Heart and Brain and Intuition
Just in case you were wondering, a study has been carried out in which subjects were presented with various images; either calm and relaxing, or containing emotional material (sexual or violent). The summary of the test, carried out by the Institue of HeartMath, says:
“Conclusions: Overall, our data suggest that the heart and brain, together, are involved in receiving, processing, and decoding intuitive information. On the basis of these results and those of other research, it would thus appear that intuitive perception is a system-wide process in which both the heart and brain (and possibly other bodily systems) play a critical role.” (Read the whole thing here.)
The reason for them saying this is that their instruments showed that the subjects were able to ‘know’ ahead of time, what the next picture type would be like. Even more interesting, the heart was found to be ahead of the brain in sensing this.
Next time you hear someone say, “my heart told me so…” they just might be telling the truth!
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The test setup that the Heartmath researchers use is slightly wrong, to say the least. See my analysis at http://maurits.wordpress.com/2006/01/23/can-your-hart-predict-the-future/ for more details.
OK, except that their reasons for a 2:1 loading of the pictures is, I find, very reasonable. Plus, you appear to want to have near 100% predictability in the results whereeas I feel that this stuff is not going to be anywhere near that. A reasonable statistical correlation is good enough for me.
Then you argue that the brain is going to work out the likelihood of what the next picture is. I dont find that a tenable position. Its your conjecture alone, and nothing else. (Cant appear to put in apostrophes at the moment!)
I don’t care for studies as they are just a means to manipulate statistics. What I focus on is what my intuition tells is correct and then i check out my response to it. My intuition is much more knowing than my brain simply because my intuition is my higher self speaking to me and it knows all things. Once we surrender to our heart, our heart will guide us lovingly to the truth. for me the heart is the doorway to the soul/higher self so of course it responds quicker than the brain. It is simple when you think about and if you find you need technical proof then you have not made the little leap of believing in yourself.
Think about it
Oh, you’ve no need to persuade me on this!
I tend to think that ‘normal’ scientific investigation of intuition is pretty much doomed to mediocrity. Taking intuition out of the real world and forcing it to perform boring repetitive tasks is no test, as far as I can see.
However, as so many people appear to be swayed, or at least interested in such reports, I added it.
For me, as for you, if I can’t trust it, it’s not worth having!