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 J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 13:4, Fall 2001 515
NEUROPSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE AND OPINION
Address correspondence to Dr. Persinger, Clinical Neuroscience Lab-oratory, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University, Sudbury,Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6. E-mail: mpersinger@nickel.laurentian.ca.Copyright
2001 American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
The Neuropsychiatry of Paranormal Experiences
Michael A. Persinger, Ph.D., C.Psych.
From the perspective of modern neuroscienceallbehav-iors and all experiences are created by the dynamic ma-trix of chemical and electromagnetic events within thehuman brain. Paranormal experiences might be consid-ered a subset of theseneurogenicprocesses.Experiencesthat are labeled as or attributed to paranormal phenom-ena 1) are frequently dominated by a sensed presence,2) appear to involve the acquisition of information fromdistances beyond those normally obtained by the clas-sical senses, and 3) imply distortions in physical time.
1
Most paranormal experiences have negative affectivethemes with emphasis on some aspect of deathtoothersor dissolution of the self. Experiences concerning deathor crisis to others are reported to occur predominantlyat night, particularly between 2:00 and 4:00
A.M.
Thesensed presence is also more common during this noc-turnal period. We
2
have suggested that the hourly inci-dence of temporal lobe seizures (data collected in thelate nineteenth century by W. P. Spratling before medi-cation was available) and the circadian distribution ofsensed presences attributed to paranormal sources re-flectasharedsourceofvariancewithinthehumanbrain.If structure dictates function and microstructurewithin the brain determines or directs microfunction,then one would expect classes of experiences to be as-sociatedwithspecificregionsofthebrainorthepatternsof activity generated within these areas. Both the occur-rence of paranormal experiences and their rates of in-cidence are associated with specific types of neuronalactivity within the temporal lobes. Thislinkagedoesnotverify the validity of the content of the experiences butsimply indicates that specific patterns of activity withinthe temporal lobes and related structures are associatedwith the experiences. The sources of the stimuli thatevoketheneuroelectricalchangesmayrangefromprop-erties intrinsic to chaotic activity, with minimal veridi-cality, toexternal informationthatisprocessedbymech-anisms not known to date.That patients who display complex partial seizureswith foci within the temporal lobes, particularly theamygdala and hippocampus, report more frequent par-anormal-like experiences has been known for decades.Distortionsin subjectivetime,thesensedpresenceofan-other sentient being, out-of-body experiences, and evenreligious reveries have occurred during spontaneousseizures.
3
Direct surgical stimulation of mesiobasalstructures within the temporal lobes, particularly theright hemisphere, has been shown to evoke comparableexperiences. As emphasized by Horowitz and Adams,
4
the experiences during stimulation are not just memo-ries, but enhancements or vivifications of the class ofongoing experiences (perceptions, thoughts, or memo-ries) at the time of the stimulation.Thereappearstobeacontinuumoftemporallobesen-sitivity along which all human beings are distributed.Normal individuals who are highlysensitive,asdefined by above-average numbers of responses to Persingerand Makarec’s Personal Philosophy Inventory
5
orabove-normal scores on Roberts’
6
inventory for Epilep-tic Spectrum Disorder, report more types of paranormalexperiences as well as more frequent paranormal expe-riences. The correlation coefficients between the num- bers of different paranormal experiences and scores fortemporal lobe sensitivity, as inferred from responses toclusters of items from these inventories, range between0.5 and 0.9. Individuals who have elevated scores forthese inventories also show more prominent alpharhythms over the temporal lobes
7
and display elevated but not necessarily abnormal scores for the eccentricthinking and hypomania scales of the Minnesota Mul-tiphasic Personality Inventory.
8
Like patients who display complex partial seizuresand limbic epilepsy, normal people with elevated num- bers of temporal lobe experiences show variants of in-terictal behavioral patterns. The propensity to infusesensory experience with enhanced meaning, presum-ably associated with more electricallylabileamygdaloidfunctions, results in more frequent experiences of deepand even cosmic personal significance in response to in-frequent or odd events.
9
The convictions that the exper-ient has been selected by some universal force, has aparticular purpose in life, and must spread the message(often with unstoppable viscosity) are remarkably com-mon themes. From this perspective the deep personaloremotional significance of a paranormal experience is a
 
516 J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 13:4, Fall 2001
NEUROPSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE AND OPINION
predictablepropertyofalabileamygdalaprocessingun-usual perceptual events.Paranormal beliefs and paranormal experiences arerelated. There is a moderate to strong positive correla-tion between the proportionsofparanormalexperiencesthat people report and their beliefs in the paranormalphenomena.
10
Interestingly, paranormal beliefs appearto be substitutes for traditional religious beliefs. Peoplewho endorse theexistenceofextraterrestrialintelligenceas the source for UFOs and the reality of reincarnationare less likely to accept traditional beliefs in the secondcoming of Christ or to agree to kill in God’s name.
GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY AND PARANORMALEXPERIENCES
One of the first observations that suggested specificclasses of paranormal experiences were not exclusivelyderived from incorporeal or nonphysical sources, butwere coupled to subtle changes within brain chemistryand brain electromagnetic activity, was the empiricalas-sociation between global geomagnetic activity and thereport of bereavement apparitions.
11
These occur mostfrequently within about three days after the death of asignificant person during a time when the dream sleepof the experient has been disrupted and increasedactiv-ity within the pathways for corticotropin-releasing fac-tor (CRF), ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) andcortisol is typical.The increase in geomagnetic activity associated withthese reports in sensitive or vulnerable individuals isquite weak. Compared with the normal intensity of theearth’s static magnetic field, which is about 50,000 nT(nanotesla) or about 0.5 gauss, the changes in magneticfield strength associated with increasedgeomagneticac-tivity are within the 40 to 50 nT range or greater. Thesechanges usually require several minutes to occur but insome instances can peak within about 4 minutes.
12
The impacts of increased geomagnetic activity, as de-fined by daily aa (average antipodal) intensities, on thesensitive populations are such that we have employedtheseindicatorsaspredictorsofsleepdisruptionandthesubsequentenhancementofpsychologicalorpsychiatricsymptoms. We are not the first clinicians to identify thisimportant predictor. Friedman et al.
13
during the 1960sand multiple European researchers during the 1930s
14
had reported the association. Whereas a decade ago thisinformation was available from restricted sources suchas the National Geophysical Data Center (GeomagneticIndices Bulletin, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303; tel.303-497-6346), it is now available from several websites.Increased occurrences of epileptic seizures when geo-magnetic activity exceeds about 30 nT have been re-ported by many authors.
15,16
The strength of the corre-lation ranges between 0.4 and 0.7. Obviously, theprimary limit of correlational studies is the inability toeasily isolate the causal variables. However we
17,18
found that the experimental simulation for 2 hours ofthetypeof50nTvariationsassociatedwithgeomagneticactivity (presented as amplitude-modulated7 Hz fields)produced the same effect size for the production of lim- bic seizures in epileptic rats as that associated with nat-ural stimuli.Intermittent shifts in magnetic field strengths have been shown to decrease nocturnal melatonin levels
19
andtoincreasethecirculatinglevelsoftheepileptogenicneuropeptide CRF (corticotropin releasing factor).Fromthis perspective, we hypothesized that the greater oc-currence of the sensed presence and bereavement ap-paritionsduring theearlymorninghoursreflectsthede-creased thresholds for the elicitation of paroxysmalactivity within limbic structures, particularly during thefunctionally specific organization of dream sleep. How-ever, instead of convulsions, the person experiences (af-ter suddenly awakening) the sensed presence or its var-iations. The source of the stimuli that provoke theexperiences may range from the individual’s intrinsiclability, augmented by social factors, to a variety of ex-ternal factors.
EXPERIMENTAL SIMULATION OF THE SENSEDPRESENCE
About 15 years ago we were pursuing the neurophysi-ological correlates to the sense of self. We reasoned thatto study complex experiences such as the sense of selfor even consciousness within the laboratory, a technol-ogy and methodology must be developed to elicit theseexperiences. The history of science has clearly shownthat the experiment is the most powerful tool we haveto understand the organization of the causal variablesthat elicit a phenomenon. We intuited that the applica-tion of very complex, weak magnetic fields would havethepotentialtointeractwiththesubtlebutcomplexneu-roelectromagnetic processes associated with conscious-ness and the subtle nuances that define human experi-ence.Very low frequency, very weak (similar to the inten-sity generated by a computer screen) complex magneticfields applied with specific types of geometry throughthe temporoparietal regions of the brain were selected because of their penetrability. The metaphor for em-ploying these fields, rather than the very intense simplesine-wave fields known to induce conspicuouscurrents,
 
 J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 13:4, Fall 2001 517
NEUROPSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE AND OPINION
was the following. If you and I were listening to a puretoneof1,000 Hz, wewouldprobablynotrespondunlessit was about 100 dB; then we would leave because theamplitude would be aversive. However, if I whispered“help me” at 20 dB, a magnitude thousandsoftimeslessintense, you would respond to the pattern of this com- bination of simple sounds. The critical factors are thecomplexity and information rather than the intensity.Our primary interest was to discover the major cor-relates of creativity and the sense of self. Formal mea-sures of creativity and analyses of the vocations andpreferences for people who scored highest on invento-ries of temporal lobe sensitivity indicated that creativityand a specific type of egocentricity loaded on the samefactor. It was dominated by musicians, writers, artists,and individuals who infer novel or innovative connec-tions between the same stimuli that others considermundane.However, we found that when we applied specificcomplex magnetic fields over the right hemisphere,most normal people who were not aware of thepurposeof the experiment experienced a “sensed presence” orsentient being.
20
Many individuals felt the presence in-teract with their thinking and “move in space” as they“focused their thoughts” on it. The strengths of thesefields were between 1 microtesla (10 milligauss) and 5microtesla (50 milligauss) at the surface of the skull.Many experiments indicated that the temporal mor-phology of the applied field, rather than the intensity,was responsible for these experiences.The results of these studies strongly suggested thatthe sensed presence, a phenomenon that had been thesubject matter of paranormal experiences and mysticalelaborations for millennia, could be evoked experimen-tally. The predominance of the experience during or justfollowing stimulation of the right hemisphere was con-sidered strong support, but not proof, that the sensedpresence was the experience of the awareness of theright hemispheric equivalent of the left hemisphericsense of self.
21
Other neuroscientists had frequently in-dicated that the sense of self is primarily a linguisticprocess (or from Buddhist perspectives, a social fiction)associatedwithfunctionsclassicallyattributedtothelefthemisphereand isoneof thereasonsthatcognitivether-apies can have such powerful effects.Although the sense of a presence could be evoked inmost individuals,
22
it was more prominent in peoplewhohadelevatedscoresoninventoriesfromwhichtem-poral lobe sensitivity (or lability) was inferred.
23
Theex-periences were most easily evoked if a frequency-mod-ulated pattern (tailored after a “chirp” sequence fromstandard signal generators) was applied over the righthemisphere for 20 minutes and then a bilateral burst-firing pattern (designed after the discharge of amygda-loid neurons from an epileptic patient) was applied bi-laterally over the temporal lobes for an additional 20minutes. These experiences occurred with equal vigorin dozens of reporters accompanying television filmcrews who have visited the laboratory during the last10 years. The sensitivity of the functions of the righthemisphere to complex magnetic fields even within thepicotesla range has been shownrepeatedlybySandyk.
24
The experimental data also suggested that the sensedpresence was the prototype for all of the other experi-ences that include spirit visitations: alien “abductions,”the Greek Muses, incubi and succubi, and perhaps eventhe god experience itself. Many of these experiences oc-cur during periods of rapid eye movements(dreaming),when cerebral processing shifts toward limbic sourcesand memory consolidation and when right hemisphericfunctionsaremorepredominant.
25
Duringtheday,theseexperiences are more likely to occur following periodsof right hemispheric activity such assingingorchantingwithin large groups. Religious ceremonies are con-structed to enhance these conditions. The label, such asthe spirit of god or an alien encounter, that is applied tothe sensed presence at the time of the experiencestrongly affects the details of this autobiographicalmemory when it is reconstructed minutes to hourslater.
20
HAUNTS AND PRESENCES AS EVOKEDEXPERIENCES
A large proportion of paranormal experiences occur inspecific places. They are associated with a sensed pres-ence, fear, odd smells, apparitions along the peripheral(usually left) visual field that “disappear” whendirectly(foveally) viewed, and auditory experiences (loudnoises). Continuous measurements within these areasreveal bursts of low-frequency magnetic fields, ultra-sound, and other physical anomalies that can directlyaffect objects within the space as well as the human brain.
26
Because the source of the experiences is usuallynot known to the experient, they are usually attributedto the available cultural explanationsofdemons,ghosts,and aliens. Usually it is the aversive experiences thatlead people to contact our research group.We have simulated and reproduced theseexperiences by applying complex frequency-modulated magneticfields through the brains of normal people who haveexperienced haunts. For example, a middle-aged jour-nalist who had experienced an apparition in his habitatreported brief “rushes” of fear within a few minutes ofthe application of the frequency-modulated magnetic
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