Do Mind Machines Produce Results?
Sunday, September 14th, 2008Simple devices that use head phones and goggles to blast your brain with pulsed light and sound in the hopes of shifting your brainwave patterns for positive effects are called by many different names – mind machines, psychowalkmans, audio visual therapy and brain wave entertainment (BWE).
Various devices and protocols have been created to accelerate learning, lower stress, help with depression and headaches and so on. Clearly fringe activity but do they actually work?
In a just published article, Comprehensive Review of the Psychological Effects of Brainwave Entertainment, Drs. Huang and Charyton offer a guarded yes as an answer.
To quote the authors:
“Findings to date suggest that BWE is an effective therapeutic tool. People suffering from cognitive functioning deficits, stress, pain, headache/migraines, PMS, and behavioral problems benefited from BWE. However, more controlled trials are needed to test additional protocols with outcomes. (Altern Ther Health Med. 2008;14(5):38-49.)“
If this seems hard to believe think about the powerful impact listening to your favorite song (audio input to the brain) has on your cognition.
If you don’t want to read the entire article check out this blog post by one of the authors.
