Subliminal Messages

By Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor

Your brain sees and does more than you know, according to a new study that points to the mysterious workings of the unconscious mind.

To come to this heady conclusion, scientists had to zap the brains of healthy volunteers (and rather brave ones, we might add) and temporarily shut down the part of the brain that processes visual information. For a fraction of a second, a pulse of energy called transcranial magnetic stimulation shut down each person's visual cortex. That's the part of the brain known to process what we see.

The volunteers stared at a computer screen during this moment of blindness while a simple image flashed for an instant.

See that?

The scientists then asked the study subjects if they had seen a horizontal or vertical line in one test, and a red or green dot in the other. All nine of them said they'd seen nothing each time.

When asked to guess what they'd seen, however, they did significantly better than 50-50.

Those who'd been blind witness to a line guessed its orientation accurately 75 percent of the time. Those who'd been shown a dot guessed its color right in 81 percent of the cases.

"Even though the human primary visual cortex activity was temporarily shut down, it's clear that detailed visual information was still being processed unconsciously," said Tony Ro, a psychologist at Rice University and leader of the study.

Experts had thought all color information was processed in a certain region of the brain's thalamus, governor of all incoming sensory information. But there must be multiple pathways in the brain through which visual information flows, the results indicate.

The new study is detailed this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It contributes to a growing pile of evidence that has yet to reveal what consciousness is.

Ro said his team's findings provide evidence for a longstanding and controversial speculation made by Sigmund Freud and others that the brain churns some information without us being aware. Freud called it "unconscious processing."

Previous studies in patients with brain damage reached similar conclusions: Patients who said they couldn't see an object could, when pressed, identify its shape and location. Researchers call the phenomenon blindsight, and some say it indicates the brain has an unconscious mode that might be at the root of transcendental experiences for which the conscious mind can't account.

SOURCE: LiveScience

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Binaural beats were originally discovered in 1839 by German experimenter H. W. Dove who discovered that when signals of two different frequencies are presented separately within each ear, the brain detects the phase variation between the frequencies and then endeavours to "reconcile" that difference between the two frequencies. This causes the brain to create its own third "phantom" signal known as a "binaural beat" which is equal to the difference between those two frequencies.

So for example, if a frequency of 500 Hz is presented to the left ear, and a frequency of 505 Hz is presented to the right ear, the brain perceives a third frequency pulsing at 5 Hz, the exact difference between the two frequencies; this is known as the "binaural beat".

Research has demonstrated that introducing a binaural beat will cause the brain to begin to and continue to resonate in tune with the specific frequency of that beat. This is known as the "Frequency Following Response".

The "frequency following response" was researched in 1973 by biophysicist Gerald Oster at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and subsequently published in Scientific American. This resulted in further research and development in this and other areas of auditory stimulation with the objective of enhancing all brain functioning. Since that time binaural beat and it's associated technologies have been used around the world for many different purposes, and in particular in improving the potential of the human brain and Mind.

In the context of whole brain synchronisation, also known as "brainwave entrainment, the frequency following response of binaural beats is very important. Listening to a binaural beat at a frequency of 3 Hz, which corresponds to the "theta" frequency of the brain, your brain will resonate at that same 3 Hz frequency, thereby automatically inducing brainwaves to synchronise within the Theta range. Exactly the same principle applies to causing the brain to synchronise at any frequency within the entire spectrum of perception of the human brain. It is therefore possible by mean of this frequency following response to "entrain" the brain to any particular frequency using this methodology.

The Benefits of Brain Synchronisation

There are numerous benefits to brainwave entrainment by the use of binaural beats. The predominant brainwave frequency determines our capabilities at any particular frequency which can include very high levels of concentration, learning ability, relaxation, healing, attracting your desires and much more. The potential is enormous and yet still largely unrealised.

One major overall benefit of longer-term binaural beat technology is for "whole brain synchronisation". Under normal circumstances, in most people, the two hemispheres of the brain the left and right hemispheres are not synchronised. Many people who focus on specific, non-artistic things tend to have a predominance of "left brain" activity, while those who concentrate on more artistic endeavours tend to exhibit more "right brain" activity. Although this is seemingly fine for most people, it has been demonstrated conclusively that synchronising both the left and right hemispheres of the brain can bring about profound results. Some of the most brilliant scientists, technologists and artists in history had a high degree of "whole brain synchronisation".

With whole brain synchronization, the various parts of your brain begin to work together thereby resonating at the same frequencies and causing neural pathways between the two hemispheres of the brain to fire more rapidly. This causes left and right sides of your brain begin to work in harmony with each other. The electrical activity and energy patterns within your brain become more evenly distributed throughout the brain instead of remaining confined to certain areas. Your brain can then attain levels of consciousness that is no normally possible without many years of meditation, often for several hours each day.

"Whole brain synchronization" is characterised by creativity, clarity and inspiration. This has been proven by EEG analysis recorded from various groups of extremely successful individuals who displayed an extraordinarily high level of "whole brain synchronization". There can be no doubt whatsoever therefore as to the profound benefits of whole brain synchronisation and its potential in your life.

When used consistently every day, your brain begins to create new neural pathways, which in turn encourages new dendritic growth, which allows for faster and smoother neural communication in the brain. Dendritic growth also facilitates more "processing power" within the brain with the profound benefits that result. Dendrites consist of many branching fibres extending from the neuron/cell body, which increase the surface area of the brain that is available for receiving incoming information. The more dendrite availability to the brain, the more quickly and smoothly it can process information resulting in faster, clearer, more profound thinking processes with all the benefits that can bring.

Dendritic growth is also a natural process occurring throughout our lifetime. Learning something new results in new dendritic growth, occurring as a result of stimulating the mind in a new and different way. Similarly, due to lack of use and therefore stimulation, existing dendritic connections can become inactive and eventually dissipate altogether. This is characterised by older people who have ceased applying their brain to the same level of activity as they did in their younger days, and indeed age related issues such as senility have been shown to be associated with reduced dendritic availability.

There are four main levels of brainwave activity as follows:

Beta: 12 Hz to 40Hz
The Beta brainwave state is associated with heightened states of alertness and high levels of focused concentration. When you are highly focussed upon any mental activity the dominant brainwave state will be Beta, the level of which will be determined by the level of the activity. Normal waking consciousness with normal activity also usually comes within the beta range.

Alpha: 8Hz to 12Hz
Alpha brainwaves are slower in frequency than Beta brainwaves and tend to be associated with a state of relaxation. Alpha brainwave states are often characterised by visualisation, contemplation and problem solving. This level of brainwave frequency is also associated with some psychic type abilities.

Theta: 4Hz to 8Hz
Theta brainwaves are slower than alpha, and are often characterised by a state of deep physical relaxation, enhanced creativity and deeper levels of meditation. Research has proven that thirty minutes a day of Theta meditation can dramatically improve health and well-being. It has also been proved that a short session of theta level brainwaves can replace the need for several hours of normal sleep. Theta brainwave states are also characterised by vivid imagery, and can be used to great effect for creative visualisation, and in particular for use of the imagination in attracting wealth, health, happiness and other desires. Theta is also the level of brainwave activity where such abilities as Astral projection, out of body experiences, communications with beings beyond the physical world and similar abilities are achieved.

Delta: 0Hz to 4Hz
Delta brainwaves are the slowest brainwave frequency usually characterised by a state of deep dreamless sleep. Delta brainwave states have also long been associated with healing. While Delta brainwave states usually only occur in deep sleep, it is possible to remain Delta state to experience even deeper levels of meditation and awareness.

Throughout history sound has been a very important aspect of many cultures of the world. Drumming, chanting, rattling and many other sounds have been and still are frequently used to invoke altered states of consciousness by lowering brainwave activity. During these activities the altered-states are used for a diverse range of purposes such as healing, "soul retrieval", attracting desires and much more. Often from these altered states brought about by these means seemingly "miraculous" situations can be brought about.

There are no doubts whatsoever therefore that controlling brainwave frequencies can have immense benefits by integrating binaural beat technologies within your daily life. Mind Power Studio includes our very powerful binaural beat product Binaural Mind Power.

Binaural Mind Power has been developed as a state of the art binaural frequency generator incorporating the purest sine wave based harmonics for the best results. Binaural Mind Power has the power and flexibility to create anything from basic but effective binaural beat sound tracks to much more complex tracks with infinite flexibility to create binaural tracks for your own specific brainwave characteristics and purposes. Used in conjunction with other Mind Power Studio components you can produce powerful combinations of binaural sound tracks, affirmations and subliminal messages with a wide range of background sounds. Using these powerful combinations of advanced products you can truly program your mind for success.

In conjunction with the other powerful Mind power Studio components, Binaural Mind Power provides an extremely powerful platform to program your mind for complete success, and to realise everything you desire in the shortest possible time.