Can we become more ‘conscious’ with brainwave entrainment?

by Lance | Articles, Entrainment

I think the answer is yes but why is not always easy to explain.
So this is purely my guess at one possible theory based on recent research idea’s around what in the braincases or denotes consciousness.

When our little mousey friends are used for study purposes on consciousness.., the basic principle is that if the mouse responds to an external stimulus then it is considered conscious and if the mouse does not respond to the stimulus it is considered unconscious.
Makes sense.

Scientists have now identified a specific brain cell that seems (more research required) to be like a switchboard that allocates awareness or not of content from the world in a feedback loop involved in taking information via the thalamus and cortex (Thalamocortical circuits). Damage to these circuits often results in a coma state.
And using drugs the possibility exists to increase the sensitivity of these neurons and make a weaker external stimulus felt and reacted to.
This could then be said to have increased consciousness itself.
The idea is that this type of awareness allocation cell could be our ‘minds eye’.

Typically consciousness is studied in two separate ways. The contents of consciousness mainly in the cortex (I see a dog, I hear a car), and the state of consciousness mainly in the thalamus (trance, arousal etc). Being that you cannot have one without the other when considering what consciousness is.., studying them separately can never tell the whole story.
This new idea bridges the two.

The interesting thing about this theory is that it helps explain some strange things in neurology.
For example.., why is it possible to miss something consciously while getting it unconsciously?
A classic example being subliminal messages that are hidden in a very short space of time within another longer stimulus.
If this theory is right then the answer is that during this feedback loop from external stimulus to the allocation of awareness by these ‘minds eye’ cells and back again there is a time lag. And if there is another stimulus before the first one has finished being allocated awareness, then the second stimulus is given priority, takes over, and the first is treated as unimportant and not given any awareness at all.
This would also explain how we can speak or write a sentence faster than we can consciously choose the words for it. Speaking is for the most part an unconscious process.
And of course it explains why higher frequencies on the PandoraStar machine become like a constant light source rather than fast flicker and why certain other frequencies at just the right speed create just enough interference to mimic and stimulate a psychedelic experience.

So this raises the question in my mind as to what would happen if you sped up the processing speed on the inter brain cell communication.
Would you experience more of reality because you have less time lag?
Would you see more and hear more because you have more moments of these minds eye cells allocating awareness to you consciously?
I suspect the answer is yes.
And can we do that with brainwave entrainment?
I suspect the answer is yes to that too.
After all, if you are in a deep state of meditation or sleep where brainwaves are slow and normally responded to an external stimulus is given.., often there is no response.
So, in this case, a slower brainwave state results in less consciousness.
This is of course nothing new and pretty obvious.
So it stands to reason that going the other way beyond what is normal everyday brainwave states could make us more conscious.

But this is just my intuition and unproven.

Interesting idea though regardless.
frontiersin.org/articles/