exemplar. There is no objective way to measure mind or consciousness with an instrument. Mind-consciousness appears to be a field phenomenon that interfaces with the body and the neurological structures of the brain (Hunt, 1995). This field cannot be measured directly with current instrumentation. On the other hand, the electrical potentials of the body can be measured and easily quantified. Contemporary science likes things that can be measured and quantified. The problem here lies in the oversimplification of the observations. EEG patterns measured on the cortex are the result of electroneurological activity of the brain. But the brain’s electroneurological activity is not mind-consciousness. Therefore, EEG measurements are only an indirect means of assessing the mind-consciousness interface with the neurological structures of the brain. As crude as this may seem, the EEG has been a reliable way for researchers to estimate states of consciousness based on the relative proportions of EEG frequencies. Stated another way, certain EEG patterns have been historically associated with specific states of consciousness. Although not an absolute, it is reasonable to assume, given the current EEG literature, that if a specific EEG pattern emerges it is probably accompanied by a particular state of consciousness. This is completely different from saying that a particular stimulus entrains, drives, or causes changes in EEG (a post hoc ergo propter hoc assertion).
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TMI Journal 2012 No. 1 · 1 TMI Journal 2012 No. 1.pdf
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The SAM audio support technology is distinct from other audio-guidance technologies in that it is designed to support experiences in altered states of consciousness specifically using new, leading-edge understandings in neuroscience to optimize its effectiveness. There is no supposition by The Monroe Institute that SAM entrains or drives brainwave arousal as in the binaural-beat model. We do, however, think that some objective evidence for SAM’s effectiveness in facilitating enhanced states of awareness will be shown in ongoing studies of gamma synchrony as an electrophysiological correlate of conscious awareness. SAM induces altered states of consciousness that most likely would be evidenced through both alterations in one’s Next Page 3 TMI JOURNAL 2012 qualitative experience of reality (already noted in hundreds of experiences) and the objective measurement of changes in brainwave arousal due to the ERTAS mechanism’s regulation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which appears to be influential in the quantum coherence of parallel arrayed neuronal microtubules (Woolf & Hameroff, 2001). One aspect of brain functioning somewhat beyond arousal states, attentional focus, and levels of awareness
involves the cross-callosal connectivity of the hemispheric structure of the brain and the effect that interaction has on consciousness. SAM can actually enhance the effectiveness of the brain by enabling the user to either synchronize the arousal level of both hemispheres or calm down an overactive left or right hemisphere. The two cerebral hemispheres are like two separate information-processing modules. Both are complex cognitive systems; both process information independently and in parallel, and their interaction is neither arbitrary nor continuous (Zaidel, 1985). Because of this, states of consciousness can be defined not only in terms of brainwave arousal states, attentional focus, and levels of awareness, but also in terms of hemispheric specialization and/or interaction. Some desired states of consciousness may require facile inter-hemispheric integration, while others may call for a unique hemispheric processing style (Zaidel, 1986). An individual’s cognitive repertoire, and therefore his/her ability to perceive reality and deal with the everyday world, is subject to his/her ability to control these states of consciousness, including the mediation of inter-hemispheric processing. Hemispheric dominance in particular has an ultradian periodicity (Rossi, 1986). Individuals can, however, learn to control hemispheric dominance through the disciplines of biofeedback, yogic breathing, and others (Budzynski, 1986).