Tag Archives: rapid eye

RET and Entwined Senses

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"Hearing and sight are deeply intertwined."

A study shows that the senses of "hearing and sight are deeply intertwined" - as they are in Rapid Eye Technology.

The process of Rapid Eye Technology marries visual perception of rapid motion with rapid emotion-laden auditory input to affect an emotional release. The technique has proven successful for many clients seeking relief from emotional troubles and for those seeking to improve themselves in a number of areas.

Another study on the relationship between visual and auditory channels used in RET has emerged from UCLA.

“Most of us understand that smell affects taste. But people tend to think that what they see is what they see and what they hear is what they hear.”

The findings of a study at UCLA, published by the American Psychological Assn, concludes,

“…that, even at a non-conscious level, visual and auditory processes are not so straightforward,” says cognitive neuroscientist and study co-author Robyn Kim. “Perception is actually a very complex thing affected by many factors.”

 

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Intuition Reveals Biases?

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Bad habits can be the result of twisted subconscious biases.

If you’ve been experiencing “twisted intuition” – that is, your sense of things or your “inner voice” or “inner guidance” seems to be off or too often incorrect – maybe it’s time to reprogram.

Researchers at Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at the University College London have managed to image the brain while it processes subconscious subliminal cues. This is important because it demonstrates for the first time how our brain processes subconscious information. We often think of such information as intuition or inspiration from some external source when instead, it seems we develop these “signals” from within.

Dr. Mathias Pessiglione, lead researcher concludes, “We conclude that, even without conscious processing of contextual cues, our brain can learn their reward value and use them to provide a bias on decision making.”

Decision bias?

I think I read that correctly. And just what is a decision bias? It could be thought of as that “still small voice” from your intuition that many think of as their “higher self” or even God. It is that “sense” we get when one choice “feels better” than another although we don’t know why.

My thought about this phenomenon is that we learn many life-important lessons BEFORE we develop reasoning circuitry in our brains. That period of development we call infancy is also when we connect reward with context – the basis of decision bias. This could easily explain why some people feel inspired by a piece of music while another person is totally turned off by it. Context cues that trigger to reward – leading to a decision bias. Continue reading →

PTSD Inoculations

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An injection of cortisol shortly after exposure to a traumatic event could prevent the onset of PTSD.

An injection of cortisol shortly after exposure to a traumatic event could prevent the onset of PTSD.

Prof. Joseph Zohar from the Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University, has found that an injection of cortisol shortly after exposure to a traumatic event could prevent the onset of PTSD.

What a brilliant idea! Why wait for symptoms of PTSD to debilitate a person when prevention can address and effectively eliminate the problem altogether. Further, as inoculated trauma victims are returned to their families and societies, they are more likely to be more productive, better able to cope with their home environments, and quicker to adjust to later possible traumas.

Dr. Zohar’s idea of an injection shortly after exposure could backfire for those people susceptible to cortisol build-up or who’s bodies don’t process cortisol well. Many overweight people have difficulty processing the stress hormone and thus their bodies collect body fat instead of dealing with stress properly.

I propose that those exposed to traumatic events instead, use a quick de-stress process like RET or EFT to better utilize the cortisol they already have. In those cases where cortisol injections might be especially useful, I propose they be accompanied by RET or EFT sessions so that the cortisol is better utilized.

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Trauma, Memory, and Rapid Eye Technology

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Dreaming and daydreaming, ruminating, or hearing traumatic keywords associated with a trauma can turn on enough noradrenaline to unlock the cabinet.

Dreaming and daydreaming, ruminating, or hearing traumatic keywords associated with a trauma can turn on enough noradrenaline to unlock the cabinet.

As I’ve discussed before in this blog, memories, particularly traumatic memories can be very inaccurate recordings of events. I think I’ve come across a good explanation for why that is so – and what can be done about it.

Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland explain how emotional events can sometimes lead to disturbing long term memories. During studies of the almond-shaped part of the brain called the amygdala – a region associated with processing emotions – Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) scientists uncovered a cellular mechanism underlying the formation of emotional memories – and it involves a well known stress hormone – noradrenaline, the brain’s version of adrenaline. Noradrenaline affects the amygdala by controlling chemical and electrical pathways in the brain responsible for memory formation.

Think of this interaction between chemical and brain structure like a file cabinet.

When an emotional event occurs noradrenaline is released in the brain – the more emotionally traumatic the event, the more adrenaline gets turned on in the body and more noradrenaline released in the brain. This chemical is like the key to the file cabinet. Once open, the drawer assigned to that particular kind of event reveals many folders full of data – images, sensations, sounds and more that are similar in nature to the current event being experienced.

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Eye Movement to Assess Memories

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Eye movement to elicit emotionally charged memories? Maybe!

Eye movement to elicit emotionally charged memories? Maybe!

Research published by Cell Press in the September 10th issue of the journal Neuron, provides compelling insight into the relationship between activity in the hippocampus, eye movements, and both conscious and unconscious memory. Scientists may have discovered a way to garner information about memories by tracking patterns of eye movements, even when an individual is unable or unwilling to report what they recall.

I’ve done Rapid Eye Technology for over twenty years and I’ve seen lots of eye movements. In every case, the eyes would move, dilate, tear, even change color slightly due to memory recall. Sometimes these changes were dramatic – very noticeable. The report in Neuron tends to confirm my theory that the eyes are directly connected to the emotional centers of the brain in some way – and that memories, particularly emotionally charged memories, will show themselves in some fashion through the eyes.

“It is conceivable that eye-tracking could be used to obtain information about past events from participants who are unaware or attempting to withhold information,” offers Dr. Hannula. “In other words, there may be circumstances in which eye movements provide a more robust account of past events or experiences than behavioral reports alone.”

I’m very excited about this line of inquiry. Perhaps in time such studies will help develop a more reliable indicator than the current methods for determining whether someone is being deceitful. Further, perhaps such research might help us understand the workings of Rapid Eye Technology.

Researchers: Deborah E. Hannula and Charan Ranganath, of the University of California, Davis, Davis, CA.

Insight Into RET

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

Closing the eyes intensifies emotional energy 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 energy 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.”

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Sometimes Speed Matters

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RET Trainers coach new students to wave the wand faster.

RET Trainers coach new students to wave the wand faster.

In a groundbreaking study, researchers Christian Beste, Edmund Wascher, Onur Güntürkün, and Hubert R. Dinse discovered that the speed at which a visual stimulus is applied to a person makes a difference in how fast and how well the person learns and retains information learned.

Rapid Eye Technology (RET) depends on a rapid visual stimulus to affect psychological and sometimes physical change. Using an eye directing device known as a wand, the rapid eye technician moves the wand in rapid movements in the client’s visual field; this while the client blinks as rapidly as they can while the technician makes suggestions to the mind to release negative emotional energy and take on new learning based on the client’s intentions (therapeutic goals). Moving the wand too slowly or blinking too slowly can create client abreaction or resistance to goal achievement.

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Quick Rewards Works Better

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Improve the odds of success with earlier rewards

Improve the odds of success with earlier rewards.

In a study published by Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researchers discovered that feedback given earlier in learning sessions tend to bring about better grades over the long haul and improve students’ performance overall.

I’ve found this same phenomenon in hypnotherapy and Rapid Eye Technology sessions. When clients discovered early on that the process I was using was working, they tended to get better results overall – achieving therapeutic goals quicker and with far less effort. When clients believed it would take several sessions to show improvement, they tended to go slower and often struggled to make progress. Conversely, when clients felt immediate results (positive feedback) they tended to feel more successful and confident with the processes we used.

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Change Literally in the Blink of an Eye

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You can make those life changes you want to make in the blink of an eye.

You can make those life changes you want to make in the blink of an eye.

New research out of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, shows that brain neurons can change in as little as two minutes even in adults. For years scientists have known about the plasticity of the brain – that it can change neuronal connections and even grow new brain cells. But until recently, no one had studied the speed at which these changes can occur.

It is unlikely that a brain cell would grow to maturity and make all those dendrite connections in just two minutes. Some other mechanism must be at work.
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