Replicable Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence of Correlated Brain Signals Between Physically and Sensory Isolated Subjects
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Plain English Summary
Can one person's brain react to what another person is seeing, even when they're completely cut off from each other? This NIH-funded study used fMRI (brain scanning that tracks blood flow) to find out. Researchers picked one especially promising pair from a pool of 30 and put one partner in a sealed, shielded MRI scanner while the other watched a flashing checkerboard pattern from 10 meters away. Remarkably, the isolated partner's visual cortex (the part of the brain that processes sight) lit up in sync with the stimulus, and this happened across multiple sessions using both fMRI and EEG (brainwave recording). The fact that activations appeared specifically in visual areas is genuinely striking. However, the huge caveat: they cherry-picked their best-performing pair out of thirty, so we're really looking at a sample size of two people. Fascinating pilot work, but far too small to draw big conclusions.
Actual Paper Abstract
Objectives: Previous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments have suggested that correlated neural signals may be detected in the brains of individuals who are physically and sensorily isolated from each other. Functional MRI and EEG methods were used in the present study in an attempt to replicate these findings. Design/settings: Subjects were electrically and magnetically shielded because of the characteristic surroundings of the scanner room. During the experiment, the nonstimulated subject was placed in the scanner with sensory isolating goggles covering the subject's eyes. The stimulated subject was placed 30 feet away and sat in front of a video monitor that presented an alternating schedule of six stimulus-on/stimulus-off conditions. The stimulus-on condition consisted of a flickering checkerboard pattern whereas the stimulus-off condition consisted of a static checkerboard. Stimulus-on/-off conditions were presented in the sequence on/off/on/off/on/off. The duration of these intervals was randomly assigned but consistently provided a total of 150 seconds of flicker and 150 seconds of static. Sessions were repeated twice to assess possible replication of the phenomenon. Outcome measures: Changes in fMRI brain activation (relating to blood oxygenation) and EEG signals were measured in the nonstimulated subjects. Changes occurring during stimulus-on conditions were statistically compared to changes occurring during the stimulus-off conditions. Results: Statistically significant changes in fMRI brain activation and EEG signals were observed when comparing the stimulus-on condition to the stimulus-off condition in nonstimulated subjects (p 0.001, corrected for multiple comparisons). For fMRI, these changes were observed in visual brain areas 18 and 19 (Brodmann areas). One of the subjects replicated the results. Conclusions: These data replicate previous findings suggesting that correlated neural signals may be detected by fMRI and EEG in the brains of subjects who are physically and sensorily isolated from each other.
Research Notes
One of the first fMRI studies of anomalous correlated brain signals, extending the Standish et al. 2003/2004 EEG paradigm from the same Bastyr/UW lab to hemodynamic neuroimaging. NIH/NCCAM funded (R21-AT00287). Visual-cortex specificity of activations is notable, but extreme pre-selection (1 pair from 30) and N=2 limit generalizability.
Experimental fMRI and EEG study investigating whether correlated neural signals can be detected between physically and sensorily isolated human subjects. A pre-selected pair (from 30 pairs in a prior EEG study) participated in fMRI sessions where the stimulated partner viewed a flickering checkerboard while the nonstimulated partner lay in a 1.5T MRI scanner 10 meters away, wearing sensory-isolating goggles in an EMF-shielded room. Subject DW showed significant BOLD activation in left visual cortex (BA 17/18/19) correlated with the partner's stimulus in both trials (p < 0.017, Bonferroni corrected). Subject CW showed significant activation in right BA 17/18 in the replication trial only. EEG confirmed correlated alpha-power changes in separate sessions (CW: chi-squared=455.4, p < .0001; DW: chi-squared=317.4, p < .005).
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Cites
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- A fMRI Brain Imaging Study of Presentiment β Bierman, Dick J (2002)
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π Cite this paper
Richards, Todd L, Kozak, Leila, Johnson, L. Clark, Standish, Leanna J (2005). Replicable Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence of Correlated Brain Signals Between Physically and Sensory Isolated Subjects. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2005.11.955
@article{richards_2005_replicable,
title = {Replicable Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence of Correlated Brain Signals Between Physically and Sensory Isolated Subjects},
author = {Richards, Todd L and Kozak, Leila and Johnson, L. Clark and Standish, Leanna J},
year = {2005},
journal = {The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine},
doi = {10.1089/acm.2005.11.955},
}