Closing the eyes intensifies emotional intensity while opening the eyes tends to lessen emotion intensity.

A study out of Tel Aviv University’s Functional Brain Center provides some insight into how Rapid Eye Technology works. The study, lead by Prof. Talma Hendler, demonstrated that closing the eyes intensifies emotional intensity while opening the eyes tends to lessen emotion intensity when it comes to listening to scary music. The same conclusion might be made about scary sounds including emotionally evocative words and phrases (though this was not specifically studied).

In essence, the study showed that closing the eyes intensified the actions of the Amygdala, an emotional area of the brain associated with memory management. This association offers the possibility of creating therapies for Alzheimer’s and other degenerative memory conditions. It also could explain why RET seems to work so well.

“It’s possible that closing one’s eyes during an emotional stimulation, like in our research, may help people through a variety of mental states. It synchs connectivity in the brain,” Dr. Hendler says. “We don’t know exactly how or why this happens – it’s like a light switch gets turned off, allowing the brain to better integrate the highs and lows of the emotional experience when the eyes are shut.”

During RET, the client blinks their eyes as fast as they can while listening to emotionally evocative words and phrases provided by the RET technician through scripts, audio CDs, and discussion with the client. Based on the Tel Aviv University study, the eyes closed condition would tend to intensify emotions (positive and negative), while the eyes open condition would tend to calm or lessen emotional intensity. Repeated blinking (eyes open/eyes closed in rapid succession) may tend to even out at a lower level the emotional intensity of the issue at hand.

Experience with RET has show me that this rapid blinking along with rapid movement of an eye directing device (wand) suggests to the mind to “look” into all memories associated with the present issue and relieve them of emotional energy – a more holistic approach than one that focuses emotional relief onto one emotion for one issue at one time.

Prof. Hendler’s latest study with scary music is “just an example of how a small manipulation in one’s physical state such as eyes open or shut can change our mental experience,” she says.

Study source:
George Hunka – American Friends of Tel Aviv University. Dr. Hendler’s research was published in PLoS One and builds on her 2007 study published in Cerebral Cortex.