Persinger uses electromagnets inside a modified motorcycle helmet (sometimes called the God Helmet) to produce temporal lobe transients—increases and instabilities in the neuronal firing patterns in the temporal lobe region just above the ears—in the brains of subjects. Persinger believes that the magnetic fields stimulate “microseizures” in the temporal lobes, often producing what can best be described as “spiritual” or “supernatural” episodes: the sense of a presence in the room, an out-of-body experience, bizarre distortion of body parts, and even profound religious feelings of being in
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