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WSN 58 (2016) 15-33 EISSN 2392-2192
Persistent Improvements in the Quantitative
Electroencephalographic (QEEG) Profile of a Patient
Diagnosed With Toxic Encephalopathy by Weekly
Application of Multifocal Magnetic Fields Generated
by the QEEG of a Normal Person
Kevin S. Saroka, Andrew E. Pellegrini and Michael A. Persinger*
Behavioural Neuroscience, Biomolecular Sciences and Human Studies Programs,
Departments of Psychology and Biology,
Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 2C6, Canada
*E-mail address: mpersinger@laurentian.ca
ABSTRACT
Quantitative electroencephalography is a primary measurement by which dysfunctional
conditions can be inferred and characterized within the human cerebrum. There is an implicit
assumption that anomalous spatial-temporal configurations over the surface of a patient’s scalp are
strongly correlated with altered cognitive behaviors or that both share a common source of variance. In
this experiment a 30 year old male university student who had been diagnosed with toxic
encephalopathy six years previously and who exhibited compromised concentration, focus and
processing efficiency was exposed for 30 min once per week for 6 weeks to the magnetic field
equivalents of another person’s normal quantitative EEG patterns that had been recorded from each of
16 sensors. The specific magnetic field equivalents from each sensor had been reapplied through each
of 16 solenoids placed in the same position over the patient’s scalp. Within two sessions there was
visually conspicuous normalization of the patient’s EEG, marked reduction in the d.c. transients
correlated with his distraction, and increased proficiency for scholastic performance. These results
strongly suggest that applying precise spatially distributed magnetic field equivalents matched for each
EEG sensor through solenoids with microTesla intensities may be able to normalize aberrant
electrophysiological activity and to improve cognitive deficits. The positive changes were clearly
evident according to the subject’s subjective and objective performance. The calculated energy and
secondary current induction from naturally patterned (EEG) magnetic fields to a global array of
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solenoids were within the range that might optimally resonate with intrinsic electromagnetic properties
of cerebral cortical tissue and its unifying field.
Keywords: quantitative EEG; multisite cerebral magnetic field application; normalization; attention
deficits; simulated consciousness; synthetic brain fields
INTRODUCTION
The electrodynamic activity of the human brain is primarily generated from the
integrated potentials of approximately 25 billion neurons that constitute the cerebral cortices
(Pakkenberg and Gundersen, 1997). Modern quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG)
measurements that have been traditionally derived from ~20 sensors distributed in specified
positions over the scalp can be employed to describe and infer complex functions. These
electrical potentials include levels of awareness, various domains of cognition, states of
consciousness, and the affective (emotive) component of experiences. One critical question is
can these electrical configurations be modified in a safe, positive and proficient manner when
applied (to the same spatial locations as EEG sensors) as external magnetic fields that
simulate normal electroencephalographic space-time patterns? Here we present evidence for
the first time that weekly, 30 min exposures to the magnetic field equivalents of a normal
QEEG applied to the respective 16 positions over the cerebrum of a person who exhibited
QEEG-verified distracted cognition normalized his QEEG and improved his proficiency for
scholastic challenges.
Several reviews have demonstrated the capacity for power frequency and symmetrical
(e.g., 60 Hz sine-wave) magnetic fields within the microTesla to milliTesla range to shift the
distribution of power densities within human electroencephalographic profiles (Cook et al,
2002; Carrubba and Marino, 2008). The capacity for experimentally generated,
physiologically patterned magnetic fields within the 1 μT to 5 μT range applied across or over
the brain to persistently modify the electrophysiological patterns of the person after two
exposure sessions has also been shown experimentally. For example Baker-Price and
Persinger (2003) demonstrated that ~60 min of weekly exposures for 6 weeks of patients who
had sustained mild brain injuries exhibited improved (normalized) EEGs signatures.
Following the 6 weekly one hour exposures there was also psychometric-verified decreases in
indicators of electrical lability within the brain, diminished depression, and marked
attenuation of numbers of reports of non-specific pain. Significant changes were noted after
only one or two sessions.
Anninos and Tsagas (1989) had shown that extraction of the
magnetoencephalographic profile of a cerebral focus associated with seizure activity in
epileptic patients and shifting the phase such that a “cancellation wave” was applied as a weak
magnetic field over the focus markedly diminished the incidence of seizures. The field
strengths were in the order of a picoTesla (10-12 T). Later the remarkably innovative Sandyk
(1992, 1995), employing a multiarray of custom-constructed point sources for pT magnetic
fields that were applied over and around the head, reported attenuation of symptoms
associated with multiple sclerosis and other EEG-evident medical disorders. Jacobson and
Yamanashi (1994) provided a potential mechanism by which pT magnetic fields could be
effective. There has also been a long history (see Persinger, 1988 for a review) within eastern
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European countries to employ cerebral exposure to weak electromagnetic fields, pulsed within
the electrophysiological (1 to 100 Hz) range through amplitude or frequency-modulated MHz
or GHz fields, to treat a variety of multivariate and complex cognitive symptoms.
Unfortunately these important and seminal experimental demonstrations appear to have been
ignored or forgotten.
It is not likely that these effects are all “placebo” related. First the changes were
persistent over several weeks and very conspicuous. Second, sham field-exposed groups did
not demonstrate the effect. Third comparable effects have been measured for non-human
animals. Martin et al (2004) verified that whole body exposure of rodents to physiologically
patterned magnetic fields produced antinociceptive effects with a potency equivalent to 4 mg
per kg of morphine. Rats in which brain damaged had been induced by lithium-pilocarpine
precipitated seizures displayed abnormal nociceptive thresholds. Martin and Persinger
(2005a,b) showed that permanent normalization of their flinch thresholds to heat stimuli
occurred after only three, 30 min, daily whole body exposures to a physiologically patterned
magnetic field that produced analgesia.
These experimental results strongly suggest that when the appropriate resonance
components are contained within applied complex fields that match the target tissue, the
“normalization” of disrupted tissue from damage or disease could occur relatively quickly.
There is evidence that under optimal resonance-matched conditions loss of neurons from
epileptic processes can be attenuated (Lagace et al, 2009) by whole body exposure to
physiologically-patterned magnetic fields that simulated the conditions of long-term
potentiation. The argument that microTesla fields cannot penetrate the human skull was
refuted when Persinger and Saroka (2013) tested the hypothesis experimentally. There was no
significant attenuation of the intensity of the magnetic fields applied across cerebral distances
between skull-thickness boundaries even when they were filled with physiological saline.
Non-linear effects are not unusual in living systems. This property is well established
in chemical systems. For a specific receptor sub-type only a specific concentration of the
ligand or neurotransmitter produces the optimal effect. Concentrations that are either lower or
higher either produce no effect or disruptive effects. Transcerebral magnetic fields (in
contrast to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulations that utilize 1 Tesla strengths, a million times
more intense) have been shown to be most effective when applied as physiologically-
simulated temporal patterns within the microTesla range. From the perspective of energy,
according to the equation:
J = B2 2μ-1 m3 (1),
a 1 μT field would be associated with ~1·10-9 J within the human brain volume (~1.3·10-3
m3). Assuming about 1011 neurons and glial cells within the human cerebrum the energy
would be equivalent to about 10-20 J per cell. This is the same unit of energy associated with a
single action potential (Persinger, 2010). An average time constant of a neuronal axon is in
the order of 100 ms (10 Hz). Assuming a random distribution of the occurrence of this time
constant, approximately 10% of the neurons would be activated during any given 100 ms
interval. This means that the energy equivalent of ~10 action potentials (10 Hz) would be
available to functional microstates (Wackermann, 1999) by immersing the cerebrum within
this magnitude of magnetic field. Because the cerebral cortices are ~440 cc or about one-third
of the cerebral volume, a slightly stronger field could produce equivalences.
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To be synchronous and congruent with the intrinsic strength of the magnetic fields that
are correlated with cognition, the applied fields should generate an equivalent magnitude
within the cerebral volume. Magnetoencephalographic measurements (Pantev, et al, 1991)
indicate that a median value for the average magnetic field strength (tens to hundreds of
femtoTesla per Hz) from the cerebrum during processing approaches 10-12 T when distributed
across the typical frequency bands. From a different perspective Naeije et al (2016) measured
about 50 fT per cm during somatosensory stimulation which would be equivalent across the
averaged 11 cm of the three cerebral axes to be ~0.5 pT. Applying:
V = dB·dt-1 m2 (2)
for a 1 μT (dB) field with a median variation of dt as 20 Hz (the midlevel between the major
power range of 1 to 40 Hz for most cerebral activities), the potential difference over the cross
sectional area of the cerebrum (10-2 m2) would be 5·10-7 V. Divided by the resistivity of
intracellular fluid, 2 Ω·m, the current would be 1·10-5 A·m-1. Across the averaged depth (3
mm) of the cerebral cortices (the primary source of the EEG) this would be equivalent to a
current (I) about 3·10-8 A.
The secondary magnetic field associated with a current of this magnitude within the
tissue might be described by:
B = Iμ (2πr)-1 (3),
where μ is magnetic permeability (4π·10-7 N·A-2) . If the radial shell (the cortices) is 3 mm,
then the resulting magnetic field strength would be in the order of 10-12 T. This means that the
derivative secondary magnetic field generated within the cerebrum from the initially applied
magnetic field that produces an electric field (potential difference) within that volume would
converge with not only the natural field strength of the cerebrum but with the effective
intensities reported by Anninos and Tsagas (1989) that produced normalization of
electroencephalographic activity.
METHODS
Subject
The volunteer was a 30 year old man. He exhibited a gradual onset of a debilitating
disorder that began when he was 16 years old. He was diagnosed with toxic encephalopathy at
age 24 years that was a consequence of arsenic poisoning and organophosphate exposures. At
the time of the experiment he was enrolled as a part-time university student. His cognitive
impairments were diagnosed broadly as “frontal lobe-like syndrome” typified by difficulties
with concentration, speed of processing, multitasking and memory. He was not fully
ambulatory.
The EM-16 Device
The device was a collection of peripherals that allowed the simultaneous presentation
of up to 16 unique patterns through 16 different channels. The device was modeled after a
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commercial unit (the Shakti) originally designed by Professor Todd Murphy. Essentially
16x16-bit USB soundcards functioned as digital-to-analog devices that appropriately applied
AC-coupled signals generated by computer software. More complex signals that employ DC
components (such as square waves) were less accurately presented as spike trains. All 16
sound cards were connected to a 16-port USB hub that was powered by the 5V supply of the
computer USB output as well as an external 5 volts supplied by the power mains to ensure
enough power was delivered to all the soundcards. Instead of headphones, 16 separate pick-
up coils (plugged individually into appropriate headphone input jacks on the soundcards)
were used to generate the individual magnetic fields with intensities in the order of 1-7
microTesla depending upon the volume of the soundcard. The actual device and its
arrangement are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. A) the basic circuitry and 16 source board for the magnetic field array. Each source
generated the magnetic field equivalent of the EEG activity for the same specific sensor
location on the scalp. This “magnetic field equivalent” of the electrical activity from each
EEG sensor was applied to the volunteer (B).
Software
The device utilized commercial software (Combiwave), which was originally intended
to function as a cueing platform for DJs. Instead, 16 separate channels were configured for
simultaneous playback of patterns. Each channel was prescribed a soundcard device from the
16-port USB hub and all channels were cued simultaneously during EM field applications.
Patterns
Because each of the 16 soundcards were AC-coupled devices,
electroencephalographic activity (which is a manifestation of the AC component of the
electric field) was presented with a moderately high degree of fidelity and was comparable to
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the original recordings obtained from the quantitative electroencephalograph. Figure 2a
shows a comparison of the original pattern recorded with the QEEG (right occipital O2
sensor) and the equivalent pattern when delivered to a pick-up coil and measured with a
separate pick-up coil connected to a separate soundcard.
The correlation (Pearson r) between the two signals, when lag-corrected for direct
comparison, was about .68 (Figure 2b). However, this was only an approximation that may be
a reflection of the frequency-responses of the output and input soundcards and/or the coils
used for measurement rather than the actual induced magnetic field. For more detailed
analysis, spectral analyses were completed on the two signals. Both are depicted in Figure 2c
between 1.5 and 30 Hz (both datasets were filtered between 1.5 and 30 Hz). To best
approximate the electric field landscape from scalp EEG recordings, 16 channels of
approximately equal distance were employed. This included the following 10-20 locations:
Fp1/Fp2, F7/F8, F3/F4, T3/T4, C3/C4, T5/T6, P3/P4 and O1/O2.
The original data, recorded with a Mitsar-201 EEG system (sample rate 250 Hz) and
WinEEG software, were exported into MATLAB software. All voltages (with ranges between
5 μV and 50 μV) were rescaled between -.8 and .8; these amplitude ranges were chosen to
eliminate clipping of the original recording and to preserve signal fidelity (if rescaling occurs
such that |amplitude|>1, fidelity is lost. Each individual channel was then exported as its own
*.WAV audio file from MATLAB software. These files were subsequently imported into
Combiwave for simultaneous presentation.
Procedure
A simple 6-week experiment was designed for first-use and trial testing of the device.
The experiment consisted of 1) a pre-experiment eyes closed baseline (5 minutes), 2) a 30-
minute exposure to the electroencephalographic profile of another individual, and 3) a post-
exposure eyes closed baseline (5-minutes). The experiment was repeated once per-week over
the course of 6 weeks.
All brain activity from the exposed subject (the patient) was recorded with a Mitsar-
201 EEG amplifier equipped with WinEEG software for data recording. A 45-75 Hz notch
filter was applied to minimize 60-Hz power mains artifacts. Brain activity was measured from
19 sensors (Electro-Cap International) placed in accordance with the 10-20 International
Standard of Electrode Placement. Each coil from the EM-16 device was placed over the
homologous sensor for the 16 sensors stated above. Initial testing indicated that induction
effects that might be produced by the coils interacting with the EEG sensors were not
obvious. The absence of artifacts in QEEG power spectra during application of < 5
microTesla (μT) magnetic fields with complex temporal patterns has been shown by Saroka
and Persinger (2013).
The original EEG from the source person is depicted in Figure 3. This is a normal
profile as indicated by the synchronization of the caudal regions (occipital, temporal, parietal
lobes) and alpha rhythms. There were no electrical transients. The source EEG was obtained
from a healthy ~30 year old man who had obtained his Ph.D. in a science-related field and
who is an accomplished musician. This record (Figure 3) is also typical of the “normal” EEG
according to traditional criteria.
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Figure 2. A) Sample fidelity between the original electroencephalographic pattern from one
sensor and the magnetic field pattern that was measured when the original EEG was applied
through the EM-16 solenoid apposed to the subject’s scalp. B) The correlation between
incremental power values between the original EEG and the applied EEG. C) Log base 10 of
the spectral density for the original EEG and the magnetic field simulation (EM-16) in blue.
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Figure 3. A component of the original QEEG from the source subject that was transformed to
magnetic field stimuli and applied over the scalp of the patient such that pattern for each of
the individual 16 solenoids matched the pattern of the specific sensor. Horizontal axis
indicates 1 s increments. Vertical axis reflects the international positions of sensors.
F (frontal), T (temporal), P (parietal), O (occipital), C (central). Odd numbers refer to the left
hemisphere; even numbers refer to the right hemisphere.
RESULTS
Sample 10 s panels from the subject’s real time EEG before, during and after the 30
min exposures to the source magnetic EEG pattern were extracted for each of the six weeks.
Because the changes were evident over this period, only week 1, 3, and 5 are presented here.
The ten second panels for baseline (no treatment initiated) for the first, third and firth weeks
of exposure are shown in Figure 4. A cursory inspection of the data indicated a potentiation of
synchronous alpha activity that was not observed in earlier recordings of the subject. In
general, the potentiation increased as a function of time in weeks. Because one week elapsed
since the previous exposure, the shift would be consistent with the property of persistence.
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Figure 4. Pre-baseline for week 1 (before treatment) week 3 (two treatments) and weak 5
(four treatments). These pre-baselines reflect the residual effects of previous treatments.
Figure 5 shows 10 s panels of the subject’s EEG activity during the exposure to the
magnetic configuration of the source person’s QEEG. The emergence of normalized bursts of
alpha rhythm and alpha-power patterns is evident during the first treatment and increase
visually over time.
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Figure 5. Activity across the 19 sensor placements during the exposure for the 1st, 3rd, and 5th
weeks. Note the increased synchronization across channels by week 5.
The 10 s panels of EEG activity for the post-exposure period as a function of weeks of
exposure to the magnetic field equivalents of the source brain’s EEG are shown in Figure 6.
The anomalous patterns noted after the first trial were not present during the 3rd and 5th weeks.
Note that the increased normal synchronization across sensors was conspicuous following the
field exposure during week 5.
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Figure 6. Post-baseline (immediately after the exposure) activity across all EEG channels
after the first (week 1), third and fifth treatments. During the first week there was no
conspicuous persistence following removal of the EEG magnetic field. On the other hand the
continuance of the field pattern even after the applied EEG field was stopped became evident
for the third week and was conspicous by week 5.
One of the most clear features of this subject’s baseline EEG profile were the
persistent but intermittent displays of “d.c.” shifts or transients. These large excursions are
sufficient to disrupt the necessary integration of the cerebral field that is optimal for
comprehension, focus, and protracted concentration. Figure 7 shows three baselines for this
patient obtained over two months before the treatment began. After the first 30 min of
exposure to the configuration of magnetic field EEQ equivalents the transients were
significantly reduced. The enhanced value for the baseline just before the experiment begain
coincided with a period of substantial cognitive distraction (compared to previous weeks) and
may have been the contributing factor for his decision to volunteer for the experiment. In fact
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after the mild overshoot (which is found in pharmacological treatments as well) during the
second week, the numbers of disruptive “d.c.” shifts were reduced and stable.
Figure 7. Current density from sLORETA images of the subject’s cerebrum for sharp d.c.
transients that were correlated with his disrupted concentration during reading. BL3 refers to
the baseline when his distraction was particularly notable just before the first exposure to a
normal person’s “brain wave” patterns. BL2 and BL1 were previous baselines completed on
two separate weeks. T refers to trial. Note that after only one 30 min exposure there was a
significant diminishment of the current density associated with d.c. transients that did not
return to baseline levels over 6 weeks of weekly exposures.
Subjective Experiences
Following each weekly 30 min exposure and during the subsequent week the subject
recorded any novel experiences. During the first exposure (T1) the theme of the reported
experiences was an increased sense of three-dimensional space, central focus, a sense of
stillness, increased awareness, and a greater command over cognitive faculties. During the
subsequent week (before the second exposure), he experienced a greater duration between
being “asleep” and waking up from sleep. There was a sense of “increased processing”.
During the second exposure he reported “one of the most wonderful experiences I have had
since the toxic exposure”. There was a facilitation of the processing and thinking ability that
he had been diminished since the injury.
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During the third exposure deepened hypnogogic images were experienced. The
dominant color was green. The images were lucid and strikingly clear. His response during
the fourth exposure was a sense like "thought flowed in an extremely easy stream of
consciousness”. Visual experiences such as flowing colors, forms, lights and blobs appeared
to display linguistic properties. The two central experiences during the fifth exposure were
increased processing speed and the sensation that his inner world was no longer “paralyzed”.
Although potentially spurious it may be relevant that is mid-term examination grade score
was 43% while his second examination given after the treatments was 90%.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
There are two methods to open a door. One can kick it open with destructive force or
insert the correct key that involves very small quantities of rotational energy and produce the
same results without breaking the mechanism. One of the most conspicuous principles that
have emerged within the domain of interactions between applied magnetic fields and the
responses of organisms to those fields is that resonance or temporal congruence is a
significant variable. It may operate upon a single ion (such as Ca2+), through a Liboff-type
process or as a complex topographical point-to-point intercalation analogous to the resonance
(e.g., Alfven waves) that can occur between the interplanetary magnetic fields and the
geomagnetic dipole field. In a manner analogous to the “lock and key” specificity of
interactions between ligands and receptors in chemical systems, the more similar the temporal
configuration of the applied magnetic field is to the temporal configurations that define the
organ or its constituents the less energy is required to produce the major effects.
During optimal coupling the energy between the applied and tissue fields might
behave as a functional “homogenate” through which information as temporal or “spatial
resonance” energies (~10-21 J per bit) can diffuse. This narrow band intercalation that includes
both amplitude and temporal patterns should be most effective when the applied field’s
characteristics reflect the original stable state of the system before any aberrant deviations
occurred. Our working model is that this “homogenate” condition determines the type and the
direction of the physical molecular mechanism that reconstitutes the aggregate of the cells
(the organ) to a previously genetically-determined normal state.
In general time-varying magnetic fields with sine-wave and symmetrical temporal
structures require mT or higher intensities to be effective in most tissues. As the temporal
configuration of the applied magnetic fields approach the characteristics of the natural
electromagnetic variation within the tissue less intensity is required to be effective. We had
reasoned that the most optimal physiologically-patterned magnetic fields would be the
configurations that are the electroencephalographic configurations generated by the normal
(default) human brain. The results of the present study demonstrated the generation of a
normal EEG pattern as a complex, spatial-temporal magnetic field applied in specific
locations over the scalp not only influenced the activity of the brain but began to normalize
anomalous activity.
Previous experiments (Persinger et al 1997) had shown that a tandem sequence of
different patterns of weak magnetic fields applied across the temporal lobes of subjects
resulted in conspicuous “driving” of electroencephalographic activity. The serial complexity
of the patterns was required to produce the congruence of the electrophysiological activity
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with the applied fields. The redundant presentation of symmetrical patterns of a single
magnetic field did not produce this effect unless the cerebral state simulated the electrical
lability of complex partial epilepsy where myriads of neurons can be recruited into coherent
activity (Dobson et al, 2000).
Coercive field strengths with homogeneous frequencies and patterns (such as 60 Hz)
are not conducive to the types of interactions that would adjust cell activity unless the
intensities were substantial. This would be more analogous to “kicking in the door”. Tissue is
more likely to habituate to their presence quickly. According to one general relationship: TH =
IRT2 Rt-1, where IRT is the interresponse time and Rt is the duration of the response
(Persinger, 1979). It is a first estimate of the inflection point for habituation (TH) to a
protracted and repeated stimulus. A 60 Hz sine wave would approach that value within less
than 20 ms or within a duration that is less than the typical time constant of an average axonal
membrane (~100 ms or 10 Hz) or a microstate (Wackermann, 1999). Consequently temporal
integrations across the temporal units will be less likely to occur.
On the other hand an asymmetrically, physiologically-patterned frequency modulated
pulse composed of 859 distinct frequency or phase modulated points that produced the
analgesia in the Martin et al (2004) experiments when each point duration was 3 ms would
only begin to exhibit habituation after about 30 min. The quantified EEG pattern could
display a similar complex structure. This is within the duration required to produce changes
within the electroencephalogram as well as analgesia. From our perspective the “signal
source” with the greatest potential for non-habituation (and hence maximum effect) should be
the natural spatial-temporal patterns of human brain activity. Our results support this
assumption.
The gradual shift towards normalization of the subject’s general EEG pattern across
the cerebral surface progressed over the six weekly sessions. The diminishment of the d.c.
shifts that were correlated with distraction and diminished cognitive concentration attenuated
after only 30 min of exposure to the normalized magnetic field brain pattern. Although this is
a brief duration the chemical consequences can be permanent. Su et al (2002) found that after
the first electrical seizure following systemic injections of lithium and pilocarpine in rats there
was a permanent shift in the proportion of T-type calcium channels within the plasma
membrane of hippocampal cells. Goodman et al (1983) were one of the first research groups
to demonstrate that pulsed (single or trains) magnetic fields increased the specific activity of
messenger RNA within 15 to 45 min. Stated alternatively only about 30 min was required to
induce cellular transcription.
There are two implications that a specific generation of magnetic field equivalents
from 16 positions of electroencephalographic activity from a normal person’s scalp to the
same 16 positions over the patient’s head shifted the latter’s activity to be more similar to the
applied field. First, the etiology that produced the aberrant EEG activity was attributed to a
diffuse toxic incident that may have disrupted the integrity of the whole brain’s function as a
unified field. If this field is analogous to a hologram (Di Base, 2009) involving light, then the
duration required to saturate that field might be derived from the average output of photons
per cell. There are multiple experiments that indicate living cells emit photons with power
densities in the order of 10-12 W·m-2 (Dotta et al, 2014) and that photons may mediate
primary cell-cell interactions (Trushin, 2003; Fels, 2009) For a typical neuronal soma with a
diameter of 10 μm the cross-sectional area is π·10-12 m2 which results in about 3·10-22 J per
second. A central value of the energy for photons within the visible range emitted from the
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cell is 5·10-19 J. When the former value is divided the duration required to saturate or to utilize
this energy is about 30 min.
In other words about 30 min would be required for the light energy per s from each
soma in the field to match the energy of the single photons that integrate the photonic field
within which all of the cells are immersed. At this point, like a hologram, all the matter that
constitutes neurons would be influenced by the properties of the photonic field (Di Base,
2009). Persinger (2016) has suggested that the evolution of living systems over the last ~3
billions years as particulate substrates of heredity (DNA) occurred in a parallel manner with
the accumulation and transformation of solar photons into biomass. In fact the current
estimated biomass on the earth is the same order of magnitude as the energy equivalent of the
total accumulated flux density as inferred from the solar constant. The major consequence of
this photonic source to biological matter is that each cell should emit a small quantity of those
“stored” photons. A similar idea had been developed by Popp (1979). These “virtual photons”
could reflect the stable structure and prototypical set point of the cellular system and serve as
primary sources of intercellular communication.
Although synaptic patterns are considered the dominant, functional infrastructure of
the web of patterns that are the complex geometries and spaces containing the emergent
properties that allow concentration, memory, and general cognition, the “blue print” that
maintains this structure may involve photons. In his original and brilliant ideas about this
possibility, Bokkon (2005) and Bokkon et al (2010) suggested that “dreaming” (a state during
which there is copious protein synthesis and memory consolidation) may involve the actual
awareness of a photon field within the visual cortices. Other researchers have suggested that
the photons emitted from cells contain information that controls the formation of the
microstructural changes in synaptic patterns. They are considered by many neuroscientists to
be the structural “pathway” by which memories are formed and maintained (Persinger et al,
2015). Dotta et al (2012) demonstrated that when human volunteers sat within a hyper-dark
(10-12 W·m-2) room and imagined white light there was a significant increase in photon flux
densities emitted from their right hemispheres. Persinger et al (2013) showed experimentally
that photons introduced into the caudal region of the heads of volunteers were associated with
an incremental increase in photon flux density from the frontal region. The latency of this
response (about 1 s) was consistent with a mechanism whereby photonic energy was
transmitted through Grotthuss chains of proton-proton movements associated with the
hydronium ions of the water within the cerebral volume. A similar latency for the detection of
photons from one side of the head when light was applied to the other side of the head
reflected the smaller distance of traversal. All of these results support the model that photonic
energy traverses the neuronal networks within the cerebrum.
If the electrodynamics that create the integrated manifold of the cerebrum’s cognitive
field involve the transcerebrally-integrated states described by Lllinas and Pare (1991) and
contribute to the unity of consciousness (Kahn et al, 1997) through an electromagnetic field
(McFadden, 2007) then a holographic process might operate. Affecting the whole field should
influence all of the components which would involve the billions of neurons and glial cells
that comprise the synaptodendritic web within which the processes associated with conscious
awareness have been hypothesized to occur (Pribram and Meade, 1999). Applications of
spatial and temporal homogeneous magnetic fields would not be expected to affect the
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qualitative properties of the holographic pattern and might be represented as a variant of
“noise”.
The effects of applications of one or two focal magnetic fields might be compensated
by alterations in other regions of the holographic pattern thus producing small or negligible
effects. However the simultaneous application of 16 different focal presentations around the
cerebral volume from which the field is generated could, in principle, have the capacity to
change the qualitative properties of the holographic field (Persinger et al, 2010) because the
conditions for whole (cerebral) field resonance would be more probable. Like the interaction
between the earth’s magnetic field dipole and the dynamically interacting interplanetary
magnetic field (“the solar wind”) the consequences of the different magnetic fields from the
array superimposed upon the patient’s cerebral electromagnetic configurations would be more
typical of a field-field interaction that promotes entanglement and connections between the
two sources of flux lines.
The energy within the cerebral volume from the pervasive ~10-6 T magnetic fields
from the 16 different patterns according to equation (1) would have been in the order of 10-9
Joules. The equivalence between energy (kg·m2·s-2) and magnetic field strength (kg·A-1·s-2)
requires the multiplication of the latter by A·m2 or magnetic moment. For the two to approach
equality, the value for A·m2 should be ~10-3. According to the calculations by Vares et al
(2016) the magnetic dipole strength of the human cerebrum is ~0.2·10-3 A·m2. This suggests
that the patterned magnetocephalographic applications of another person’s position-specific
“brain waves” over 16 different sensor locations might have interacted with the magnetic
dipole field of the patient’s brain to match the energy that was available through the cerebral
volume.
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( Received 30 September 2016; accepted 22 October 2016 )
