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11:16 am
June 14, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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I came across a very small study done in Australia. Essentially…high coffee intake may cause auditory hallucinations:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..73861.html
What caught my eye was there actual experiment:
"LaTrobe University researchers asked 92 people with varying levels of caffeine intake and stress listen to three minutes of white noise via headphones. The study participants were told that Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" would be playing in the headphones, and when they heard it, to hit a buzzer.
While the song never actually played, the people who were hopped up on five or more cups of coffeebuzzed three times on average, while the low-caffeinated people buzzed just once on average, the Herald Sun in Australia reported."
Hmmm…finding patterns or words in white noise…where have I heard something like before? 
Now, the sample size is rather small. And I don't know what their control was. I'd like to see a couple of other studies concerning auditory hallucinations…but…
It does make you think though, doesn't it? These paranormal shows tape late at night. They need to stay up and they need to be sharp (sharp as in "we're on TV"…not sharp as in clever…). Maybe caffeine is contributing to these paranormal shows and the cast hearing things.
Just food for thought…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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12:06 am
June 15, 2011
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Learjet
| | Australia | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1122 |
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Interesting….
Maybe that's why I can never hear these EVP's. I don't drink coffee or tea or anything much with caffeine in it.
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11:03 am
June 15, 2011
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CrowTRobot
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Well, Learjet, I drink coffee like there's some big prize at the end (five cups…..amateurs), and I still don't hear half of what the EVPs are suppose to say.
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6:31 pm
June 15, 2011
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Nosfer
| | Rotaredom | |
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A bit more information which casts some doubts on the rather haphazard study:
http://healthland.time.com/201…..ffee-buzz/
"Nevertheless, Evatt cautions not to conclude from the current study that caffeine use is generally associated with auditory hallucinations. "For someone to consume a lot of caffeine and experience hallucinations as a side effect is extremely rare," he says. "This study is looking more at the processes and using caffeine as a way to understand the processes."
He says these results, which could be replicated with other stimulants like energy drinks, would more likely occur in participants who are already predisposed to having hallucinations."
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8:12 am
June 16, 2011
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Learjet
| | Australia | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1122 |
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Yeah, there's more going on here than the study reveals. It doesn't sound like the study had enough controls in place.
Coffee aside for a minute, one major cause of hallucinations is sleep deprivation. Stay awake for long enough and the brain starts to dream while you're awake. Coffee may be indirectly implicated by people wanting to stretch the hours they are awake.
Another possible indirect coffee link is raised blood pressure. In some individuals (me for instance) raised blood pressure causes an increase in hypnagogic imagery. Coffee intake temporarily increases blood pressure so the individuals that are susceptible to HI from high BP may get an increase from the effects of coffee.
Finding real correllations among complex interactions of several components can be daunting. I'm sure Revenant is quite aware of this in the world of chemistry.
And finding real correlations amongst the many ones born out of urban legend from the paranormal community are driving me nuts lately. But that is for another thread….
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11:21 am
June 16, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Learjet said:
Finding real correllations among complex interactions of several components can be daunting. I'm sure Revenant is quite aware of this in the world of chemistry.
Years ago, I was hired to do some busy work for a project. I quit after three days. They were trying to prove that a certain combination of chemicals (drugs) would illicit a particular behavior. Their controls were so incredibly bad that you could literally state any conclusion that you wanted. I learned a couple of valuable lessons though. The first, controls are everything in an experiment. The other…learn who is paying the bills for the lab and figure out if you are fact-finding or "proving a 'wanted' conclusion."
@Nosfer – Thanks for the link. In my original post, I questioned the sample size and wondered about the controls…but…wow. No clue the controls were that loose. But…I did find the article a bit weird. The paragraph just prior to your quotation was this:
"That being said, the findings are consistent with some previous research, according to Dr. Daniel Evatt, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was not affiliated with the study. In 2009, a survey found that people who drank the equivalent of three or more cups of brewed coffee a day were three times more likely than others to report hearing and seeing things that didn't exist."
The word "survey" in that paragraph leads to this link:
http://www.livescience.com/323…..tions.html
So…does Dr Evatt support that survey then? It's odd. I'm not sure if he brought that up or if the author just threw it in. It seems like there was more…and then dropped from the article.
And did you see that you could get a copy of the current study for $31.50?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s…..691000591X
$31.50…wow…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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12:17 am
June 17, 2011
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Learjet
| | Australia | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1122 |
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Revenant said:
Years ago, I was hired to do some busy work for a project. I quit after three days. They were trying to prove that a certain combination of chemicals (drugs) would illicit a particular behavior. Their controls were so incredibly bad that you could literally state any conclusion that you wanted. I learned a couple of valuable lessons though. The first, controls are everything in an experiment. The other…learn who is paying the bills for the lab and figure out if you are fact-finding or "proving a 'wanted' conclusion."
That reminds me of those TV adds for a product where it's effectiveness was verified by "independent laboratory tests". Kudos to you for quiting.
I'm in a similar situation at present in a hobby context with some friends in the paranormal community. As far as they are concerned the results are a forgone conclusion and the evidence MUST show this. Any results that show it is a natural phenomena or control mistake will be discarded as the conclusion is already known! AAAARRHHHHH!!!! 
The things I get myself into. Somebody just shoot me.
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1:22 am
June 17, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Learjet said:
I'm in a similar situation at present in a hobby context with some friends in the paranormal community. As far as they are concerned the results are a forgone conclusion and the evidence MUST show this. Any results that show it is a natural phenomena or control mistake will be discarded as the conclusion is already known! AAAARRHHHHH!!!!
The things I get myself into. Somebody just shoot me.
Hmmm…curious. Very curious indeed. Forget the caffeine and auditory hallucinations…I'm WAY more interested in this. So…if you'd like to share with the rest of the class…we'd love to hear about it.
And maybe we can even help. We create its own thread and perhaps serve in a peer review capacity. We're fairly good at reviewing evidence. At the very least, we may be able to give some constructive advice over experiments or try explain why certain data shouldn't be discarded.
I mean it's not like "Finding Bigfoot" or "Haunted Collector" are taking up much of our time…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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9:04 am
June 17, 2011
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Learjet
| | Australia | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1122 |
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Nooo it's too embarrassing to post here lol.
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