Zitat:Benefits and Effects

• Binaural beats have been found to positively influence affective and psychomotor responses (Lane et al., 1998);
  
• Increase subjective measures of quality of life (Wahbeh et al., 2007);
  
• Effectively increase mood (Vernon, 2009) as well as performance ratings of vigilance (Lane et al., 1998);
  
• Reduces mental fatigue (Lim et al., 2018);
  
• Has been found to reduce anxiety (Wahbeh et al., 2007; Wiwatwongwana et al., 2016);
  
• Decreases insulin-like growth factor-1 (Wahbeh et al., 2007);
  
• The brains of those of advanced age are able to distinguish binaural beats nearly as effectively as young people, since the frequency these beats operate is distinguishable from everyday sound waves (Oster, 1973);
  
• Shown to increase creativity (Reedijk, et al., 2013);
  
• Decreases striatal dopamine levels which results in positive mood and divergent thinking (Akbari Chermahini, 2012; Reedijk et al., 2013; Wahbeh et al., 2007);
  
• Able to improve working memory capacity (Kraus & Porubanová, 2015; Beauchene et al., 2017; Lim et al., 2018);
  
• Enhances attention (Simmons, 2016; Lim et al., 2018);
  
• May potentially benefit those with ADHD (Simmon, 2016);
  
• Shown to increase cognitive flexibility (Hommel et al., 2016);
  
• Found to reduce negative mood and depressive symptoms in the elderly (Sung et al., 2017);
  

Duration

Binaural beats show their effectiveness with as little as 2 minutes of exposure (Kraus & Porubanová, 2015), though 30 or more minutes of exposure is recommended (Lane et al., 1998).

High quality headphones must be used for the neural synchronicity to effectively manifest.

References

Akbari Chermahini, S., & Hommel, B. (2012). More creative through positive mood? Not everyone!. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 319. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00319
Başar, E., Başar-Eroglu, C., Karakaş, S., & Schürmann, M. (2001). Gamma, alpha, delta, and theta oscillations govern cognitive processes. International journal of psychophysiology, 39(2-3), 241-248.
Beauchene, C., Abaid, N., Moran, R., Diana, R. A., & Leonessa, A. (2017). The effect of binaural beats on verbal working memory and cortical connectivity. Journal of neural engineering, 14(2), 026014.
Hommel, B., Sellaro, R., Fischer, R., Borg, S., & Colzato, L. S. (2016). High-frequency binaural beats increase cognitive flexibility: evidence from dual-task crosstalk. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 1287. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01287
Kraus, J., & Porubanová, M. (2015). The effect of binaural beats on working memory capacity. Studia psychologica, 57(2), 135. doi: 10.21909/sp.2015.02.689
Lane, J. D., Kasian, S. J., Owens, J. E., & Marsh, G. R. (1998). Binaural auditory beats affect vigilance performance and mood. Physiology & behavior, 63(2), 249-252. doi: 10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00436-8
Licklider, J. C. R., Webster, J. C., & Hedlun, J. M. (1950). On the frequency limits of binaural beats. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 22(4), 468-473. doi: 10.1121/1.1906629
Lim, J. H., Kim, H., Jeon, C., & Cho, S. (2018). The effects on mental fatigue and the cognitive function of mechanical massage and binaural beats (brain massage) provided by massage chairs. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 32, 32-38. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.04.008
Mehdizadeh, M. (2017). tumblr [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/2awzIErSaG0
Oster, G. (1973). Auditory beats in the brain. Scientific American, 229(4), 94-103.
Perrott, D. R., & Nelson, M. A. (1969). Limits for the detection of binaural beats. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 46(6B), 1477-1481. doi: 10.1121/1.1911890
Sung, H. C., Lee, W. L., Li, H. M., Lin, C. Y., Wu, Y. Z., Wang, J. J., & Li, T. L. (2017). Familiar Music Listening with Binaural Beats for Older People with Depressive Symptoms in Retirement Homes. Neuropsychiatry, 7(4), 347-353.
Simmons, L. C. (2016). Binaural auditory beats, a promising therapy and cognitive enhancement [PDF].
Reedijk, S. A., Bolders, A., & Hommel, B. (2013). The impact of binaural beats on creativity. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 7, 786. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00786
Vernon, D. (2009). Human Potential: Exploring Techniques Used to Enhance Human Performance. London: Routledge.
Wahbeh, H., Calabrese, C., & Zwickey, H. (2007). Binaural beat technology in humans: a pilot study to assess psychologic and physiologic effects. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(1), 25-32. doi: 10.1089/acm.2006.6196
Wiwatwongwana, D., Vichitvejpaisal, P., Thaikruea, L., Klaphajone, J., Tantong, A., & Wiwatwongwana, A. (2016). The effect of music with and without binaural beat audio on operative anxiety in patients undergoing cataract surgery: a randomized controlled trial. Eye, 30(11), 1407.

Zitat:Summary: A new study reports that while listening to music, brain activity becomes synchronized to the rhythmic structure of the sound, specifically the frequency of the beat.

Zitat:Music makes us move, and using bass instruments to build the rhythmic foundations of music is especially effective at inducing people to dance to periodic pulse-like beats. Here, we show that this culturally widespread practice may exploit a neurophysiological mechanism whereby low-frequency sounds shape the neural representations of rhythmic input by boosting selective locking to the beat. Cortical activity was captured using electroencephalography (EEG) while participants listened to a regular rhythm or to a relatively complex syncopated rhythm conveyed either by low tones (130 Hz) or high tones (1236.8 Hz). We found that cortical activity at the frequency of the perceived beat is selectively enhanced compared with other frequencies in the EEG spectrum when rhythms are conveyed by bass sounds. This effect is unlikely to arise from early cochlear processes, as revealed by auditory physiological modeling, and was particularly pronounced for the complex rhythm requiring endogenous generation of the beat. The effect is likewise not attributable to differences in perceived loudness between low and high tones, as a control experiment manipulating sound intensity alone did not yield similar results. Finally, the privileged role of bass sounds is contingent on allocation of attentional resources to the temporal properties of the stimulus, as revealed by a further control experiment examining the role of a behavioral task. Together, our results provide a neurobiological basis for the convention of using bass instruments to carry the rhythmic foundations of music and to drive people to move to the beat.

Zitat:Die  hier  dargelegte  Masterthesis  behandelt  das  Phänomen  der  neuronalen  Resonanz.  Eine Resonanzfrequenz  von  neuronalen  Netzwerken  scheint  im  Gamma-Bereich  (40  Hz)  verortet zu sein und kann bei erfahrenen Meditierenden beobachtet werden. Ziel dieser Thesis war die experimentelle Induktion von Gamma-Aktivität durch repetitive visuelle Stimulation während meditativer  Zustände.  Der  Fokus  der  Analyse  lag  auf  den  neuronalen  Auswirkungen vonrepetitivervisuellerStimulation  und  sollte  eine  Grundlage  für  künftige  Analysen  auf  der Bewusstseinsebene  bilden.  Dazu  wurden  die  physiologischen  Daten  (EEG,  EKG,  EDA, Atmung)  von  33  Versuchspersonen  ausgewertet,  welche  mit  einem  Flimmerlicht  in  einer Frequenz  von  1-49  Hz  stimuliert  wurden  und  gleichzeitig  einer  Atemführung  folgten.  Die höchste Gamma-Aktivität wurde bei einer Stimulationsfrequenz von ca. 40 Hz erwartet, zeigte sich in der Gesamtstichprobe jedoch bei einer Stimulationsfrequenz von ca. 20 Hz. Bei einer Stimulationsfrequenz  von  40  Hz  trat  ebenfalls  vermehrt  Gamma-Aktivität  auf.  Individuell konnte die höchste Gamma-Aktivität größtenteils bei Stimulationsfrequenzen von ca. 10 Hz, 20   Hz   und   40   Hz   beobachtet   werden.   Die   höchste   Gamma-Aktivität   bei   einer Stimulationsfrequenz  von  20  Hz  in  der  Gesamtstichprobe  könnte  durch  das  Auftreten  von Halluzinationen   bei   dieser   Stimulationsfrequenz   erklärt   werden.   Wird   in   künftigen Experimenten   ein   Zusammenhang   mit   den   hier   dargelegten   Ergebnissen   und   tieferen meditativen  Zuständen  sichtbar,  bildet  insbesondere  die  Psychotherapie  (z.B.  MBSR)  ein potentielles   Anwendungsfeld.   Patienten   könnten   in   der   Ausbildung   von   meditativen Fähigkeiten mit Hilfe von individuell angepassten Stimulationsgeräten unterstützt werden. 

(8) Neuronal Resonance: Maximum Gamma Activity by Visual Stimulation | Request PDF. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316551869_Neuronal_Resonance_Maximum_Gamma_Activity_by_Visual_Stimulation [accessed Sep 06 2018].

Zitat:"We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness." -- Albert Einstein

"In our quest for happiness and the avoidance of suffering, we are all fundamentally the same, and therefore equal. Despite the characteristics that differentiate us - race, language, religion, gender, wealth and many others - we are all equal in terms of our basic humanity." -- Dalai Lama (on twitter)

The belief that everything in the universe is part of the same fundamental whole exists throughout many cultures and philosophical, religious, spiritual, and scientific traditions, as captured by the phrase 'all that is.' The Nobel winner Erwin Schrodinger once observed that quantum physics is compatible with the notion that there is indeed a basic oneness of the universe. Therefore, despite it seeming as though the world is full of many divisions, many people throughout the course of human history and even today truly believe that individual things are part of some fundamental entity. 


Despite the prevalence of this belief, there has been a lack of a well validated measure in psychology that captures this belief. While certain measures of spirituality do exist, the belief in oneness questions are typically combined with other questions that assess other aspects of spirituality, such as meaning, purpose, sacredness, or having a relationship with God. What happens when we secularize the belief in oneness?
In a recent series of studies, Kate Diebels and Mark Leary set out to find out. In their first study, they found that only 20.3% of participants had thought about the oneness of all things "often" or "many times", while 25.9% of people "seldom" thought about the oneness of all things, and 12.5% of people "never" had thought about it. 
The researchers also created a 6-item "Belief in Oneness Scale" consisting of the following items:

Zitat:

1. Beyond surface appearances, everything is fundamentally one.
   
2. Although many seemingly separate things exist, they all are part of the same whole.
   
3. At the most basic level of reality, everything is one.
   
4. The separation among individual things is an illusion; in reality everything is one.
   
5. Everything is composed of the same basic substance, whether one thinks of it as spirit, consciousness, quantum processes, or whatever.
   
6. The same basic essence permeates everything that exists.
   

Those who scored higher on this scale were much more likely to have an identity that extends beyond the individual to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, nature, and even the cosmos. In fact, a belief in oneness was more strongly related to feeling connected with distant people and aspects of the natural world than with people with whom one is close! Also, while a belief in oneness was related to actual experiences of oneness ("mystical experiences"), there was no relationship between a belief in oneness and feeling closer to God during a spiritual experience.
In their second study, the researchers looked at values and self-views that might be related to the belief in oneness. They found that a belief in oneness was related to values indicating a universal concern for the welfare of other people, as well as greater compassion for other people. A belief in oneness was also associated with feeling connected to others through a recognition of our common humanity, common problems, and common imperfections. At the same time, there was no relationship between a belief in oneness and the degree to which people endorsed self-focused values such as hedonism, self-direction, security, or achievement. This means that people can have a belief in oneness and still have a great deal of self-care, healthy boundaries, and self-direction in life.

Implications of a Belief in Oneness

People who believe that everything is fundamentally one differ in crucial ways from those who do not. In general, those who hold a belief in oneness have a more inclusive identity that reflects their sense of connection with other people, nonhuman animals, and aspects of nature that are all thought to be part of the same "one thing." This has some rather broad implications.
First, this finding is relevant to our current fractured political landscape. It is very interesting that those who reported a greater belief in oneness were also more likely to regard other people like members of their own group and to identify with all of humanity. There is an abundance of identity politics these days, with people believing that their own ideology is the best one, and a belief that those who disagree with one's own ideology are evil or somehow less than human.
It might be beneficial for people all across the political spectrum to recognize and hold in mind a belief in oneness even as they are asserting their values and political beliefs. Only having "compassion" for those who are in your in-group, and vilifying or even becoming violent toward those who you perceive as the out-group, is not only antithetical to world peace more broadly, but is also counter-productive to political progress that advances the greater good of all humans on this planet.
I also think these findings have important implications for education. Even if some adults may be hopeless when it comes to changing their beliefs, most children are not. Other beliefs-- such as a belief that intelligence can learn and grow ("growth mindset")-- are extraordinarily popular in education these days. However, I wonder what the implications would be if all students were also explicitly trained to believe that we are all part of the same fundamental humanity, actively showing students through group discussions and activities how we all have insecurities and imperfections, and how underneath the superficial differences in opinions and political beliefs, we all have the same fundamental needs for connection, purpose, and to matter in this vast universe.

Perhaps now, more than ever in the course of human history, we would benefit more from a oneness mindset.

Zitat:In den vergangenen Jahren haben Physiker und Neurowissenschaftler Werkzeuge entwickelt, mit denen sich bestimmte Arten von Gedanken erkennen und Informationen direkt ins Gehirn übertragen lassen. Bereits 2015 nutzten Andrea Stocco und Kollegen an der University of Washington in Seattle diese Technologien, um zwei Personen mit einem Hirn-zu-Hirn-Interface zu verbinden.

Jetzt sind sie noch einen Schritt weiter gegangen und haben die Kommunikation auf eine Gruppe von drei Personen erweitert. Sie sprechen von einem "sozialen Netzwerk" aus vernetzten Gehirnen, berichtet Technology Review online in "Ein Netz aus Gehirnen".

Zitat:Sleep EEG Derived From Behind-the-Ear Electrodes (cEEGrid) Compared to Standard Polysomnography: A Proof of Concept Study

Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings represent a vital component of the assessment of sleep physiology, but the methodology presently used is costly, intrusive to participants, and laborious in application. There is a recognized need to develop more easily applicable yet reliable EEG systems that allow unobtrusive long-term recording of sleep-wake EEG ideally away from the laboratory setting. cEEGrid is a recently developed flex-printed around-the-ear electrode array, which holds great potential for sleep-wake monitoring research. It is comfortable to wear, simple to apply, and minimally intrusive during sleep. Moreover, it can be combined with a smartphone-controlled miniaturized amplifier and is fully portable. Evaluation of cEEGrid as a motion-tolerant device is ongoing, but initial findings clearly indicate that it is very well suited for cognitive research. The present study aimed to explore the suitability of cEEGrid for sleep research, by testing whether cEEGrid data affords the signal quality and characteristics necessary for sleep stage scoring. In an accredited sleep laboratory, sleep data from cEEGrid and a standard PSG system were acquired simultaneously. Twenty participants were recorded for one extended nocturnal sleep opportunity. Fifteen data sets were scored manually. Sleep parameters relating to sleep maintenance and sleep architecture were then extracted and statistically assessed for signal quality and concordance. The findings suggest that the cEEGrid system is a viable and robust recording tool to capture sleep and wake EEG. Further research is needed to fully determine the suitability of cEEGrid for basic and applied research as well as sleep medicine.


https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00452/full

Zitat:A research participant came to our lab with self-proclaimed, ecstatic, Kundalini meditative experiences. Using neurophenomenology and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we were able to identify brain activation in the left prefrontal cortex [primarily in left Brodmann׳s areas (BAs) 46 and 10, but also extending into BAs 11, 47, and 45] associated with this experience. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory provided evidence that this was a perceived altered state of consciousness. Additionally, the Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index strongly suggested that what he was experiencing was indeed Kundalini. The feelings of joy, happiness and the left prefrontal brain region found in this study are consistent with many published neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies of meditation. This case study suggests that using first-person subjective experience within a phenomenological reduction process can be combined with neuroimaging to divulge objective brain regions associated with such experiences. Furthermore, this provides evidence that at least in this participant, the Kundalini experience is associated with brain activation in the left prefrontal cortex. Future research is needed to confirm these results in a large group study, perhaps contrasting brain activation of those who experience spontaneously emerging Kundalini with trained Kundalini practitioners.

Zitat:BACKGROUND:
Global population aging will result in increasing rates of cognitive decline and dementia. Thus, effective, low-cost, and low side-effect interventions for the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline are urgently needed. Our study is the first to investigate the effects of Kundalini yoga (KY) training on mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
METHODS:
Older participants (≥55 years of age) with MCI were randomized to either a 12-week KY intervention or memory enhancement training (MET; gold-standard, active control). Cognitive (i.e. memory and executive functioning) and mood (i.e. depression, apathy, and resilience) assessments were administered at baseline, 12 weeks and 24 weeks.
RESULTS:
At baseline, 81 participants had no significant baseline group differences in clinical or demographic characteristics. At 12 weeks and 24 weeks, both KY and MET groups showed significant improvement in memory; however, only KY showed significant improvement in executive functioning. Only the KY group showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms and resilience at week 12.
CONCLUSION:
KY group showed short- and long-term improvements in executive functioning as compared to MET, and broader effects on depressed mood and resilience. This observation should be confirmed in future clinical trials of yoga intervention for treatment and prevention of cognitive decline (NCT01983930).

Zitat:OBJECTIVES:
B.L. is a Tibetan Buddhist with many years of compassion meditation practice. During meditation B.L. uses a technique to generate a feeling of love and compassion while reciting a mantra. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates of compassion meditation in 1 experienced meditator.
METHODS:
B.L. was examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging during compassion meditation, applying a paradigm with meditation and word repetition blocks.
RESULTS:
The most significant finding was the activation in the left medial prefrontal cortex extending to the anterior cingulate gyrus. Other significant loci of activation were observed in the right caudate body extending to the right insula and in the left midbrain close to the hypothalamus.
CONCLUSIONS:
The results in this study are in concordance with the hypothesis that compassion meditation is accompanied by activation in brain areas involved with empathy as well as with happy and pleasant feelings (i.e., the left medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate gyrus).

Zitat:Competitive taekwondo composes a high stress situation leading to an increase in the stress hormone cortisol. Little is known about cortisol's relation to outcome (winning vs. losing) and performance in taekwondo. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate cortisol relation to outcome, performance and whether cortisol can predict performance during a competition. Twenty taekwondo combatants (13 males; Mage = 15) provided four salivary samples (C1: 30 min prior, C2: during, C3: after, and C4: 30 min after competition) during an international competition. Total points made in the two rounds during their first fight were used as a performance indicator. Results show no difference in cortisol between winners and losers, before or after competition. However, a negative correlation between performance and C1 as well as C4 was detected. Unexpected, a positive correlation between cortisol during the competition (C2) and performance was identified. A stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that C2 predicted 25.5% of the performance variance. Even if the sample size is relatively small due to the field experimental setting, some conclusions can be drawn to motivate future research. Potentially, in taekwondo it seems advantageous for performance to have higher levels of stress as indicated by cortisol during a competition, whereas particularly before the competition, sport psychological interventions should be provided to combatants to reduce their psychophysiological stress level.

Zitat:Heart rate variability (HRV) is commonly used in sport science for monitoring the physiology of athletes but not as an indicator of physiological state from a psychological perspective. Since HRV is established to be an indicator of emotional responding, it could be an objective means of quantifying an athlete's subjective physiological state before competition. A total of 61 sport shooters participated in this study, of which 21 were novice shooters, 19 were intermediate shooters, and 21 were advanced level shooters. HRV, self-efficacy, and use of mental skills were assessed before they completed a standard shooting performance task of 40 shots, as in a competition qualifying round. The results showed that HRV was significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy and performance and was a significant predictor of shooting performance. In addition, advanced shooters were found to have significantly lower average heart rate before shooting and used more self-talk, relaxation, imagery, and automaticity compared to novice and intermediate shooters. HRV was found to be useful in identifying the physiological state of an athlete before competing, and as such, coaches and athletes can adopt practical strategies to improve the pre-performance physiological state as a means to optimize performance.

Zitat:The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of regular audio-visual relaxation combined with Schultz's autogenic training on: (1) the results of behavioral tests that evaluate work performance during burdensome cognitive tasks (Kraepelin test), (2) changes in classical EEG alpha frequency band, neocortex (frontal, temporal, occipital, parietal), hemisphere (left, right) versus condition (only relaxation 7-12 Hz). Both experimental (EG) and age-and skill-matched control group (CG) consisted of eighteen athletes (ten males and eight females). After 7-month training EG demonstrated changes in the amplitude of mean electrical activity of the EEG alpha bend at rest and an improvement was significantly changing and an improvement in almost all components of Kraepelin test. The same examined variables in CG were unchanged following the period without the intervention. Summing up, combining audio-visual relaxation with autogenic training significantly improves athlete's ability to perform a prolonged mental effort. These changes are accompanied by greater amplitude of waves in alpha band in the state of relax. The results suggest usefulness of relaxation techniques during performance of mentally difficult sports tasks (sports based on speed and stamina, sports games, combat sports) and during relax of athletes.

Zitat:The present study was designed to examine the effect of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback on the cardiorespiratory resting function during sleep in daily life. Forty-five healthy young adults were randomly assigned to one of three groups: HRV biofeedback, Autogenic Training(AT), and no-treatment control. Participants in the HRV biofeedback were instructed to use a handheld HRV biofeedback device before their habitual bedtime, those in the AT were asked to listen to an audiotaped instruction before bedtime,and those in the control were asked to engage in their habitual activity before bedtime. Pulse wave signal during sleep at their own residences was measured continuously with a wrist watch-type transdermal photoelectric sensor for three time points. Baseline data were collected on the first night of measurements, followed by two successive nights for HRV biofeedback, AT, or control. Cardiorespiratory resting function was assessed quantitatively as the amplitude of high frequency(HF) component of pulse rate variability, a surrogate measure of respiratory sinus arrhythmia. HF component increased during sleep in the HRV biofeedback group,although it remained unchanged in the AT and control groups. These results suggest that HRV biofeedback before sleep may improve cardiorespiratory resting function during sleep.

Zitat:Tatsächlich aber ist das ein Irrtum. Bisweilen ist Wissen sogar gefährlich. Das zeigt auch ein Experiment, das Forscher der Stanford University jüngst vorgenommen haben. Sie machten mit Probanden einen Fake-DNA-Test, der angeblich etwas über Ausdauerfitness und das Sättigungsgefühl aussagt.

Mit den erfundenen Resultaten konfrontiert, geschah bei den Teilnehmern Absurdes. Probanden, die vorgeblich gute Gene für Ausdauer und Fitness hatten, liefen wie die Wiesel auf dem Laufband und fühlten sich nach einem großen Smoothie wunderbar satt. Probanden mit angeblich schlechten Genen gaben beim Laufen früh auf und blieben trotz Smoothie hungrig. Aber nicht nur das: Auch die Lungenfunktion und der Spiegel eines Hungerhormons passte sich den erfundenen Testresultaten an. Das Fake-Wissen war zur selbsterfüllenden Prophezeiung geworden.