http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/4168990/Scientists-close-to-cracking-sixth-sense
The mystery behind the ''sixth sense'' - how people
interact on a physiological level - is a step closer to
being unravelled, according to a Sydney neuroscientist.
A five-year study monitoring brain activity during
therapy sessions has shown that two people can
become physiologically aligned - parts of their nervous
systems beating in harmony - despite having no physical
contact with each another.
Trisha Stratford, the neuropsychotherapist who did the
research at University of Technology, Sydney, said her study
provided a deeper understanding of what happened
when people interacted, including when a couple fell in love.
Ms Stratford said her research could also provide clues
about how best to communicate with or ''chat up'' a
potential partner using this sixth sense, which has long
been suggested but never extensively identified in science.
She observed 30 volunteers using electrocardiography
and a monitor on the finger to measure skin conductance
resonance to identify the moment of alignment or
''oneness'' during individual counselling with a therapist.
Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Carl Marci established
a connection or ''physiological concordance'' between
two people - but his study, conducted three years ago,
was limited and he called for more research.
''Interestingly, I had already started my PhD looking
into the same thing as Dr Marci,'' said Ms Stratford, who
has published one paper and is awaiting publication of
three others submitted to international journals.
''I replicated his research but then I froze that point of
two people becoming one and looked at what was happening
in the brain.
''It was very exciting. When we're in this moment of oneness
or an altered state, the most exciting thing is that a part
of the brain called the parietal lobe is fired into action.
''When this happens we can read each other's brains and
bodies at a deeper level - a sixth sense.''
Sara Lal, senior lecturer in the university's department of
medical and molecular biosciences, said the visual and
audio face-to-face communication between the therapists
and the volunteer patients had resulted in the alignment
of what is known as their autonomic nervous systems.
''It really is quite eerie when you see the traces on the
screen start to match each other as they come into
alignment,'' Dr Lal said. ''We now believe physiological
alignment is required for successful therapy.''
Videos of the counselling sessions showed the patients'
body language changed as alignment occurred, the eyes
changed their focus and the patients became oblivious to
the surroundings. The patients, who received the therapy
for a variety of reasons, were shown to have lower levels
of anxiety and lower heart rates at the end of the sessions.
They all said they had benefited from them.
Ms Stratford believes that achieving the state can be used
to enhance the relationship between teacher and student
and between doctor and patient.
Psychotherapist Alan Meara, president of Gestalt Australia
& New Zealand, who was a Phd supervisor for the research,
said: ''This sixth sense isn't something that is magical.
It is something that the human brain is wired to do.
The research shows that we do have the capacity to
understand people at a deeper level than we normally
do in general conversation.''
Ms Stratford, who has a master's degree in psychotherapy,
majoring in neuroscience, said: ''It appears that as we
connect deeply with someone by using our sixth sense
[and other senses] we are using our creative imagination
to read the other person.''
And if you are interested in tips to how best chat up a
potential partner? ''You need to give them your total,
undivided attention,'' she said.
''Listening is better than talking about yourself, and the
state of oneness becomes strongest after two or
three meetings.''
Beware the third date.
What's going on?
Thirty volunteers aged 21 to 65 were assessed by six
therapists in a trial period of more than 180 hours.
Each had said that they were suffering some kind of
anxiety in their life.
Electrodes were placed around the head to monitor brain
waves in four different areas. The heart was monitored by
ECG and the body through skin conductance resonance - a
monitor taped to the finger.
The electrodes monitored activity in four areas of the brain
at the moment of ''alignment''. The monitoring showed
heightened activity in the parietal part of the brain, which
is considered to be the seat of the imagination.
It was this part of the brain that has been of interest to
those who have studied the brain of Albert Einstein.
It is the ''alignment'' between two people that
researcher Trisha Stratford said enabled the
relationship between individuals to be elevated
to another level. ''My energy impacts with you
just standing there,'' she said. ''I am impacting
your brain and body just by being here.''
Scientists close to cracking 'sixth sense'
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