The God helmet is an experimental apparatus (originally called the Coren helmet) developed by neuropsychological researcher
Stanley Coren and neuroscientist
Michael Persinger
Michael A. Persinger (June 26, 1945 – August 14, 2018) was an American-Canadian professor of psychology at Laurentian University, a position he had held from 1971 until his death in 2018. His best-known hypotheses include the temporal lobes of ...
to study creativity, religious experience and the effects of subtle stimulation of the
temporal lobes
The temporal lobe is one of the four Lobes of the brain, major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain.
The temporal lobe ...
.
Reports by participants of a "sensed presence" while wearing the God helmet brought public attention and resulted in several TV documentaries.
The device has been used in Persinger's research in the field of
neurotheology
The neuroscience of religion, also known as "neurotheology" or "spiritual neuroscience," seeks to explain the biological and neurological processes behind religious experience. Researchers in this field study correlations of the ''biological neu ...
, the study of the purported neural correlates of religion and spirituality. The apparatus, placed on the head of an experimental subject, generates very
weak magnetic fields, that Persinger refers to as "
complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
". Like other
neural stimulation with low-intensity magnetic fields, these fields are approximately as strong as those generated by a land line telephone handset or an ordinary hair dryer, but far weaker than that of an ordinary
refrigerator magnet and approximately a million times weaker than
transcranial magnetic stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive neurostimulation technique in which a changing magnetic field is used to induce an electric current in a targeted area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. A device called a st ...
.
Persinger reports that many subjects have reported "mystical experiences and altered states"
while wearing the God Helmet. The foundations of his theory have been criticized in the scientific press.
Anecdotal reports by journalists,
[Wired magazine article](_blank)
/ref> academics
/ref> and documentarists[Incomplete filmography for Dr. M.A. Persinger](_blank)
/ref> have been mixed and several effects reported by Persinger have not yet been independently replicated. One attempt at replication published in the scientific literature reported a failure to reproduce Persinger's effects and the authors speculated that the suggestibility
Suggestibility is the quality of being inclined to accept and act on the suggestions of others. One may fill in gaps in certain memories with false information given by another when recalling a scenario or moment. Suggestibility uses cues to disto ...
of participants, improper blinding of participants or idiosyncratic methodology could explain Persinger's results.[
*] Persinger argues that the replication was technically flawed, but the researchers have stood by their replication. However, one group has published a direct replication of one God Helmet experiment. Other groups have reported no effects at all[ or have generated similar experiences by using ]sham
Sham may refer to:
Arabic use
* Al-Sham or Shām (شام), the Arabic term for the Greater Syria region, known in English as the Levant or the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the modern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus ...
helmets,[ or helmets that are not turned on.][ The research using sham equipment was marred by the fact that, in one case "... the data from the... study (using only a sham headset) had been faked", and "the student... (who did it)... was banned from the University."
]
Development
The God Helmet was not specifically designed to elicit visions of God, but to test several of Persinger's hypotheses about brain function. The first of these is the Vectorial Hemisphericity Hypothesis, which proposes that the human sense of self has two components, one on each side of the brain, that ordinarily work together but in which the left hemisphere is usually dominant.[ Persinger argues that the two hemispheres make different contributions to a single sense of self, but under certain conditions can appear as two separate 'selves'. Persinger and Coren designed the God Helmet in an attempt to create conditions in which contributions to the sense of self from both cerebral hemispheres is disrupted.
The second experimental hypothesis was that when communication between the left and right senses of self is disturbed, as they report it is while wearing the God Helmet, the usually-subordinate 'self' in the right hemisphere intrudes into the awareness of the left-hemispheric dominant self,][
*] causing what Persinger refers to as "interhemispheric intrusions".[
The third hypothesis was that "visitor experiences" could be explained by such "interhemispheric intrusions" caused by a disruption in "vectorial hemisphericity".] Persinger theorises that many paranormal experiences, feelings of having lived past lives, felt presences of non-physical beings, ghosts, muses, and other "spiritual beings", are examples of interhemispheric intrusions (an idea originally proposed in 1976 in Julian Jaynes' bicameral mentality
Bicameral mentality is a hypothesis introduced by Julian Jaynes who argued human ancestors as late as the ancient Greeks did not consider emotions and desires as stemming from their own minds but as the consequences of actions of gods external t ...
hypothesis).
The God Helmet experiments were also intended, though not specifically designed (see above), to validate the idea that religious and mystic experiences are artifacts of temporal lobe function.
The device
Persinger uses a modified snowmobile helmet that incorporates solenoids
upright=1.20, An illustration of a solenoid
upright=1.20, Magnetic field created by a seven-loop solenoid (cross-sectional view) described using field lines
A solenoid () is a type of electromagnet formed by a helix, helical coil of wire whos ...
placed over the temporal lobes. This device produces magnetic fields that Persinger describes as "weak but complex" (1 microTesla). The pattern of fluctuation in these magnetic fields is derived from physiological sources, for example patterns that appear in EEG traces taken from limbic structures. The purpose of exposing magnetic fields patterned after neurophysiological sources, such as the burst-firing profile of the amygdala, is to enhance the probability of activating the structure from which the signal was derived.
The sessions are conducted with the subject seated in an acoustic chamber. The acoustic chamber is also a Faraday cage
A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block some electromagnetic fields. A Faraday shield may be formed by a continuous covering of conductive material, or in the case of a Faraday cage, by a mesh of such materials. Faraday cag ...
,[ shielding out all EMF emissions and radiation except the Earth's magnetic field. Persinger reports that this shielding allows him to use the apparatus to investigate the effects of geomagnetism on the human brain.]
Comparison with TMS
Neither the God Helmet, nor technologies derived from it, are examples of transcranial magnetic stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive neurostimulation technique in which a changing magnetic field is used to induce an electric current in a targeted area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. A device called a st ...
(TMS), which uses magnetic fields on the order of one million times stronger than those used in Persinger's lab.[ Despite this, Persinger reports similar effect sizes with his apparatus.][ The magnetic fields employed in TMS and in Persinger's experiments are also very different. TMS uses single, paired, and repetitive pulses of high intensity to penetrate the cranium.] In contrast, Persinger's apparatus uses weak complex magnetic signals patterned after physiological processes, such as one derived from limbic burst firing.
Experiences
Most reports from Persinger's lab consist of people sensing "presences"; people often interpreted these to be that of angels, a deceased being known to the subject, or a group of beings of some kind. There have also been reports in which the participant has experienced what they perceive as God. Persinger reports that "at least" 80 percent of his participants experience a presence beside them in the room, and others report less evocative experiences of "another consciousness or sentient being".
Anecdotal reports
The scientist and science writer Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
, appearing in the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
science documentary series ''Horizon'', did not have a 'sensed presence' experience, but instead felt at times 'slightly dizzy', 'quite strange' and had sensations in his limbs and changes in his breathing. He summarised his experience as follows: "It pretty much felt as though I was in total darkness, with a helmet on my head and pleasantly relaxed".[ Persinger explained Dawkins' limited results in terms of his low score on a psychological scale measuring temporal lobe sensitivity.
In contrast, the experimental psychologist, and former ]parapsychology
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...
researcher, Susan Blackmore
Susan Jane Blackmore (born 29 July 1951) is a British writer, lecturer, sceptic, broadcaster, and a visiting professor at the University of Plymouth. Her fields of research include memetics, parapsychology, consciousness, and she is best known f ...
said: "When I went to Persinger's lab and underwent his procedures I had the most extraordinary experiences I've ever had… I'll be surprised if it turns out to be a placebo
A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures.
Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...
effect."
Jack Hitt, a journalist from ''Wired'' magazine, visited Persinger's lab in 1999 and expressed confusion over Persinger's post-stimulation debriefing ("One question: Did the red bulb on the wall grow larger or smaller? There was a red bulb on the wall? I hadn't noticed.") and reported: "Many other questions suggest that there were other experiences I should have had, but to be honest, I didn't. In fact, as transcendental experiences go, on a scale of 1 to 10, Persinger's helmet falls somewhere around, oh, 4. Even though I did have a fairly convincing out-of-body experience, I'm disappointed relative to the great expectations and anxieties I had going in."
Replication attempts and debate
In December 2004 ''Nature
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'' reported that a group of Swedish researchers led by Pehr Granqvist, a psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
at Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, had attempted to replicate Persinger's experiments under double-blind
In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...
conditions, and were not able to reproduce the effect. The study was published in '' Neuroscience Letters'' in 2005.[ Granqvist ''et al'' concluded that the presence or absence of the magnetic field had no relationship with any religious or spiritual experience reported by the participants, but was predicted entirely by their suggestibility and personality traits. Persinger, however, took issue with the Swedish attempt to replicate his work. "They didn't replicate it, not even close," he says.] He argued that the Swedish group did not expose the subjects to magnetic fields for long enough to produce an effect. Granqvist ''et al.'' respond that Persinger agreed with their proposed methodology beforehand and they stand by their replication.[
The theoretical basis for the God helmet, especially the connection between ]temporal lobe
The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain.
The temporal lobe is involved in pr ...
function and mystic experiences, has also been questioned.[
Only one group unconnected to Persinger's lab has so far succeeded in replicating] the effects of one of Persinger's early studies. They reported that their experiment had ruled out suggestibility as an explanation for Persinger's effects, and that analysis of their subjects' verbal reports revealed significant differences between the speech of subjects and controls, as well as less robust effects for suggestion and expectation.
Other groups have subsequently found that individual differences
Differential psychology studies the ways in which individuals differ in their behavior and the processes that underlie it. It is a discipline that develops classifications ( taxonomies) of psychological individual differences. This is distinguish ...
such as strong belief in the paranormal and magical ideation predict some alterations in consciousness and reported "exceptional experiences" when Persinger et al's experimental set-up and procedure are reproduced, but with a sham "God helmet" that is completely inert or a helmet that is turned off. These groups have concluded that psychological factors must have played an important role in prior experiments.
Related devices and studies
Persinger and colleagues also developed a device nicknamed "The Octopus" which uses solenoids around the whole brain
The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
, in a circle just above a subject's ears. Commercial versions of the God helmet, Octopus and associated devices are sold by Persinger's research associate Todd Murphy, and he reports that his devices are able to modulate emotional states in addition to enhancing meditation and generating altered states. One experiment found no changes in emotional responses to photographs whether the device was on or off, Persinger and colleagues report significant changes in subjects' EEG during stimulation with a Shakti system. In one report by Persinger's lab, published in the fringe
Fringe may refer to:
Arts and music
* "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival
* Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival
* Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre
* Purple fri ...
journal '' NeuroQuantology'', these changes were correlated with an out-of-body experience.
One published attempt to test Persinger's theories regarding the psychological effects of environmental magnetic fields, used whole-body exposure to magnetic fields and ultrasound in freely-moving participants to create a "haunted room" within which it was hoped subjects would sense a "presence". The study found that reports of unusual experiences were unrelated with the presence or absence of "complex" environmental electromagnetic fields similar to Persinger's. They speculated that the effects were likely due to suggestibility, though they did not directly measure it.
See also
* Neuroepistemology Neuroepistemology is an empirical approach to epistemology—the study of knowledge in a general, philosophical sense—which is informed by modern neuroscience, especially the study of the structure and operation of the brain involving neural netwo ...
* Third Man factor
The third man factor or third person syndrome refers to the reported situations where an Anomalous experiences#Sense of presence, unseen presence, such as a spirit, provides comfort or support during traumatic experiences.
History
Sir Ernest S ...
* Bicameral mentality
Bicameral mentality is a hypothesis introduced by Julian Jaynes who argued human ancestors as late as the ancient Greeks did not consider emotions and desires as stemming from their own minds but as the consequences of actions of gods external t ...
References
External links
Neurotheology: With God in Mind
— Article describing neurotheology and Dr. Persinger's work with the God helmet
God on the Brain
BBC, 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:God Helmet
Neurotheology
Devices to alter consciousness
Neurotechnology
Neurophysiology
Neuropsychology
Religious practices