Enhancing Human Performance Issues, Theories, and Techniques (1988) / Chapter Skim
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6 Altering Mental States
6 Altering Mental States
Pages 102-114
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From page 102... ...
Further understanding of these processes should have implications for the way in which various techniques for altering states may affect performance. The idea of brain asymmetry and hemispheric specialization has received considerable attention in recent years by both researchers and practitioners.
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From page 103... ...
According to this view, simple tasks require a high state of arousal in order to maintain alertness; complex tasks require a lower state of arousal in order to reduce reliance on stereotyped or overlearned responses, which tend to dominate when arousal is high (Easterbrook, 19591. This argument has been used to support the idea of an optimal level of arousal that is reduced as task complexity increases.
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From page 104... ...
The evidence that optimal conditions for rapid responding are different from optimal conditions for the best memory performance raises doubts that there is any generally optimal state. The acts involved in thinking about or attending to information themselves seem to change internal state by producing alterations in blood flow, metabolism, and electrical activity (Hillyard and Kutas, 1983; Roland, 1985)
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From page 105... ...
A substantial body of literature now points to differences in the way the two hemispheres process information, as well as to anatomical, electrophysiological, and metabolic correlates of these functional asymmetries (for reviews, see Bradshaw and Nettleton, 1983; Springer and Deutsch, 1985~. Accompanying this research has been much speculation regarding its implications for enhancing human performance.
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From page 106... ...
Work with neurologically normal subjects uses many of the same approaches as the work with split-brain subjects, although the presence of fibers connecting the hemispheres leads to the prediction that the differences observed will be considerably smaller in magnitude than those found in commissurotomized patients. In addition, several techniques designed to measure ongoing brain activity have been employed by investigators looking for evidence of asymmetries: electrophysiological recordings, regional cerebral blood flow measurements, and positron emission tomography.
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From page 107... ...
A hypothesis developing from this finding was that the total processing capacity of the brain might be increased by distributing information between the hemispheres so that each side could operate independently; that is, presenting each hemisphere with a different task might double the brain's capacity to deal with information. The greatest support for this hypothesis was predicted to come from patients with surgically separated hemispheres; less dramatic effects were also predicted for neurologically intact subjects.
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From page 108... ...
HEMISPHERICITY The term hemisphericity generally refers to the idea that each person may naturally have a preferred mode of cognitive processing that in turn reflects greater activity of the left or right hemisphere of the brain. Attempts to apply this concept to human performance have involved assessing an individuals particular pattern of hemispheric utilization to permit an appropriate match between the individual's processing style and the tasks that are to be assigned to that person.
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From page 109... ...
Lateral eye movements refer to the shift in gaze that occurs when an individual is engaged in cognitive activity. Depending on the nature of the activity, individuals have characteristic and stable patterns of eye movement that have been claimed to reflect hemispheric utilization.
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From page 110... ...
With regard to the related question of training hemispheric involvement, we have no direct evidence that differential hemispheric utilization can be trained. Just as we lack validated measures of hemisphericity, we lack any way to measure the changes in brain hemisphere involvement that are presumed to accompany certain training strategies.
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From page 111... ...
The unique coherent brain state that results is known as Hemispheric Synchronization, or Hemi-Sync~." This identical wave form is believed to assist the user in using "more of his brain power" and to facilitate such diverse activities as sleep, concentration, learning, and surgical recovery because "both hemispheres of the brain can be focused on the same state of awareness at the same time." The evaluation of Hemi-Sync~ by the committee involved a search and review of the literature relevant to its underlying rationale, a review of the extensive material provided by the Monroe Institute and others relating to the anolication of Hemi-Sync~, and a site visit to the Monroe -- I ~ r r Institute. The subcommittee toured the facilities and met with Robert Monroe, a staff member, and two professional members of the Institute (a speech pathologist and a clinical psychologist)
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From page 112... ...
With regard to the third principle, no evidence that frequency following the stimuli employed in Hemi-Sync<3 exists was provided by the Monroe Institute or obtained through a search of the literature. At the site visit, Robert Monroe indicated that the Institute has not focused its efforts on generating the kind of research that would satisfy the criteria for publication in refereed scientific journals.
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From page 113... ...
The investigator notes that the Hemi-Sync~ sounds themselves may have interfered with the sounds the students were asked to judge, resulting in lower performance than might otherwise have been expected. The third study involved the random assignment of half of a class of 48 community college students enrolled in introductory psychology to a Hemi-Sync~ condition.
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From page 114... ...
No data were provided from studies using this procedure in a formal classroom setting. Although the presentation of Hemi-Sync sounds in free field does not preserve the conditions necessary for binaural beats, the Monroe Institute reports that adequate separation of speakers produces comparable results in terms of frequency following.
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