

The study first examined the responses of 16 subjects who each completed the "highly sensitive person"ť questionnaire, which is used as a standard measure of SPS, to determine their level of sensitivity. The researchers then asked the subjects to compare two photographs of the same scene and to spot any differences, at the same time as their brains were being scanned by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The results showed that subjects with higher SPS (the more sensitive people) had greater activation in areas of the concerned with high-order visual processing, including the bilateral temporal, medial, and posterior parietal regions, right claustrum, and left occipitotemporal regions, as well as the right cerebellum. Those with SPS spent longer looking at the photographs and paid more attention to detail.

The researchers were from Stony Brook University in New York, and from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Southwest University in China. They found people with SPS took longer to make decisions, needed more time alone to think, were more conscientious, and became more bored with small talk than other people.

Previous studies have shown that people with SPS are also more affected by caffeine, are more easily startled, and are more uncomfortable with noise and crowded situations. The researchers said these effects could be due to an innate preference for paying more attention to experiences.

Over 100 other species are known to have individuals with the sensitivity trait, including dogs, fish, primates, and even fruit flies. Individuals exhibiting the sensitive trait are always in the minority, but they may give the species an evolutionary advantage at times, since highly sensitive individuals tend to explore with their brains first, while others rush in, and this can be advantageous when a more thoughtful approach is better or less dangerous.

The paper was published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience in March.



Explore further: No two people smell the same
More information: The trait of sensory processing sensitivity and neural responses to changes in visual scenes, Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2010), doi:10.1093/scan/nsq001

4.9 /5 (24 votes)
© 2010 PhysOrg.com

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Amazing enhanced human perception abilities are emerging, say researchers


the latest news about UFO sightings and UFO news  
Today: December 13, 2013      

Steve Hammons writes about Remote ViewingSteve Hammons is the author of two novels about a U.S. Government and military joint-service research team investigating unusual phenomena. MISSION INTO LIGHT and the sequel LIGHT'S HAND introduce readers to the ten women and men of the "Joint Reconnaissance Study Group" and their exciting adventures exploring the unknown. Both novels are available from the Barnes & Noble Web site, bn.com, and other booksellers worldwide. Visit Steve's website at navyseals.com

Amazing enhanced human perception abilities are emerging, say researchers
The emerging awareness in many segments of society about what is sometimes called "anomalous cognition" is an interesting development that seems to hold much promise.
In fact, knowledge about this topic seems to be spreading throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Anomalous cognition is a term that refers to various kinds of human perception which can be highly effective and useful in a wide range of endeavors and activities.

Included under this umbrella term are several human perceptual abilities and skills. These include, but are not limited to:

- Enhanced intuition and instincts
- Increased awareness of one's surroundings and environment
- Improved insight into challenges and solutions
- Acquisition of information and understanding about remote situations


The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines "anomalous" as "inconsistent with or deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected - irregular, unusual - of uncertain nature or classification marked by incongruity or contradiction - paradoxical."
"Cognition" is defined as "to become acquainted with, know - to come to know - cognitive mental processes - a product of these processes."

We may soon need to change the word "anomalous" when referring to enhanced human intelligence of this kind, because it may no longer be "unusual."

It may become very normal and routine for all of us.

In fact, it may be very useful to expand communication and education about research findings in this area as far and wide as possible, and in a timely manner.

RECENT AND CURRENT RESEARCH
Advanced research sponsored by our military and intelligence community, as well as universities and private research entities, has discovered that many, most or all people have the ability to use their "cognition," their mind and awareness, to perceive and understand things in a much more interesting way than previously recognized.
At the same time, average people around the world are doing their own research because each of us has the working tools to investigate anomalous cognition: Our brains, minds, bodies, and, some say, our hearts, spirits and souls.

The technique called "remote viewing" is one of the most common examples.
Remote viewing is a concept jointly developed by the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the CIA and private sector researchers during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Remote viewing is a particular set of methods that allow individuals to tap into enhanced and advanced perception.

This has proven to be a useful intelligence-gathering tool. Other applications have also been researched.

Anomalous cognition and remote viewing can provide insight about our daily thoughts and feelings as well as previously unknown information - even information that provides insight about situations that are outside of normal understanding about time and space.

It is believed that the nature of quantum physics is such that, in some ways, things like anomalous cognition and remote viewing make perfect sense. They are normal and natural. They are part of Nature.

Many average people now read books, take classes and watch video presentations about remote viewing. And, many people find that their intuition, dreams and sensitivity to information bubbling up from their unconscious can be very valuable and helpful.

Professional research into these kinds of human abilities and perception is very useful and seems to dovetail with other accepted aspects of psychology studies.

As in some conventional psychology theories, our unconscious mind is believed to be a great problem solver, when given the opportunity. In addition, our individual minds may be connected to a larger unified consciousness.

Some people theorize that there is a "higher consciousness" with profound spiritual and religious implications.

Remote viewing techniques also recognize that one element of success in these efforts is allowing the unconscious mind to work. Then, information from the unconscious is allowed to surface consciously where it can be accurately interpreted and applied to practical matters.

This, of course, is what many modern researchers have tried to establish: That clear evidence can be demonstrated indicating anomalous cognition of various kinds can provide accurate and useful information and insight.

Have they established this? It seems that they have.


Related Links:
• Remote viewing and anomalous cognition
• Secret data on ‘visitors’ from space
• Whitley Strieber's New novel
• Oliver Stone's WORLD TRADE CENTER
• News on ‘Project SERPO’ deceptions
• Project SERPO part of a changing world
• Cautious approach to Project SERPO

HSP, Plus or ASP, the Anomalously Sensitive Person



The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P.:

Understanding the Anomalously Sensitive Person

(Published June 1, 2003)



Are You an ASP?

Many people who are intrigued by the concept of the Anomalously Sensitive Person, once they have a basic understanding of it, then want to know their own status vis-à-vis ASPness. Sensitivities are more appropriately thought of as degrees on continua rather than as an anomalous/non-anomalous dichotomy-and understanding the specific individual sensitivities has considerably more utility than does the application of the "ASP" label. Nevertheless, human nature being what it is, this tendency to want a simple, straightforward, dichotomous answer is entirely understandable.

The version of the HISS used in this study was designed primarily for research purposes. With its 50 scored scales (many of them quite subtle), it is too long, it is too complex and its results are too subject to misinterpretation for it to be used in a casual manner. It could, however, be made available to clinicians after they have received a brief training in its use and interpretation.

If your curiosity has gotten the best of you, don't despair. An abbreviated version of the questionnaire is currently available to the general public and can be found elsewhere on this web site. Its reported scores for the first- and second- level Predispositions and Indicators scales very closely parallel those of the full scale version of the HISS.

Objective Criteria

Many people also want to know if there's a way-based on objective criteria alone-to determine if someone is an Anomalously Sensitive Person. The answer is "probably not," but there are six questions addressing objective data that, when considered together as a (arbitrary and artificial) scale, have a moderate degree of predictive reliability for sensitivities in general. The questions are:
  • Is the person female?
  • Is the person hypopigmented?
  • Is the person Non-Right-Handed?
  • Is the person's occupational category Artistic (fine arts, acting, music, writing, etc.), Investigative (science, legal, higher education, computer, etc.),or Social (human services, teaching, religion, etc.)?
  • Was the person born as one of a set of twins/triplets/etc.?
  • Does the person have an other-than-conventionally-heterosexual sexual orientation?
If the answers to all, or most, of these questions are affirmative, the person would probably score toward the high end of the sensitivities continua. Negative responses to most, or even all, of these questions, however, do not necessarily indicate than an individual would score toward the low end of the sensitivities continua.

There is nothing inherently "good" or "bad" about either high scores or low scores on the HISS. What is important is whether high levels of sensitivities or low levels of sensitivities are more appropriate to an individual's particular life circumstances and, if there is a mismatch, how that mismatch is handled. As previously discussed, high levels of sensitivities can serve an artist, inventor, or humanitarian well, because they can foster insight, intuition, attunement and creativity...but they can also lead to physiological or psychological difficulties. Conversely, low levels of sensitivity can be important to soldiers, law enforcement officers and emergency service personnel because they can serve as a buffer against stimuli that might otherwise be overwhelming...but they can also inhibit the appreciation of all the richness and fullness that life has to offer.

Some people say that they would like to be ASPs and some say that they wouldn't. In Western society, Anomalously Sensitive Persons have clearly been underdogs for the last few centuries, but the wheel continues to turn and it appears to be only a matter of time before they come into their own. The potentials inherent in ASPness are significant, but the life of an Anomalously Sensitive Person will, almost assuredly, continue to be a challenging one.

H.I.S.S. Questionnaire

Download the questionnaire using the link below, print it out, fill it in, and mail it along with your $15 payment (Payable to Headline Books), to:
The ASP Project
c/o Headline Books
P. O. Box 52
Terra Alta, WV 26764

H.I.S.S. Questionnaire - Adobe Acrobat Format
You can download Adobe Reader here.
If for any reason you are unable to complete the download:
  • Write to us at the above address.
  • E-mail us at ASPproject@headlinebooks.com - If you are unable to send mail by clicking this link, simply copy and paste it into your email application.,
  • or Call us at (800) 570-5951 and we will send you a hard copy.