Biomedical subjects

M A Persinger

Publications and source records attributed to M A Persinger.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

PubMed1994

The sensed presence as right hemispheric intrusions into the left hemispheric awareness of self: an illustrative case study.

The hypothesis of vectorial hemisphericity predicts that left hemispheric intrusions of the right hemispheric equivalent of the sense of self should be associated with the experience of a "presence" of someone else. The neurophenomenological profile of a woman whose medical history satisfied these theoretical criteria (verified electrical anomalies that could encourage phasic discharges within the right temporal lobe and atrophy within the left temporoparietal region) is presented. In addition to interactions between electrical seizures and thinking, she reported a long history of sensed presences, ego-alien intrusions, and "sudden knowing of the subsequent sequences of seizures" before they occurred clinically. The existence of these neurocognitive processes demands a reevaluation of the psychiatric default explanations of "hysteria" and questions the belief that "awareness during seizures" or "premonition of subsequent somatosensory experience" contraindicates an epileptic process.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Women but not men exhibit a positive correlation between complex partial epileptic-like signs and tactile-visual cross-modal matching: implications for hemispheric intercalation.

16 right-handed men and 19 women were asked to feel various sized wooden cubes with the dominant hand for 2 sec. (without visual feedback) and then to select this cube from a random visual arrangement of cubes (tactile-visual matching) after a brief delay. The accuracy for men and women for this task did not differ significantly; however, the accuracy was significantly correlated (rho = 0.61) with a history of complex partial epileptic-like signs for the women but not for the men. The results support the hypothesis that elevated scores for complex partial epileptic-like signs in right-handed women enhance their capacity to associate different perceptual domains of the same stimuli because there is elevated activity within the (multimodal) hippocampal-amygdaloid system (sensory-limbic hyperconnectionism) and the correlative enhanced intercalation between the right and left temporoparietal lobes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

The sensed presence may be facilitated by interhemispheric intercalation: relative efficacy of the Mind's Eye, Hemi-Sync Tape, and bilateral temporal magnetic field stimulation.

After sitting quietly within an acoustic chamber, 30 university men were exposed (singly) to binaural, complex stimulation (Hemi-Sync Tape), synchronized binaural and visual patterns (The Mind's Eye), or transtemporal magnetic fields for 30 min. Experiences were rated at the end of the treatment by questionnaire. The men who received the binaural stimulation (Hemi-Sync Tape) reported more intense sensed presences and ego-alien intrusions than did the other two groups. In a similar second experiment, 18 university women who received the binaural stimulation also reported these experiences. The results support the hypothesis that the sensed presence is facilitated by transient, neuroelectrical intercalation of the temporoparietal lobes and is associated with the intrusion into awareness of the right-hemispheric equivalent of the left-hemispheric sense of self.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Geophysical variables and behavior: LXXVII. Increased geomagnetic activity and decreased pleasantness of spontaneous narratives for percipients but not agents.

A total of 48 adults were tested in 24 separate pairs either during the morning (10:00 A.M.) or evening (10:00 P.M.). One member of each pair was instructed to record (write) impressions and descriptions of 8 different art pieces (5 min. each). At the same time the other member of the pair sat in a comfortable chair within an acoustic chamber in another room and wrote an ongoing narrative. The evaluation and activity dimensions of the words that composed the narratives were scored by the Whissell Dictionary of Affect in Language. The increased global geomagnetic activity two days before the experiments was significantly associated (rhos about 0.60) with the use of more unpleasant words for people who sat in the quiet chamber only. Implications for the hypothesis of affective concordance between emotionally bonded human beings and its role in episodes of potentially veridical telepathic experiences are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Foot agility and social anxiety in older children (9-15 years).

According to Paul MacLean's phylogenetic model of the brain, the anterior cingulate should be associated with interpersonal emotional bonding. If this assumption is correct, then foot agility (primarily affected by the dorsal medical surface of the cerebrum) should be associated with attenuated bonding and enhanced social anxiety. It would not be associated with finger agility, finger agnosia, or toe agnosia because their integrity involves more distal portions of the cortex. Strong age-dependent and linear increases in agility but not agnosia were shown for the fingers and the feet for normal children (28 girls, 28 boys) between 9 and 15 years of age. As predicted, a correlation of -0.50, not confounded by age or other measures, was noted between foot agility and social anxiety, but was statistically significant for the girls, not for the boys.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Alterations in pleasantness but not activation when long-term memories are reconstructed during contextual versus noncontextual settings.

Because the dorsomedial thalamus is a major input to the prefrontal cortices, the reconstruction of experience (episodic memory) that is maximally dependent upon this subcortical structure should be influenced by one of its major correlates, hedonistic tone. University men and women (ns = 20) were shown two brief video-tapes of muricide and copulation among male rats during a lecture concerning instinctual behaviors. Two weeks later the subjects were asked to recall (written narratives) all of the details of the videotapes when they were in either the same or a different context. Although both groups generated similar numbers of words and employed words with comparable activation scores, the group who reconstructed the experiences outside of the context used words with significantly lower (eta = 0.59) pleasantness scores relative to the group who remembered the videotapes within the same setting.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Elevated incidence of a sensed presence and sexual arousal during partial sensory deprivation and sensitivity to hypnosis: implications for hemisphericity and gender differences.

As predicted by the vectorial cerebral hemisphericity hypothesis, 24 normal young women reported significantly more experiences of a "presence" than did 24 normal young men within a setting that emphasized hypnosis and partial sensory deprivation. The incidence of these experiences was positively correlated with scores on Spiegel's Hypnosis Induction Profile, while the attribution of the chamber experiences to ego-alien sources was correlated with the magnitude of (Vingiano's) right hemisphericity for the women only. Both sexes exhibited a significant association between the experience of a presence and sexual arousal.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Quantitative electroencephalographic validation of left and right temporal lobe signs and indicators in normal people.

During a single 20-min. exposure to partial sensory deprivation, the average duration of alpha rhythms over the left temporal lobe (T3) increased significantly compared to that for the right homologous region (T4). The percentage changes (increase) over time in the duration of alpha rhythms over the left temporal lobe but not the right temporal lobe were significantly correlated (.64) with histories of automatic behaviors (cessation of awareness) while only the relative increases over time in the durations of alpha rhythms over the right temporal lobe were correlated with histories of vestibular-auditory experiences (.42). The results suggest construct validity for differential hemispheric sources of some specific clusters of complex partial epileptic-like experiences that have been inferred to reflect the continuum of temporal lobe lability.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Maintained hypersexuality between male rats following chronically induced limbic seizures: implications for bisexuality in complex partial epileptic seizures.

Adult male albino rats were given a treatment that produced hypothermia after the induction of limbic seizures by a single subcutaneous injection of lithium and pilocarpine. When housed in groups, these rats exhibited marked hypersexuality (for at least two months), defined as repeated mounting of another male, pelvic thrusting, and persistent genital licking; while the male was mounted, female postures were assumed. There were also periods of physical submission. During active periods three of the four rats were mounted and thrusting in tandem. Possible relevance to the Klüver-Bucy syndrome and to bisexuality and homosexuality in males who report elevated complex partial epileptic-like signs is discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Sense of a presence and suicidal ideation following traumatic brain injury: indications of right-hemispheric intrusions from neuropsychological profiles.

50 patients who had sustained a traumatic brain injury were given complete neuropsychological assessments between 0.5 and 4.0 years after the incident; 62% of these patients reported that episodes of a "sensed presence" (left side: 71%; right side: 19%; both: 10%) had occurred. Sensed presences along the left side were primarily (82%) associated with anxiety or fear while those which occurred along the right side were more pleasant (83%). The neuropsychological profiles of patients who reported these experiences suggested elevated complex partial epileptic-like signs and a pattern of mild dysfunction within the right prefrontal and temporoparietal lobes which would promote brief hypermetabolic periods within the latter region. Patients who displayed this profile in conjunction with fragmentation of the self-concept and concomitantly lowered left-hemispheric linguistic functions reported more frequent suicidal impulses. The results are compatible with the hypothesis that the "sense of a presence" is an intrusion of the right-hemispheric homologue of the sense of self into left-hemispheric awareness.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Enhanced hypnotizability by cerebrally applied magnetic fields depends upon the order of hemispheric presentation: an anistropic effect.

A significant alteration in the hypnotizability of normal subjects after brief (15 min) exposures to weak (1 microT) pulsed magnetic fields over the temporal lobes was determined by the serial order of hemispheric stimulation. Only subjects who received the right hemispheric stimulation first displayed significantly elevated hypnosis induction profile scores (effect size equivalent to a correlation of 0.41). Implications for a technology that can: a) modify hypnotizability, b) encourage the consolidation of quasiexperiences that are reconstructed as autobiographical memory, and c) change the sense of self, are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Differential ratings of pleasantness following right and left hemispheric application of low energy magnetic fields that stimulate long-term potentiation.

A total of 40 normal men and women were exposed under double blind conditions for 20 min to either sham-conditions or to 1 microT (10 mG) electromagnetic fields (known to produce long-term potentiation within hippocampal slices) that were applied primarily over the right temporal lobe, over the left temporal lobe or over both temporal lobes homogeneously. The men and women who received the stimulation over the right hemisphere rated their experiences as significantly more pleasant than those who received the same stimulation over the left hemisphere [eta = 0.51]. Covariance for the variation in ambient geomagnetic activity, which was negatively correlated with pleasantness, increased the significance of the experimental treatment. The potential clinical utility of applying computer-generated local and penetrative but weak intensity complex magnetic fields over portions of the human brain is discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Deficits in working but not reference memory in adult rats in which limbic seizures had been induced before weaning: implications for early brain injuries.

Male adult rats that displayed limbic seizures between postnatal days 18 and 21 after a single s.c. injection of Li followed 4 h later by a muscarinic agent were trained in a radial arm maze; they were compared with rats that had received the Li-pilocarpine (but had not displayed overt seizures) and to nonhandled controls. Only the rats that had displayed the (preweaned) seizures displayed significant impairment for working memory but not for reference memory. Light microscopy demonstrated histological evidence of earlier damage only within select thalamic structures that are directly associated with the amygdaloid-hippocampal complex. The results are compatible with the hypothesis that early seizures during the time of CA1 hippocampal maturation can produce long-term changes in the efficacy of short-term memory.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

Complex partial epileptic signs as a continuum from normals to epileptics: normative data and clinical populations.

Over a 10-year period, a total of 447 men and 624 women between 18 and 61 years of age were administered an inventory whose items describe experiences that are similar to those evoked by electrical stimulation of the temporal lobes. Empirically determined factors contained experiences of sensory enhancement, affective-dissociation, ego alien intrusions, and literary emphasis. Using this population as a reference, T scores for these clusters were calculated for special normal populations (poets, drama students, false pregnancies) and for clinical groups (post-traumatic stress, anxiety-depersonalization, exotic dissociations, and complex partial epilepsy). Whereas only mild elevations (50 < T < 65) in indicators of temporal lobe signs and symptoms were noted in the special groups, moderate (65 < T < 75) and severe (T > 79) elevations were noted in the clinical populations.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Transient blocking of persistent gnawing by haloperidol in rats with seizure-induced multifocal brain damage.

Frequent but phasic gnawing of objects is displayed by rats in which severe damage within: 1) the substantia nigra reticulata, 2) all of the amygdaloid nuclei except the central group and 3) multiple thalamic nuclei, was induced by lithium/pilocarpine-induced seizures. Multiple lesions were produced by these rats upon their own tails as well as upon the tails of their cage mates. These behaviors were considered predictable sequela of the disinhibition of compacta dopamine upon orofacial mechanisms that are modulated by the corpus striatum. In a manner similar to tail pinch-induced eating, the usually quick onset of spontaneous gnawing upon food chunks in a test setting was delayed transiently by appropriate dosages of haloperidol.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

Behaviors of rats with insidious, multifocal brain damage induced by seizures following single peripheral injections of lithium and pilocarpine.

Several domains of behavior were measured in rats (n = 465) 10 days to 100 days after induction of limbic seizures by a single subcutaneous injection of lithium and pilocarpine. These rats displayed enhanced intragroup aggression but normal muricide; gustatory neophobia and conditioned taste aversion were virtually eliminated. Severe working and reference memory deficits were evident within the radial arm maze. Both state-dependent memory and possible situation-dependent precipitation of spontaneous seizures were suggested. The behavioral changes were considered commensurate with the multifocal pattern of thalamic, hippocampal/amygdaloid, and limbic cortical damage.

Acetylcholine↗

PubMed1993

Snow fall and heart attacks.

Total numbers of daily hospital admissions for cardiac emergencies were obtained from 3 hospitals within the Sudbury Basin in Canada for November through March for each of 4 consecutive years (1983-1986). Major diagnostic categories were also differentiated. No statistically significant correlations were found between the amount of snowfall during the day of or the days before or after admissions for the major categories of cardiac emergency. Specific analyses, conducted to reveal possible recondite associations between extreme or cumulative snowfalls and the most extreme days of cardiac emergencies, indicated a chance association. We conclude that the occurrence of heart attacks is independent of snowfall but that, when they occur, they are attributed to shoveling if there has been a recent major snow storm.

Coronary Disease↗

PubMed1993

Positive associations among dichotic listening errors, complex partial epileptic-like signs, and paranormal beliefs.

The numbers of complex partial epileptic-like signs were moderately (rs = .50) associated with strength of paranormal beliefs but not conservative (religious) beliefs in a population of young males and females (13 to 20 years). Dichotic listening errors were also significantly correlated with both complex partial epileptic-like signs and paranormal, but not conservative, beliefs; the females demonstrated the strongest intercorrelations (rs between .54 and .63). These results support the hypotheses that dichotic listening errors reflect a continuum of complex partial epileptic phenomenology in the normal population and this process encourages the acquisition of paranormal but not traditional beliefs.

Adolescent↗