title: Greater electroencephalographic coherence between left and right temporal lobe structures during increased geomagnetic activity.
abstract: Interhemispheric coherence for 19 channel EEG activity collected over a three year period from 184 men and women who relaxed in a quiet, darkened chamber showed significant increased coherence between caudal temporal regions for the 11 Hz frequency band during increased (>∼8 nT) global geomagnetic activity at the time of measurement. Detailed analyses from source-localization indicated that a likely origin was the parahippocampal regions whose net differences at 10, 11 and 12 Hz intervals were significantly correlated with geomagnetic activity. Analyses of residuals to obtain a "purer" measure of parahippocampal contributions indicated that interhemispheric temporal lobe coherence across unit increments between 1 and 40 Hz revealed the most statistically significant peaks at 7.5 Hz and 19.5 Hz. These weak but reliable correlations between global geomagnetic activity and the degree of inter-temporal lobe coherence for normal people relaxing in a dark, quiet area are consistent with the results of multiple studies indicating that intrusive experiences such as "presences" or "hallucinations" are more frequent when global geomagnetic activity increases above ∼15-20 nT.
authors.affiliation: Human Studies Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6; Behavioural Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6. Electronic address: kx_Saroka@laurentian.ca.
authors.forename: Kevin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Saroka
authors.affiliation: Human Development Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6; Behavioural Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6. Electronic address: jx_caswell@laurentian.ca.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Caswell
authors.affiliation: Human Development Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6; Behavioural Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6. Electronic address: ax_lapointe@laurentian.ca.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lapointe
authors.affiliation: Human Development Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6; Human Studies Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6; Behavioural Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6; Biomolecular Sciences Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6. Electronic address: mpersinger@laurentian.ca.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Persinger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018534:Earth, Planet; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D060328:Magnetic Phenomena; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Hemispheric coherence; Parahippocampal region; QEEG; Temporal lobes