Electroencephalogram (EEG) caps are helping 麻豆影院 researchers unlock the secrets of the mind.
David Fresco, Ph.D., professor and director of 麻豆影院 State鈥檚 Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation Laboratory (PERL) and co-director of the 麻豆影院 Electrophysiological Neuroscience Laboratory (KENL), returned to the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to better understand what goes on in the brains of monks as they hold a debate.
The researchers are studying brain activity, specifically what happens when neurons synchronize.
鈥淎re they activating the same parts of their brain when they鈥檙e debating?鈥 Fresco asked. 鈥淎nd if they do bring their brains into this harmony or synchrony, are we seeing a more successful resolution to the debate?鈥
In their first trip to India, researchers put electroencephalogram caps on two monks per session and time-locked their brain activation patterns to see if they were bringing their brains into synchrony.
鈥淟ow and behold, there did seem to be a correspondence in the brain activation in the moments where the play-by-play monk thought there was something more harmonious, and less synchrony when the monks were more discordant with what they were saying,鈥 Fresco said.
Fresco and researchers have since returned to Sera Jey Monastery to gather additional data. Learn more about the study in .