Hemi-Sync® Journal 1996-3 (Summer)

(Hemi-Sync® Journal, Vol. XIV, No. 3, Summer 1996) An Empirical Investigation Into the Effect of Beta Frequency Binaural-beat Audio Signals on Four Measures of Human Memory By Richard Cauley Kennerly [NOTE: This is the complete paper, a portion of which was published in the Summer 1996 Hemi-Sync® Journal.] Richard Cauley Kennerly is currently the director of clinical services for an adolescent treatment center in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. He will begin doctoral studies this Jail in behavioral medicine. Rick has a keen interest in effective nondrug therapies, neuronal regulation, means oj accessing Jidl human potential, and “in general, everything under the sun.” His research was a direct outgrowth oj his insatiable thirst for knowledge. After what he describes as a lifetime of academic struggle, Rick discovered that a combination of nutritional supplementation and binaural beat signals could offset his learning disabilities. Learning finally became a pleasure. This thesis arose from his personal success with and interest in binaural beat signals. ABSTRACT Beta frequency binaural-beat audio signals were utilized to investigate facilitation of human performance on two memory tasks and two memory related tasks. Subjects were 50 college students randomly assigned with a double-blind methodology to the control or experimental groups. The control group listened to instrumental music. The experimental group listened to the same music with binaural-beat audio signals bedded under the music. The four dependent variables used were a 25 item word list recall test, a 25 item word list recall/recognition test, and from the WAIS-R the digit symbol and digit span subtests. The experimental group displayed statistically significant (p>.05) increases in mean scores with the word list recall test, the digit symbol subtest, and the digit span subtest. No statistically significant increases in the experimental mean over the control mean were noted in the word list recognition/recall subtest. The results indicate that beta frequency binaural-beat audio signals are an effective method for facilitating simple free recall memory, ability to attend, and the ability to persevere at routine motor tasks. PREFACE This thesis is the culmination of a long personal struggle with the educational system. I have always loved questioning and learning. Yet before graduate school I never enjoyed, or did well in school. I have spent a lifetime on the edge of academic failure where every mediocre grade was a struggle. As a child, adults told me that I was smart and that there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to make excellent grades. The unspoken judgement being that I just didn’t want to, that there was something wrong with me or worse, that I just didn’t try hard enough. I know I frustrated many people, yet I was the most frustrated one of all. As an adult I worked my way through college, and graduated out of luck and shear persistence. If I failed a class, I took it over until I made the grade I needed. In graduate school I knew I would need a new strategy, since I could no longer take classes over with the new grade replacing the old. I could not afford to work so hard for such mediocre results. I was still very frustrated, and I turned that frustration into a search for answers. To my joy, I found a combination of dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE), a nutrient found in seafood, and binaural-beat signals worked well to offset my learning disabilities. What had been an academic Sisyphean struggle became a genuine pleasure. The effect was one of personal transformation and excellent grades. I felt as though I had been set free from a life long prison. The thesis you now hold arises out of my personal success with, and interest in, binaural-beat signals. This thesis is dedicated to Elisabeth Schumacher, my mother. Without her unfailing love and devotion, none of my life achievements would have been possible. She has believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. She has given me support when I needed it, without regard for herself. She has loved me beyond all reason, and that has sustained me down a long and rocky road. INTRODUCTION This study is an empirical inquiry into the facilitation of human memory with the use of beta frequency binaural-beat audio signals (BBS’s) under conditions designed to control for confounding variables. Previous studies have not controlled for confounding variables, preventing any definite conclusions on the extent to which BBS’s may facilitate memory. Were the observed results with BBS’s in previous research the result of placebo effects, a confounding variable, or the binaural-beat signals? It is not an answerable question until research is done demonstrating the effectiveness of BBS’s in facilitating memory under more controlled conditions. The hypothesis and experimental design of this study are constructed to be able to answer the question of the effectiveness of BBS’s in facilitating memory under controlled conditions. Statistically significant results in this study would support earlier non-empirical research which has found BBS’s to be useful in facilitating improved academic performance among mainstream and Attention Defict/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) populations. The results of the earlier studies, and more tightly controlled studies with other brain wave training techniques, suggest that beta frequency BBS’s should significantly facilitate memory. Hypothesis and Operational Definition of Memory There were four hypothesis used in this research, each postulating that in a study controlling for confounding variables the experimental group would display a statistically significant improvement in mean scores over the control group at a .05 or less significance level. Hypothesis one (H1) postulated a statistically significant higher mean score for the experimental group as measured by a 25 item word list recall test. Hypothesis two (H2) postulated a statistically significant higher mean score for the experimental group as measured by a 25 item word list recall/recognition test. Hypothesis three (H3) postulated a statistically significant higher mean score for the experimental group as measured by the WAIS-R digit symbol subtest. Hypothesis four (H4) postulated a statistically significant higher mean score for the experimental group as measured by the WAIS-R digit span subtest. The statistically significant improvement in the mean scores of the experimental group over the control group on any of the tests allows one to infer that facilitation of test performance occurred. If there were no confounding variables, this facilitation of test performance can be assumed to be the result of the independent variable. The free recall word list test and the combined recognition/recall test are the two most memory related tasks out of the four presented and thus the two most relevant to drawing any conclusions about the facilitation of memory. Generally memory can be characterized as “the ability to reproduce or recount information that was experienced at an earlier time” (Domjan & Burkhard, 1982, p. 308). For the purposes of this study memory was operationally defined as a subject’s ability to reproduce the information presented on a test within the limited time allocated for reproduction of that information. The Four Dependent Variables Four tests were administered to each of 50 undergraduates participating in the study to obtain data on the effect of binaural-beat signals on memory. The first test, word list free recall, was a simple free recall memory task given to obtain data on the facilitation of memory with beta-frequency binaural- beat signals. The second test was a German vocabulary combined recall-recognition test given to obtain data on the facilitation of memory with a more complex associative recognition/recall task. The third and fourth tests were the digit span and digit symbol subtests of the WAIS-R. These two tests were administered in order to gain clarity on the observations of teachers who have used binaural-beat signals in their classrooms. These teachers have reported increases in grades, student attention, and decreased hyperactivity while using binaural- beat audio signals in their classes (Edrington, 1985). The two WAIS-R subtests were used to determine if binaural-beat audio signals could facilitate the ability to attend and persevere at routine tasks. Facilitation of these two features of cognitive performance may be in part, or in whole, the underlying factors in the facilitation of memory by binaural-beat signals. What Are Binaural-Beat Audio Signals? Binaural-beat audio signals are a specific audio entrainment technique for altering a subject’s brain waves. Alteration of a subject’s brain wave frequency or amplitude produces changes in the subject’s performance level on some cognitive tasks (Hutchinson, 1994). Brain-wave training is the utilization of brain-wave altering equipment (usually biofeedback equipment) to produce durable changes in a subject’s brain waves (Peniston, & Kulkosky 1989). Brain-wave training has been found to yield excellent results in the facilitation of human memory, attention span, and relaxation (Hutchinson, 1994). Furthermore, this research has been demonstrating brain-wave training as an effective intervention in impaired levels of functioning due to ADHD, learning disabilities (LD), physical brain trauma, and psychological trauma (Ochs, 1993). As a specific technique of brain-wave training, BBS’s have not been empirically studied to produce statistically significant data on how comparable they are to other forms of brain-wave training. Such results would lay a more solid groundwork for clinicians and clinician researchers who are using, or interested in using, binaural-beat brain-wave training. It is hoped that this study will be one of the first bricks in the laying of a solid research foundation for support of clinicians and organizations interested in applied research and application of binaural-beat brain-wave training. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE There has been a quiet revolution occurring in the study of human cognitive functioning and its associated brain wave activity. Breakthroughs have been occurring whose application may rival the introduction of drug therapies to psychiatry. This new wave of therapies involves non-drug interventions capable of rapidly healing previously resistant pathologies and improving cognitive performance in normal subjects. These new interventions have arisen out of ongoing research in Electroencephalo-graphic (EEG) feedback. In the sixties, EEG feedback was used primarily to control stress. However the interest of serious researchers waned as EEG biofeedback was embraced in the popular culture as a cure all and was tainted with a somewhat disreputable air by association with the human potential movement. Clinical interest in biofeedback returned with the decline of popular attention to biofeedback and the publication of controlled studies showing the effectiveness of biofeedback in chemical and psychometric tests with up to three years of follow-up (Ochs, 1993). As new generations of EEG equipment became available, researchers developed an expanding understanding of brain wave patterns. Associations were found between specific patterns of brain wave activity and pathological, normal, and optimal cognitive performance/states. Utilizing this information, biofeedback researchers have been training subjects who have frequency patterns associated with various disorders to alter their brain wave patterns to match those associated with normally functioning individuals (Hutchinson, 1994). This technique has been found to be a rapid and effective intervention for many severe and resistant pathologies including, “depression, sleep disorders, seizures, chronic fatigue, headaches, mood swings, anxiety”