Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!linus!spdcc!halleys!ulowell!mod-psi From: mod-psi@ulowell.UUCP Newsgroups: mod.psi Subject: Re: levels of description Message-ID: <1135@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu> Date: Wed, 11-Mar-87 12:22:16 EST Article-I.D.: ulowell.1135 Posted: Wed Mar 11 12:22:16 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 14-Mar-87 20:17:44 EST References: <33446a71.44e6@apollo.uucp> <2618@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: rickheit@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu Reply-To: "David A. Sheppard" Lines: 45 Approved: rickheit@ulowell.UUCP [] >Marty Kent writes: [...] > To my knowledge noone's yet been able to draw any kind of >serious mapping between neurological events and even very "mundane" >everyday mental events like formulating a sentence or holding a particular >image in the mind's eye. Some work in this direction has been to associate >certain frequency ranges of electrical brain activity (so-called beta, >alpha, theta and delta waves) with certain kinds of everyday activities, >but the correlations seem pretty weak. Still, it's a start. > > Perhaps neurological events are just too low-level to use as an adequate >basis for description and measurement of personal mental (psychic? >spiritual?) experiences. > > - Marty Some of the neurological studies being done recently actually DO begin to relate to some mental activities. I remember several articles in Scientific American (and in Psychology Today...?) about a recognizable EEG pattern (might be called a "T wave"--I forget) which happens when a subject sees a known symbol (word) in a meaningless context. It is believed that this pattern occurs while the brain searches wildly for a context in which the symbol fits. Several other studies duplicated these patterns, and I beleive these findings are fairly generally accepted. I beleive the Sci Am Brain/Cognitive reprint series from 3 or 4 years ago is where I saw it. A more recent article can be found in March '87 OMNI, pg 90, about Charles A. Warren and Norman S. Don, neuroscientists at U of Illinois. They are trying to detect Event-Related-Potentials associated with reception of psychic knowledge. Their subject, a Chicago 'psychic' named Olaf Jonsson, guessed at symbols on standard ESP cards while connected to an EEG machine. He guessed at a 50% hit rate (random would be 20%), and the researchers found a 73% correlation of of a particular pattern and correct guesses. Anyway, some serious scientists are trying to relate our internal realities to the physical world, and with some amount of success. I hope this field really blossoms in the coming years... --das peace. inner first, outer will follow...