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Vijayakumar V, Nagaraja Jois S, Mallikarjuna Majgi S, Prasad Krishnamurthy N, Nanjunda swamy R. Time to sense biofield (Prana) experiences between hands: A preliminary single blinded randomised controlled trial. F1000Res 2023; 12:1536. [PMID: 38939830 PMCID: PMC11208854 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.139737.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Aims: There is minimal research on the duration of biofield experiences. This preliminary study used the experiential learning practice of Master Choa Kok Sui's hands sensitisation to determine the duration to experience biofield sensations in between hands and to find the relationship between learning style preferences and biofield sensations. Methods: This randomised controlled, single blinded trial included 88 male and female pre-service teachers, aged 22.8 ±1.2 years. Learning Style questionnaire, Ruler drop test, and Six Letter Cancellation tests were administered to participants and randomised into two groups. The experimental (hands facing each other as introduced by Master Choa Kok Sui) and sham (hands facing opposite) groups practiced hands sensitisation. A semi-structured questionnaire was provided to gather information about biofield sensations and the time it took to experience these sensations between the hands. Results: All (100%) of the participants in the experimental group (N=44) and 29.55% in the sham group (N=13) reported experiencing biofield sensations. A significant difference was found in, magnetic, temperature variation, and pain sensations between experimental and sham groups (X 2= 59.20, p<.001). In the experimental group, the average time taken to first experience magnetic sensation, other biofield sensations and temperature variation was 34.84±12.97, 40.28± 20.96 and 42.50±19.79, respectively. Minimum time taken to first experience biofield sensation was 5 seconds and lasted up to study duration of 120 seconds. In our observations, we found a significant negative correlation between the overall duration of experiences and the time it took for the first experience, while there was no correlation found between reaction time, attention, and the time needed to experience biofield sensations. Conclusions: The duration to experience the novel biofield sensation was described in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinu Vijayakumar
- World Pranic Healing Foundation India Research Centre, Mysore, India
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Borngräber F, Hoffmann M, Paulus T, Junker J, Bäumer T, Altenmüller E, Kühn AA, Schmidt A. Characterizing the temporal discrimination threshold in musician's dystonia. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14939. [PMID: 36056047 PMCID: PMC9440005 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18739-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The temporal discrimination threshold (TDT) has been established as a biomarker of impaired temporal processing and endophenotype in various forms of focal dystonia patients, such as cervical dystonia, writer's cramp or blepharospasm. The role of TDT in musician's dystonia (MD) in contrast is less clear with preceding studies reporting inconclusive results. We therefore compared TDT between MD patients, healthy musicians and non-musician controls using a previously described visual, tactile, and visual-tactile paradigm. Additionally, we compared TDT of the dystonic and non-dystonic hand and fingers in MD patients and further characterized the biomarker regarding its potential influencing factors, i.e. musical activity, disease variables, and personality profiles. Repeated measures ANOVA and additional Bayesian analyses revealed lower TDT in healthy musicians compared to non-musicians. However, TDTs in MD patients did not differ from both healthy musicians and non-musicians, although pairwise Bayesian t-tests indicated weak evidence for group differences in both comparisons. Analyses of dystonic and non-dystonic hands and fingers revealed no differences. While in healthy musicians, age of first instrumental practice negatively correlated with visual-tactile TDTs, TDTs in MD patients did not correlate with measures of musical activity, disease variables or personality profiles. In conclusion, TDTs in MD patients cannot reliably be distinguished from healthy musicians and non-musicians and are neither influenced by dystonic manifestation, musical activity, disease variables nor personality profiles. Unlike other isolated focal dystonias, TDT seems not to be a reliable biomarker in MD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Friederike Borngräber
- Berlin Center for Musicians' Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Kurt Singer Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Health, Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Movement Disorder and Neuromodulation Unit, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany.
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Martina Hoffmann
- Berlin Center for Musicians' Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Kurt Singer Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Health, Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Theresa Paulus
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Johanna Junker
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Tobias Bäumer
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Eckart Altenmüller
- Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Hanover, Germany
| | - Andrea A Kühn
- Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Movement Disorder and Neuromodulation Unit, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Alexander Schmidt
- Berlin Center for Musicians' Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Kurt Singer Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Health, Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Muschter E, Noll A, Zhao J, Hassen R, Strese M, Gulecyuz B, Li SC, Steinbach E. Perceptual Quality Assessment of Compressed Vibrotactile Signals Through Comparative Judgment. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON HAPTICS 2021; 14:291-296. [PMID: 33939614 DOI: 10.1109/toh.2021.3077191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we present a comprehensive scheme for the quality assessment of compressed vibrotactile signals with human assessors. Inspired by the multiple stimulus test with hidden reference and anchors (MUSHRA) from the audio domain, we designed a method in which each compressed signal is compared to its original signal and rated on a numerical scale. For each signal tested, the hidden reference and two anchor signals are used to validate the results and provide assessor screening criteria. Differing from previous approaches, our method is hierarchically structured and strictly timed in a sequential manner to avoid experimental confounds and provide precise psychophysical assessments. We validated our method in an experiment with 20 human participants in which we compared two state-of-the-art lossy codecs. The results show that, with our approach, the performance of different codecs can be compared effectively. Furthermore, the method also provides a measure of subjective quality at different data compression rates. The proposed procedure can be easily adapted to evaluate other vibrotactile codecs.
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Lee MS, Lee MJ, Conte A, Berardelli A. Abnormal somatosensory temporal discrimination in Parkinson’s disease: Pathophysiological correlates and role in motor control deficits. Clin Neurophysiol 2018; 129:442-447. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2017.11.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2017] [Revised: 11/13/2017] [Accepted: 11/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Beck RB, McGovern EM, Butler JS, Birsanu D, Quinlivan B, Beiser I, Narasimham S, O'Riordan S, Hutchinson M, Reilly RB. Measurement & Analysis of the Temporal Discrimination Threshold Applied to Cervical Dystonia. J Vis Exp 2018. [PMID: 29443021 DOI: 10.3791/56310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The temporal discrimination threshold (TDT) is the shortest time interval at which an observer can discriminate two sequential stimuli as being asynchronous (typically 30-50 ms). It has been shown to be abnormal (prolonged) in neurological disorders, including cervical dystonia, a phenotype of adult onset idiopathic isolated focal dystonia. The TDT is a quantitative measure of the ability to perceive rapid changes in the environment and is considered indicative of the behavior of the visual neurons in the superior colliculus, a key node in covert attentional orienting. This article sets out methods for measuring the TDT (including two hardware options and two modes of stimuli presentation). We also explore two approaches of data analysis and TDT calculation. The application of the assessment of temporal discrimination to the understanding of the pathogenesis of cervical dystonia and adult onset idiopathic isolated focal dystonia is also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca B Beck
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin;
| | - Eavan M McGovern
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin; Department of Neurology, St. Vincent's University Hospital; School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
| | - John S Butler
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology
| | - Dorina Birsanu
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
| | - Brendan Quinlivan
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
| | - Ines Beiser
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin; Department of Neurology, St. Vincent's University Hospital; School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
| | - Shruti Narasimham
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
| | - Sean O'Riordan
- Department of Neurology, St. Vincent's University Hospital; School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
| | - Michael Hutchinson
- Department of Neurology, St. Vincent's University Hospital; School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin
| | - Richard B Reilly
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin; School of Medicine Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
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