Cogprints

Environmental Sensitivity: A Neurobiological Phenomenon?

Jawer, Mr. Michael (2005) Environmental Sensitivity: A Neurobiological Phenomenon? [Journal (Paginated)]

Warning

There is a more recent version of this eprint available. Click here to view it.

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
PDF
116Kb

Abstract

Researchers often use the term “sensitivity ” when theorizing that certain persons may be more readily affected by various influences than others. Through a review of the literature, it is argued that some individuals are disposed toward a range of sensitivities that, in novelty as well as intensity, distinguish them from the general population. The author cites evidence indicating that such persons exhibit greater susceptibility to a range of environmental factors including allergies, migraine headache, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue. Their immediate family members appear to be similarly affected. Additionally, these “sensitive” individuals report a high degree of anomalous perception. While no single factor in a person’s background is likely to distinguish him/her as sensitive, eight demographic or personality factors are found to be significant.

Item Type:Journal (Paginated)
Keywords:neurobiology, sensitive, sensitivity, environmental, anomalous, perception, migraine, allergy, allergies, synesthesia, chronic, fatigue, fibromyalgia, pain, phantom, psi, psychic, apparitions, apparitional, gender, women, female, laterality, handedness, trauma, childhood, boundaries, somatic, somatization, psychosomatic, hypnosis, depression, alcoholism, electrical, chemical, immune, shyness, stress, genetic, brain, early, childhood, development, mind, body, mind-body, illness, unconscious, subconscious, hyper-sensitive, imagination, fantasy, fantasy-prone, emotion, empathy, dissociation, mystical, transliminal, transliminality, absorption, hallucination, hallucinations, dream, dreams, creative, magical, paranormal, neuroimaging, electromagnetic, personality, irritable, bowel, shy, shyness, fearful, introvert, introversion, sensory, overload, ambidextrous, corpus, callosum, first-born, in utero, psychoneuroimmunology
Subjects:Psychology > Psychobiology
Neuroscience > Neuropsychology
Psychology > Developmental Psychology
ID Code:4738
Deposited By: Jawer, Michael
Deposited On:27 Feb 2006
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:56

Available Versions of this Item

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

1. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, ed. William Morris. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.

2. Velle, Weiert (1987). "Sex Differences in Sensory Functions." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 490-522.

3. Coghlan, Andy. “How sensitivity to pain is really all in the mind.” New Scientist, June 28, 2003, p.17.

4. Hollingham, Richard. “In the realm of your senses.” New Scientist, January 31, 2004, pp. 40-43).

5. Smith, Jillyn. Senses and Sensibilities. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1989.

6. Watson, Lyall. Lifetide: The Biology of the Unconscious. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979, pp. 213-214.

7. Khamsi, Roxanne. “Plastic brains help the blind place sounds.” News@Nature.com, January 25, 2005. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050124/full/050124-6.html

8. Personal correspondence with John Palmer of Rhine Research Center, March 11, 2003.

9. Aron, Elaine N. Ph.D. The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1996.

10. Heller, Sharon, Ph.D. Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What To Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World. New York: Harper-Collins, 2002.

11. “Fibromyalgia Syndrome: Improving the Treatment, Unraveling the Cause.” Facts of Life newsletter, Center for the Advancement of Health. Vol. 6, No. 8 (December 2001).

12. “Migraine: Prevention and Treatment More Effective Than Most Realize.” Facts of Life newsletter, Center for the Advancement of Health. Vol. 7, No. 1 (February 2002).

13. Hartmann, Ernest. Boundaries in the Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1991.

14. Hartmann, Ernest. Dreams and Nightmares: The New Theory on the Origin and Meaning of Dreams. New York: Plenum Trade, 1998.

15. Glicksohn, Joseph and Barrett, Terry R. (2003). “Absorption and Hallucinatory Experience.” Applied Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 17, pp. 833-849.

16. Wickramasekera, Ian, PhD. (1998). “Secrets kept from the mind but not the body or behavior: the unsolved problems of identifying and treating somatization and psychophysiological disease.” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, Vol. 14, pp. 81-132.

17. Piechowski, Michael M. "Overexcitabilities" entry in Encyclopedia of Creativity. Mark A. Runco and Steven Pritzker, eds. Elsevier Science and Technology Books, 1999.

18. Tellegen, Auke and Atkinson, Gilbert (1974). “Openness to Absorbing and Self-Altering Experiences (‘Absorption’), a Trait Related to Hypnotic Susceptibility.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 83 No. 3, pp. 268-277.

19. Wilson, Sheryl C. and Barber, Theodore X. “The Fantasy-Prone Personality: Implications for Understanding Imagery, Hypnosis, and Parapsychological Phenomena.” In Anees A. Sheikh (Ed.), Imagery: Current Theory, Research and Application. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983 (pp. 340-387).

20. Lynn, S.J. and Rhue, J.W. (1988). “Fantasy proneness: hypnosis, developmental antecedents, and psychopathology.” American Psychologist, Vol. 44, pp. 35-44.

21. Thalbourne, Michael A. (2000). "Transliminality: A Review." International Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 1-34.

22. Shallis, Michael. The Electric Connection. New York: New Amsterdam Books, 1988, p. 9-10.

23. Lance, James W. Migraines and Other Headaches. East Roseville, New South Wales, Australia: Simon and Schuster, 1998.

24. Schauffhausen, Joanna, “Migraine Maladies.” ABCNews.com, January 27, 2004

25. Lambert-Nehr, Cynthia. “Ease the Agony of Migraines.” Detroit News, June 18, 2003, p. H6.

26. Byrd, Debra. Earth and Sky (syndicated radio program). "Noisy Auroras," January 12, 2000, http://www.earthsky.com/2000/es000112.html.

27. Leone, Bruno, Ed. Paranormal Phenomena: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997, p. 93.

28. Frick U., Kharraz A., Hauser S., et al (2005). “Comparison perception of singular transcranial magnetic stimuli by subjectively electrosensitive subjects and general population controls.” Bioelectromagnetics Vol. 26, pp. 287-298.

29. Mertz, H., Morgan V., Tanner G., et al (2000). “Regional Cerebral Activation in Irritable Bowel Syndrome.” Gastroenterology Vol. 118 No 5, pp. 842-848.

30. Cocke, Andrew. "The Science Behind Hypnosis." BrainWork (published by Charles A. Dana Foundation), Vol. 11 No. 3 (May-June 2001), p.6.

31. Patterson, Karen. "Psychosis Puzzle Pieces." Dallas Morning News, June 3, 2002, p. C1.

32. Henkin, Robert I., Levy, Lucien M., and Lin, Chin S. (2000). “Taste and Smell Phantoms Revealed by Brain Functional MRI (fMRI).” Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 106-123.

33. Mlot, Christine. “Probing the Biology of Emotion.” Science, Vol. 280 (May 15, 1998, pp. 1005-1007.

34. Hornik, Susan. “For Some, Pain is Orange.” Smithsonian, February 2001, pp. 48-56. http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues01/feb01/synesthesia.html.

35. CBS News – 60 Minutes II. “A Sixth Sense,” aired August 14, 2002. Online at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/08/60II/main323596.shtml

36. National Public Radio (WAMU-FM), The Diane Rehm Show, March 6, 2000.

37. Cytowic, Richard E. (1995). "Synesthesia: Phenomenology and Neuropsychology." Psyche, Vol. 2 No. 10. http://www.psyche.cs.monah.edu.au/v2/psyche-2-10-cytowic.htm

38. Houran, James and Lange, Rense (1996a). "Diary of Events in a Thoroughly Unhaunted House." Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 83, pp. 499-502.

39. Houran, James and Lange, Rense (1996b). "Hauntings and Poltergeist-Like Episodes As a Confluence of Conventional Phenomena: A General Hypothesis." Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 83, pp. 1307-1316.

40. Houran, James and Williams, Carl. (1998). "Relation of Tolerance of Ambiguity to Global and Specific Paranormal Experience." Psychological Reports, Vol. 83, pp. 807-818.

41. Lange, Rense, Ph.D. and Houran, James, M.A. (1999). "The Role of Fear in Delusions of the Paranormal." Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 187 No. 3, pp. 159-166.

42. Jawer, Michael (2006). “Environmental Sensitivity: A Link with Apparitional Experience?” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol 70 No 882.

43. Durden-Smith, Jo and deSimone, Diane. Sex and the Brain. New York: Arbor House, 1983, p. 76.

44. Ross, Colin A. M.D. and Joshi, Shaun (1992). “Paranormal Experiences in the General Population.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 180. No. 6, pp. 357-361.

45. Irwin, Harvey J. (1996). “Childhood Antecedents of Out-of-Body and Déjà Vu Experiences.” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 90, No. 3, pp. 157-172.

46. Irwin, Harvey J. (1985). “Parapsychological Phenomena and the Absorption Domain.” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 79 No. 1, pp. 1-11.

47. Irwin, Harvey J. (1992). “Origins and Functions of Paranormal Belief: The Role of Childhood Trauma and Interpersonal Control.” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 86, No. 3, pp. 199-208.

48. Terr, Lenore C., M.D. (1991). “Childhood Traumas: An Outline and Overview.” American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 148 No. 1, pp. 10-20.

49. Bergman, Paul, M.D. and Escalona, Sibylle K., M.D. (1949). “Unusual Sensitivities in Very Young Children.” The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, Vol. II, pp. 333-352.

50. Stockenius, Sandra and Brugger, Peter (2000). “Perceived Electrosensitivity and Magical Ideation.” Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 90, pp. 899-900.

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page