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Ergebnisse 4 Einträge
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In a previous study a negative correlation was found between the natural sferics activity and scores on an ESP task. We attempted a replication in three studies with 37, 100, and 68 participants. In these studies ESP scores and the level of sferics activity were not significantly correlated. The result for all combined data is significant but with a quite low effect size. Other trends in the data could not be confirmed.
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Many patients with migraine believe weather is a trigger for their headaches. The objective of this study was to determine if very low frequency sferics, pulse-shaped electromagnetic fields originating from atmospheric discharges (lightning), are precipitating factors. The occurrence of sferics impulses is characterized by a daily, as well as an annual, periodicity and is thought to be associated with various pathological processes. The diaries of 37 women suffering from migraine and tension-type headaches were analyzed over a period of 6 months and correlated with daily sferics activity and other weather phenomena in the area of Giessen, Germany. From October through December (autumn), sferics activity was correlated with the occurrence of migraine (r = 0.33, P<.01); however, there was no correlation in July and August (summer), when the thunderstorm activity had been very intense. In summer, tension-type headaches were associated with other weather parameters such as temperature (r = 0.36, P<.01) and vapor pressure (r = 0.27, P<.05).
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Sferics are weak, naturally occurring electromagnetic fields related to specific weather conditions. There are some hints that these signals might be responsible for certain complaints that are often described as "weather sensitivity syndrome." The study's purpose was to find out whether humans, when exposed to simulated sferics, can consciously perceive any kind of psychophysiological changes. 63 subjects were trained within a simple learning paradigm to discriminate between phases where simulated sferics were present or absent. They were reinforced for each correct decision out of 80 judgements by means of acoustic signals. A reward of 100 German marks was pledged to the participant who would achieve the best result of the total sample. The total number of correct judgements did not differ from a random run and no learning occurred. Subjects who reported fewer bodily complaints in their recent past had higher scores in the discrimination task.
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A previously recorded electromagnetic impulse of natural origin, a 10 kHz-sferic, was simulated and presented to 20 subjects. The magnetic component of the signal with a maximum field amplitude of 50 nT and a duration of 500 microseconds was applied over a duration of 10 minutes with a pulse repetition rate that varied statistically between 7 and 20 Hz. After sferics exposure, an additional 20 minutes without treatment were recorded in order to examine possible prolonged effects of sferics stimulation. The control group (n = 20) received no treatment. As a dependent measure, electrocortical changes throughout the course of the experiment were determined by means of EEG spectral analysis and compared between the two groups. Sferics exposure provoked increases in alpha and beta power. The effect was present during stimulation and continued for 10 minutes after the end of treatment. A longer lasting influence of sferics exposure was displayed by subjects with a high degree in weather sensitivity, somatic complaints, and neuroticism, who continued to stay on an enhanced alpha power level until the end of registration (20 minutes after the end of exposure). With these results a general electrocortical sensitivity towards sferics as well as individual differences in sferics reactivity could be demonstrated.
Erkunden
Team
- Vaitl (4)
Eintragsart
Sprache
Thema
- Electromagnetic Fields
- Adolescent (1)
- Adult (4)
- Alpha Rhythm (1)
- Beta Rhythm (1)
- Computer Simulation (1)
- Decision Making (1)
- Discrimination Learning (1)
- Electroencephalography (1)
- Female (4)
- Humans (4)
- Judgment (1)
- Lightning (1)
- Male (3)
- Middle Aged (2)
- Migraine Disorders (1)
- Neurotic Disorders (1)
- Parapsychology (1)
- Perception (1)
- Personality (1)
- Psychophysics (1)
- Random Allocation (1)
- Seasons (1)
- Tension-Type Headache (1)
- Time Factors (1)
- Weather (2)