Freedman Morris, Binns Malcolm, Gao Fuqiang, Holmes Melissa, Roseborough Austyn, Strother Stephen, Vallesi Antonino, Jeffers Stanley, Alain Claude, Whitehouse Peter, Ryan Jennifer D, Chen Robert, Cusimano Michael D, Black Sandra E
Department of Medicine (Neurology) and Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medicine (Neurology), Mt. Sinai Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada.
Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Explore (NY). 2018 Jan-Feb;14(1):76-85. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2017.08.003. Epub 2017 Oct 23.
Despite a large literature on psi, which encompasses a range of experiences including putative telepathy (mind-mind connections), clairvoyance (perceiving distant objects or events), precognition (perceiving future events), and mind-matter interactions, there has been insufficient focus on the brain in relation to this controversial phenomenon. In contrast, our research is based on a novel neurobiological model suggesting that frontal brain systems act as a filter to inhibit psi and that the inhibitory mechanisms may relate to self-awareness.
To identify frontal brain regions that may inhibit psi.
We used mind-matter interactions to study psi in two participants with frontal lobe damage. The experimental task was to influence numerical output of a Random Event Generator translated into movement of an arrow on a computer screen to the right or left. Brain MRI was analyzed to determine frontal volume loss.
The primary area of lesion overlap between the participants was in the left medial middle frontal region, an area related to self-awareness, and involved Brodmann areas 9, 10, and 32. Both participants showed a significant effect in moving the arrow to the right, i.e., contralateral to the side of primary lesion overlap. Effect sizes were much larger compared to normal participants.
The medial frontal lobes may act as a biological filter to inhibit psi through mechanisms related to self-awareness. Neurobiological studies with a focus on the brain may open new avenues of research on psi and may significantly advance the state of this poorly understood field.
尽管关于超心理学现象（psi）已有大量文献，该现象涵盖一系列体验，包括假定的心灵感应（心灵与心灵的联系）、千里眼（感知远处的物体或事件）、预知（感知未来事件）以及心灵与物质的相互作用，但对于这一颇具争议的现象，大脑方面的研究仍显不足。相比之下，我们的研究基于一种全新的神经生物学模型，该模型表明额叶脑系统充当过滤器来抑制超心理学现象，且抑制机制可能与自我意识相关。
确定可能抑制超心理学现象的额叶脑区。
我们利用心灵与物质的相互作用，对两名额叶受损的参与者进行超心理学现象研究。实验任务是影响随机事件发生器的数字输出，该输出转化为电脑屏幕上箭头向左或向右的移动。对脑部磁共振成像（MRI）进行分析，以确定额叶体积损失情况。
两名参与者的主要病变重叠区域位于左侧内侧额中回，这是一个与自我意识相关的区域，涉及布罗德曼区9、10和32。两名参与者在将箭头向右移动方面均显示出显著效果，即与主要病变重叠侧对侧。与正常参与者相比，效应量要大得多。
内侧额叶可能通过与自我意识相关的机制，充当抑制超心理学现象的生物过滤器。专注于大脑的神经生物学研究可能为超心理学现象开辟新的研究途径，并可能显著推动这一理解不足领域的发展。
