Study reveals brain functioning of Brazilian mediums

There are a number of internationally renowned Brazilian mediums, and now a group of American neuroscientists have decided to find out what happens to their brains when they're doing work related to message psychography.

Psychographed messages are written as mediums enter a state of semiconsciousness, during which they "open a channel of communication" with the spirits and write letters and messages transmitted by them automatically. Often, texts are written while mediums keep their eyes closed, and writing usually occurs at great speed.

According to a report published by the Discovery News website, researchers at the University of Philadelphia conducted some tests to find out which areas of the brain of Brazilian mediums become active during this process, finding that the regions responsible for language and voluntary activities are inactive.

Spiritual communication

The neuroscientists evaluated 10 Brazilian mediums, five of whom have been practicing psychography for over 35 years, performing an average of 15 monthly sessions, and five other, much less experienced participants. As the researchers explained, during the semiconscious state, the brain activity of the more experienced decreased in six different regions, usually related to writing, concentration and language.

In addition, more experienced mediums produced messages with more complex content while communicating with spirits than when not psychographing. In fact, the more experienced the medium, the greater the complexity of the messages and the lower the brain activity. Just the opposite of what the researchers hoped to observe.

On the other hand, the same areas seen in the more experienced ones became more active in the brains of novices, suggesting that training may improve the brain's ability to enter this "open channel" state. Although science cannot yet attest to the existence or otherwise of spirits among us, study helps us better understand how spirituality affects our brains and why some people are more devout and spiritual than others.