Brainwave entrainment and sleep-learning
With the help of virtual reality and biofeedback technologies, the orphans were taught how to guide their minds to reach certain brain frequencies – like Alpha, Theta and Delta – at will. The purpose of slipping into these particular frequencies was to allow the right brain to take over, as opposed to the left-brained consciousness dominant in most people. Whenever the orphans needed to access their higher intelligences, they would enter a daydream and simply intuit the answers. That way, they could bypass thinking, and just know. Within the Omega family, intuition was favored over logical thought patterns…
That’s an excerpt from our conspiracy thriller The Ninth Orphan, book one in The Orphan Trilogy. The “orphans” we refer to are 23 genetically enhanced operatives who were raised at the Pedemont Orphanage on Chicago’s seedy southside.
In The Orphan Factory, book two in the trilogy and the prequel to book one, we describe the superior learning methods our orphans received to turn them into elite spies. This entailed considerable research on our part before the writing process even began.
The results of that research are included in our new (non-fiction) book THE ORPHAN CONSPIRACIES: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy.
Here’s an excerpt from the book:
As mentioned, brainwaves are a crucial part of accelerated learning techniques. It’s proven that when individuals move out of normal waking brainwaves (beta) into other brainwaves (alpha, theta, delta and gamma) they enter the ideal state in which to absorb new information. Whether the learning is analyzing complex equations, or memorizing facts, or becoming an expert in martial arts, it makes no difference.
Our children at the Pedemont Orphanage use brainwave generators and biofeedback machines to reach optimal frequency for study. This method of altering the mind is known as brainwave entrainment.
Gamma brainwaves, which are the highest frequency brainwave, are held in high regard at the orphanage. As we wrote in The Orphan Factory:
“The children performed mind photography in uncommon brainwaves for regular wakeful consciousness. In this case it was predominantly gamma waves, and it allowed them to tap into the genius of their subconscious minds.”
Besides being present while learning languages or forming new ideas, Gamma waves are also vital for recalling memories. And the faster the gamma brainwave, the faster the memory recall is – yet another advantage in doing things at speed.
Even at night, the Pedemont orphans’ education continues through hypnopædia, or sleep-learning. Audio courses play through headphones they wear while asleep and our orphans are able to learn new subjects like high finance or foreign languages.
Hypnopædia comes from the Greek hypnos, meaning ‘sleep’, and paideia, meaning ‘education’. Although still not conclusive, some research has shown the subconscious mind is very receptive to absorbing knowledge whilst we sleep.
There are numerous references to hypnopædia in Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel Brave New World. Thirty years later, this unusual learning method was also mentioned in A Clockwork Orange, another dystopian novel, by Anthony Burgess. The popularity of these bestselling novels coincided with the release of positive results of preliminary studies into sleep-learning, ensuring that hypnopædia became relatively well known around the world and interest in it blossomed.
However, from the early 1960’s onwards, more in-depth scientific studies were conducted in laboratories in the US and the UK, disproving the theory that humans could learn during sleep.
Even though many students in numerous countries kept claiming they achieved better exam results after listening to audio recordings on subjects whilst asleep, official studies simply did not confirm this. As a result, hypnopædia was discredited for about 50 years and slipped into obscurity in scientific and education circles.
Only in the last few years has the potential learning method resurfaced. Recent studies are beginning to contradict earlier experiments and it may not be long before hypnopædia is proven to be a reality.
For example, on August 29, 2012, The Huffington Post ran a news article under the headline Sleep Learning May Be Possible: Study. The article mentioned a new study by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, which demonstrated test subjects learnt new information while asleep.
In an interrelated experiment, scientists at Illinois’ Northwestern University discovered that taking a 90-minute nap immediately after studying helps solidify knowledge in the brain. They taught new things – both physical and mental – to people and then tested them on how well they remembered and applied the knowledge taught. There were two groups involved – one whose members slept after learning and one whose members stayed awake the whole time. Those who slept in the lab after studying showed significantly better mastery of the subject matter when tested.
So hypnopædia is once again on the scientific radar and it will be interesting to see the results of future studies.
Read more in The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy – available now via Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Orphan-Conspiracies-Conspiracy-Theories-ebook/dp/B00J4MPFT6/
A book that’s for the common people...the 99%
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