DIFFERENTIAL-EFFECTS OF WAVE FORM AND THE SUBJECTS POSSIBLE TEMPORAL-LOBE SIGNS UPON EXPERIENCES DURING CEREBRAL EXPOSURE TO WEAK INTENSITY MAGNETIC-FIELDS

In three separate experiments a total of 85 male and female university students were exposed within a Ganzfeld setting to weak (1 mG, 100 nT), complex magnetic field patterns. They were applied across the temporal lobes and generated by computer software. When the patterns were rotated spatially over the temporal lobes the numbers of subjective experiences that simulate possible temporal lobe signs and symptoms were markedly increased and qualitatively more extreme than those evoked when the fields were not rotated. A 16 Hz pulsed square wave generated more experiences of thought intrusion than a 4 Hz wave. A positive-feedback ringing wave presented at 4 Hz evoked more visual memories and images than the mirror image of the same wave; the effect was only apparent when the subject's quantitative scores for possible temporal lobe signs was covaried. Only those subjects who displayed above average temporal lobe signs and were exposed to a burst-firing wave pattern for one second once every 4 seconds (a condition intended to release endogenous opiates), reported more emotional perturbations when the state was disrupted relative to subjects who were exposed continuously to the same pattern. The results indicate that a person's temporal lobe profile affects the types and intensities of experiences that are reported when very weak magnetic fields are applied through the human brain.