Sub/Supraliminal Stimulus With Pseudo-“Blindsight” Under Exposure to Extremely Low-Frequency Fields

Abstract

This paper was conducted to examine whether subliminal/supraliminal stimulus with phosphene as pseudo-blindsight under exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields can control retinal activities through changes in the receptivity of the flicker sensation. Eight healthy male subjects ranging in age from 21 to 66 participated in the visual stimulus experiments. For the measurement on the effects of subliminal stimuli, we investigated the threshold variations after the pre-stimuli at 80% of the threshold at 20 Hz. The subliminal stimuli for 30 s and 45 s reduced the standard threshold value (9.8 mT) of the following phosphene by about 3.9% and 8.9%, respectively. In evaluating the supraliminal effects, we measured recovery times at around the threshold (test stimuli: 150–110% threshold) for the phosphene after pre-stimulus of 47 mT at 20 Hz for 30s. Judging from the result of the recovery times, we took notice of the possibility that there might be a latent threshold in the range of 20.8–22.4 mT for the phosphene re-perception. We strongly propose the idea that subliminal/supraliminal control with pseudo-blindsight can gradually activate synaptic plasticity and might be an effective medical treatment for the aged and the handicapped with lost visual functions. Besides, it is perfectly painless.