Timeline for Does staring at a flame slow brain activity?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 14, 2023 at 5:15 | comment | added | Justin Handley | @Sklivvz - additional studies added, each showing that flickering light can create a brainwave entrainment effect. | |
| Jul 14, 2023 at 5:12 | history | edited | Justin Handley | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 2199 characters in body
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| Jul 5, 2023 at 8:03 | comment | added | Sklivvz | @Schwern it's not only a big jump, I think it's a large part of the claim itself! | |
| Jul 2, 2023 at 4:03 | comment | added | Schwern | There's still a big jump from "fire flickers at the same frequency as alpha waves" and "this makes the brain produce alpha waves". Presumably the linked entrainment papers bridge that gap, but they're not easy to read. Summaries of the papers' conclusions and explanation why they're relevant would help. | |
| Jul 1, 2023 at 19:24 | comment | added | Justin Handley | So, I've gone ahead and replaced the first study one more time with this one: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4737907 - which is the one referenced by Wikipedia in relationship to brainwave entrainment to pulsing light. I apologize for the lack of research up front, I didn't know that the whole concept of brainwave entrainment was being called into question here. Since entrainment was assumed by the references in the original article and never questioned, I was just pointing out that their study references to gamma entrainment just showed a lack of understanding of entrainment. | |
| Jul 1, 2023 at 19:21 | history | edited | Justin Handley | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 1, 2023 at 10:16 | comment | added | Oddthinking♦ | Thanks for the improvements, @JustinHandley. I am a little dubious about the first study (and its journal: Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine). They talk about "light", but the near-infrared LEDs where shone onto the bottom of the subject's palms. It isn't at all clear what mechanism might make flashing dim lights into one's flesh trigger different brain states. | |
| Jul 1, 2023 at 10:12 | history | notice removed | Oddthinking♦ | ||
| Jun 30, 2023 at 22:45 | comment | added | Justin Handley | I've edited this with some research to support what I'm saying. And, still, I would say that based on the research, the flicker of flames could cause an effect. I say it that way because I'm extrapolating from known entities- but as far as I can tell there has never been a study to directly prove this, so it is just that - a claim I'm making based on what I know. | |
| Jun 30, 2023 at 22:43 | history | edited | Justin Handley | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added some research
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| Jun 30, 2023 at 18:20 | comment | added | Oddthinking♦ | Welcome to Skeptics! Please provide some references to support your claims. You have a citation to show that a particular set of arrangements of candles tends to show periodic oscillation, but nothing to show that it has an effect on brain activity. "I would say" is not strong enough evidence for an answer here. | |
| Jun 30, 2023 at 18:16 | history | notice added | Oddthinking♦ | Needs citation | |
| Jun 30, 2023 at 18:16 | history | edited | Oddthinking♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
There is no need to attack the other answer. If you think it is wrong, add a comment to it about why. Inlined link.
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| Jun 30, 2023 at 15:20 | comment | added | Schwern | "We know that repetitive visual stimuli can cause a brainwave entrainment effect." Do we? Let's accept for the moment that flames can flicker at a similar frequency as alpha waves. You'll need to show this affects the brain, and that the effect is to produce alpha waves in sync with the flames. | |
| S Jun 30, 2023 at 11:26 | review | First answers | |||
| Jul 9, 2023 at 22:50 | |||||
| S Jun 30, 2023 at 11:26 | history | answered | Justin Handley | CC BY-SA 4.0 |