Mind Games: How Our Consciousness Generates Ghosts - Alternative View

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Mind Games: How Our Consciousness Generates Ghosts - Alternative View
Mind Games: How Our Consciousness Generates Ghosts - Alternative View

Video: Mind Games: How Our Consciousness Generates Ghosts - Alternative View

Video: Mind Games: How Our Consciousness Generates Ghosts - Alternative View
Video: Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality | Anil Seth 2024, March
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Surprisingly, a large number of people believe in the existence of ghosts. And many have actually met a poltergeist. So what causes the paranormal? What other "jokes" can the mind play with us, and how does consciousness give rise to ghosts?

Researchers from different countries are trying to understand the nature of paranormal phenomena. Ciaran O'Keeffe, head of the psychology department at New Buckinghamshire University in the UK and an expert on the "life" of ghosts, puts it this way: "It is wrong to say that everyone who comes across a poltergeist is wrong." Kiaran has long specialized in parapsychology, hosts the Ghostbusters talk show on TV and is the author of several books on the topic. He himself does not doubt for a second that real ghosts do not exist, however, like many other researchers, he wants to understand what causes such visions, as well as the physical sensations of the presence of something otherworldly nearby.

What gives birth to spirits

Over the years, researchers have identified several factors for the emergence of abnormal images: physical, psychological and environmental conditions. But the debate about what actually leads to paranormal sensations and why some people are more susceptible to such influence than others continues to this day.

One of the earliest scientific theories about what causes paranormal sensations belongs to Oliver Lodge, an English physicist and inventor, the progenitor of radio. “It’s not normal that in times of technological breakthrough, people are so interested in ghosts! - he said in 1900. "The atmosphere in Britain has more electricity than any other country, and that's why there are so many spirits." That is, the scientist argued that ghosts are "generated" by an electromagnetic field that affects the mental state of a person.

According to the second version, the spirits are "caused" by infrasound - acoustic vibrations with a frequency below 16 hertz, which cannot be captured by the human ear. In 1998, Vic Tandy from Coventry University in the UK discovered a link between infrasound around 19 hertz and specific physical sensations (tremors, visual hallucinations and a sense of presence).

One evening, working in his own laboratory, he saw a shapeless gray substance slowly approaching him. The silhouette disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Tandy decided to study this phenomenon. After much experimentation, the scientist came to the conclusion that ghosts generate infrasonic waves with a frequency of 18.98 hertz. In nature, there are a lot of waves in this range, infrasound about 19 hertz can come from air ducts, it is caused by thunder, gusts of wind and the movement of aircraft. Moreover, these waves are characterized by tremendous penetrating power and spread over very long distances. “It is no coincidence that ghosts“like”to wander along long corridors where there are drafts,” the scientist says in support of his theory.

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However, the scientific world considers Vic Tandy's arguments unconvincing. In 2009, a group of researchers from the University of London studied the influence of environmental factors on the occurrence of abnormal sensations and visions. Scientists found that regardless of whether infrasonic waves were applied or not, the effect did not change. But they confirm the important role of electromagnetic fields in poltergeist phenomena, which are known to affect brain activity and cause hallucinations.

Scary and even scarier

However, O'Keeffe believes that the importance of infrasound cannot be denied. Under certain circumstances, which play a decisive role in the formation of abnormal sensations, infrasonic waves have a powerful effect on the psyche. “For hundreds of years, church organs, whose pipes emit infrasonic waves, have instilled in parishioners a fear of God. When very low notes sounded, almost inaudible, but vibrating eardrums, those present had a feeling of mystery, the approach of something frightening,”explains Kiaran. But still other factors are fundamental.

According to O'Keeffe, the building itself (the basement is already causing fear) and dim lighting perform their function in the "appearance" of ghosts. “In such an environment, people feel scared, and someone will definitely see a ghost,” the researcher says.

Another important factor is the sharp drop in temperature. This can happen due to a gust of wind, or it can be caused by a reaction from the brain. When a part of the brain known as the amygdala feels threatened, it triggers an increased production of adrenaline. This hormone redirects blood flow from the skin to the muscles, preparing them for running. This leads to the fact that a person feels a sharp cold. Information about changes in temperature is so common in stories of contact with ghosts that cold has become one of the signs of the presence of something supernatural. If at the same time a person believes that he is in a place where ghosts live, then the body's response to fear starts by itself …

But even 100% rationalists can experience anomalous phenomena under the right circumstances. O'Keeffe notes that encounters with ghosts most often occur at night, when the brain requires rest and does not adequately respond to external factors. Kiaran also believes that hallucinations are caused by a combination of stress and physical exhaustion. For example, the world famous mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who is famous for his rational mind and ability to impartially assess the situation, assured that in August 1980, on the approaches to the summit of Mount Everest, he communicated with British climbers who disappeared on this slope in 1924.

Neuroscientist Olaf Blanke from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology explains what is happening. By stimulating the angular gyrus in the brain, it makes people "see" ghosts near them or makes them feel like they are leaving their own body.

“My research shows that the human brain has many ideas about its own body. Usually they are all successfully combined and give us a unified perception of our own organism and ourselves. But when a part of the brain is damaged, an alternative idea of one's own “I”, separate from our physical body, may arise. This is how the effect of the presence of someone else is born. Lack of oxygen, as in the case of the mountaineer Messner, and physical exhaustion, a condition that is directly related to the sensory processing of information in our brain, can also affect the perception of oneself,”says Blanke.

Seeing in the dark

Olaf Blanke is not alone in arguing that the brain's misreading of sensory information can have strange consequences.

Researchers at the University of Rochester in New York conducted an experiment in which they asked volunteers to wave their hand vigorously in front of their face. In this case, the subjects had to follow the movements of the hands with their eyes. Sensors on the heads of the participants in the experiment showed that they all easily coped with the task in a well-lit room. But even in complete darkness, about half of the volunteers tracked their own hand movements well. Every fifth volunteer said that he saw the outline of his own limb (though indistinct and dull).

“Seeing in complete darkness? According to existing knowledge about vision, this is impossible, says Duje Tadin, one of the researchers. - Synesthesia, a mixture of sensory feelings, allowed people to "see" in the dark. People, feeling the movement of their hand, used this information to create a visual illusion. " Synesthesia plays a key role in forming false beliefs about reality. This is a special way of perception, in which some states, phenomena, concepts and symbols are involuntarily endowed with additional qualities: color, smell, texture, taste, geometric shape, sound tonality or position in space. These qualities are illusory: the sense organs, usually responsible for their appearance, do not participate in synesthetic perception. At the same time, the feelings seem to be mixed: a person can see or touch a sound, hear a color,feel the texture or geometric shape of a melody that is not in reality.

Another important observation made by scientists: the pupils of people who said they saw a hand in the dark moved in the same way as in full light, clearly accompanying the movement of the hand. And for those who did not see their limb in the dark, the pupils remained practically motionless. O'Keeffe uses this discovery in his practice: for many years he has been hosting the TV show "Ghostbusters", in which he acts as a parapsychologist and reveals false mediums. “I always analyze the movement of the pupils in the dark in the participants of the program. Those who really "see" ghosts always follow the image - the pupils of such people move following the visible silhouette. This happens even in pitch darkness. And those who only pretend to see something, the pupils remain motionless. " And yet the question is why some see ghosts, while others do not,remains open. Perhaps the answer is somewhere very close …