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magnets can alter our morality?

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyl...disrupt_individual_persons_moral_compass.html - your link got truncated.

And TMS is not simply a magnet. It's a strong pulsed magnetic field which is able to induce electrical currents in the brain. It's the induced electric current that's important, not so much the magnetic field. No ordinary magnet is capable of producing sufficiently strong and fast pulses for this.

TMS can have all kinds of effects depending on where its applied and it's not surprising that stimulating bits of the brain in this way could do this. But it's just flat out misleading to say that TMS is a 'magnet placed near [the] brain'.
 
They've done similar experiments with other parts of the brain and caused a variety of hallucinations and even the "near death" effect.
There was an article (and a forum discussion) recently on how temporal-lobe hallucinations can cause a variety of effects that have traditionally been perceived as "religious". (feeling a "presence" nearby, for instance.)
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Here's the abstract, the full article requires paid access to PNAS.

This Yale article had the best explanation of what Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation actually entails.
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Thanks for the links. I've been interested in this topic since I first read about Michael Persinger's "God helmet" years ago. From most of what I've read, TMS research has used pretty strong magnetic fields to achieve their effects -- 0.5 to 4.0 T -- and the actual field strength in the brain tissue has been calculated to be about 20-25% of that.

Then I came across this:

http://www.pico-tesla.com/

I have to wonder: are these guys the homeopathists of TMS, or have all the other TMS researchers been using fields thousands of times stronger than necessary? Anybody know of any research that has explored or charted the minimum necessary field-strength and/or pulse duration to achieve observable effects?
 
This is already pretty well documented. Magnets screw up your inhibition unit. Observe:



Respectfully,
Myriad
 
Dr H said:
Thanks for the links. I've been interested in this topic since I first read about Michael Persinger's "God helmet" years ago. From most of what I've read, TMS research has used pretty strong magnetic fields to achieve their effects -- 0.5 to 4.0 T -- and the actual field strength in the brain tissue has been calculated to be about 20-25% of that.
Click to expand...
TMS isn't about the field strength. It's about how rapidly the field strength varies. That's what determines the strength of the electric field that induces the currents across your neurons.

A static magnetic field does not have the same effects.

Talking about it in terms of T does not make sense. It's more like T/s that's important.
 
firecoins said:
Due to a magnet, I always face polar north.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but does your morality, as a result, face south.


Madalch said:
That would explain why Magneto is the bad guy.
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Oh come on, he’s not all bad, just looking out for his own. Understandable as his moral compass may be a bit off kilter. Still, he does have that killer magnetic personality.


Seriously though, as edd notes it is more about the variations in the magnetic field. As the intensity of the induced and localized electrical field plays a critical role. One of the reasons we don’t find ourselves similarly affected by the normal electrical felid strengths (and variations in magnetic fields) that we are usually exposed to. Unlike wires or conducive materials where charges (ions as in case of neurons) are easily separated by induced electrical fields. In neurons it is the changing permeability of the cellular membrane to ions of sodium, potassium and even calcium (Voltage-dependent calcium channel) that results in the “action potential” causing the contraction of muscles or the release of neurotransmitters across a synapse. Induce enough voltage (potential difference thus strength of the induced electrical field) in a sufficiently small (I would surmise the thickness of the membrane or particular ion channel) separation and the fun ensues.
 
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edd said:
TMS isn't about the field strength. It's about how rapidly the field strength varies. That's what determines the strength of the electric field that induces the currents across your neurons.

A static magnetic field does not have the same effects.

Talking about it in terms of T does not make sense. It's more like T/s that's important.
Click to expand...

I understand about the static versus dynamic field. But the strength of the field does have an effect on the size of the current induced. If the field is insufficiently strong to induce a current higher than random noise compared to the regular signal, I don't see how that's going to have any significant effect.

There has to be a reason that most of the research in this area has utilized such intense fields. It is, after all, easier and cheaper to use weaker fields, and doing so would greatly reduce or eliminate the "clacking" from core deformation that so many test subjects seem to find unpleasant.
 
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