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Laboratory Experiments With Subliminal Messages

By Michael McGrath

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 08Sep2008 Word count: 610 Viewed: 1500 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Do subliminal messages really work? Can your brain even record messages that you are consciously unaware of? This is a debate that has been raging since the 1950s and recently we have some scientific evidence to give us the answer!

A neuroscientist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience University College London, called Bahador Bahrami, has found through laboratory experiments that subliminal messages do indeed leave an impression on the brain. Using sophisticated equipment Bahrami's team of scientists discovered that the brain is aware of, and records, images that we are consciously not aware are there.

Bahrami had a group of volunteers view a computer screen while wearing 3-D type glasses. One lens was coloured red while the other was coloured blue. While some images where shown to one eye that were faint, the other was subjected to fast flashing vibrant images. As the vibrant images were shown rapidly the subjects did not realize that there was other faint images being shown.

Although the subjects were unaware that two images were being shown it was found through MRI brain scanning that the subliminal messages (faint images) were registered by the brain.

Although there has long been debate over the effectiveness of subliminal messages and especially subliminal advertising this study has provided evidence for the ability of subliminal messages to affect the brain. Subliminal messages do get through even when we are unaware that they are there.

The scientists found that when participants performed routine or easy tasks the subliminal messages had a greater impact than if they had to perform tasks that took more concentration. They concluded that if there is spare attention capacity in the brain then the brain allocates that resource to the subliminal messages.

Bahador Bahrami has openly commented that subliminal advertising and the subliminal messages that they contain probably is recorded by the brain!

This can be easy to understand when we consider that subliminal messages in advertising would be shown on TV or in magazines when we are not using the full resources of our brain or our attention!

The scientific team plan to conduct further studies into the use of subliminal messages to determine just how affective it is at influencing our buying habits. Bahrami also plans on investigating how words affect the brain when they are presented as subliminal messages.

So what does this study mean to those interested in the self improvement aspects of subliminal messages?

As can be seen from this study subliminal messages are recorded by the brain when we have spare attention capacity. Anytime we perform routine or easy tasks we are in such a state. Only when we are performing something that requires heightened attention would we be immune to the effects of subliminal messages because our attention is diverted from the subliminal messages (even though were don't know they are there).

This is one reason why many people use subliminal messages that flash on a computer screen. This is probably also the reason why some self improvement audio subliminal messages programs come with brain entrainment tones. These tones force the brain to display alpha brainwaves which relax the mind and body and would free up the attention resources of the brain allowing the subliminal messages to be registered.

Through the use of recording techniques subliminal messages can now be produced in a way that focuses your attention on something that you are not even aware is there! It will be very interesting to read the results of the next experiments to be carried out at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience University College London to see, once and for all, just how affective subliminal messages are!

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