Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Is there more than one source for the temporal binding factor for human consciousness?

M A Persinger¹

¹Department of Psychology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

Perceptual and Motor Skills

|March 11, 2000

Summary

Higher order consciousness may arise from electromagnetic processes occurring every 20-25 milliseconds. Specific frequency shifts, particularly within the 5-7.8 Hz range, could continuously recreate these critical temporal intervals.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Increased photon emission from the head while imagining light in the dark is correlated with changes in electroencephalographic power: support for Bókkon's biophoton hypothesis.

Neuroscience letters·2012

Same author

Correlated cerebral events between physically and sensory isolated pairs of subjects exposed to yoked circumcerebral magnetic fields.

Neuroscience letters·2010

Same author

10-20 Joules as a neuromolecular quantum in medicinal chemistry: an alternative approach to myriad molecular pathways?

Current medicinal chemistry·2010

Same author

Emerging synergisms between drugs and physiologically-patterned weak magnetic fields: implications for neuropharmacology and the human population in the twenty-first century.

Current neuropharmacology·2009

Same author

Prenatal exposures to LTP-patterned magnetic fields: quantitative effects on specific limbic structures and acquisition of contextually conditioned fear.

The International journal of neuroscience·2009

Same author

Insidious weight gain in prepubertal seized rats treated with an atypical neuroleptic: the role of food consumption, fluid consumption, and spontaneous ambulatory activity.

Epilepsy & behavior : E&B·2008

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Electrophysiology
Consciousness Studies

Background:

Higher-order consciousness is theorized to involve rapid, synchronized neural activity.
The 40-Hz frequency band has been implicated as a potential temporal binding factor in neural processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate alternative frequency bands and temporal dynamics that could support the emergence of consciousness.
To explore the relationship between specific frequency shifts and the recreation of 20-25 msec. neural processing intervals.

Main Methods:

Analysis of second and higher-order differences in real-time frequency data.
Mathematical modeling of frequency shifts to identify intervals corresponding to neural processing.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

Frequencies beyond the 40-Hz range can potentially act as binding factors for consciousness.
Frequency shifts between 6.3 and 7.8 Hz can continuously recreate 20-25 msec. intervals.
Narrow bandwidth variations between 5 Hz and 6 Hz also generate these critical temporal intervals.

Conclusions:

The temporal dynamics of neural oscillations, particularly within specific lower frequency bands, are crucial for higher-order consciousness.
These findings suggest that consciousness may not solely rely on the 40-Hz frequency band but can be supported by other precise electromagnetic temporal patterns.