Can the 8-Coil Shakti Alter Subjective Emotional Experience? A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study

Abstract

At present, a commercially available device (the 8-coil Shakti) claims to produce weak and complex magnetic fields that alter neurobiological processes. The effects of the Shakti on emotional responses to photographs that varied on emotional valence were investigated. Participants (N = 37) were exposed to either 30 min, of magnetic fields or a sham condition and rated their emotional reactions to a set of 54 color photographs. Although participants indicated significantly different emotional responses to images with distinct emotional valences, exposure to magnetic fields did not affect these responses, nor significantly interact with image emotional valence. Although the device's "amygdala signal" had no effect on the emotive response to images in this study, additional investigations examining the effects of weak and complex magnetic fields on various aspects of perception and cognition are warranted.

Exceptional Experiences Following Exposure to a Sham “God Helmet”: Evidence for Placebo, Individual Difference, and Time of Day Influences

“…Second, although several studies have found evidence for ExEs following TCS, others have not. In addition, the literature is dominated, for the most part, by research conducted by Persinger and colleagues, with few replication attempts by other research teams (Gendle & McGrath, 2012; Granqvist et al., 2005; Tinoca & Ortiz, 2014). Where replication attempts have occurred, there is little support for the role of complex magnetic pulses in the etiology of reported experiences, with one exception (Tinoca & Ortiz, 2014).…”

Non-Pharmacological Tools for Neuroenhancement. Neuroethical Issues

“…Hence, an insufficient amount of research, regarding the effects of this technology, has been performed in order to obtain conclusive results, with just a few methodologically rigorous and thorough studies. Nevertheless, a helmet used for Shakti treatments (also known as "Gods helmet") has been marketed and sold as a tool for meditation, mood enhancement and as a trigger for altered states of consciousness (Tsang et al 2004, Gendle & McGrath 2012. Treatment of the brain with electrical currents alters cortical excitability by modulating neuron membrane potentials and affecting the normal firing of neurons, either directly or by a magnetic field that induces an electrical current in the brain tissue.…”

Validating New Technologies to Treat Depression, Pain and the Feeling of Sentient Beings: A Reply to “Neuroscience for the Soul”

“…If a clinical trial was intended to discern the efficacy of a new anti-depressant drug, measuring the patient's height and weight may not be revealing. Yet when Gendle et al [70] tested the second author's 8-coil Shakti system to test subjective emotional experiences they used psychometric measures that were both non-specific and peripheral to the spontaneous experiences reported by hundreds of participants that were recorded in on-line monitoring protocols for years. These types of responses by other researchers are consistent with and predicted by Hegel's approach to discovery.…”