Electroencephalogram (EEG) caps are helping Kent State University researchers unlock the secrets of the mind.

David Fresco, Ph.D., professor and director of Kent State’s Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation Laboratory (PERL) and co-director of the Kent Electrophysiological Neuroscience Laboratory (KENL), returned to the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to better understand what goes on in the brains of monks as they hold a debate.

The researchers are studying brain activity, specifically what happens when neurons synchronize.

“Are they activating the same parts of their brain when they’re debating?” Fresco asked. “And if they do bring their brains into this harmony or synchrony, are we seeing a more successful resolution to the debate?”

In their first trip to India, researchers put electroencephalogram caps on two monks per session and time-locked their brain activation patterns to see if they were bringing their brains into synchrony.

“Low and behold, there did seem to be a correspondence in the brain activation in the moments where the play-by-play monk thought there was something more harmonious, and less synchrony when the monks were more discordant with what they were saying,” Fresco said.

Fresco and researchers have since returned to Sera Jey Monastery to gather additional data. Learn more about the study in The Times of India.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) caps are helping Kent State University researchers unlock the secrets of the mind.

David Fresco, Ph.D., professor and director of Kent State’s Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation Laboratory (PERL) and co-director of the Kent Electrophysiological Neuroscience Laboratory (KENL), returned to the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to better understand what goes on in the brains of monks as they hold a debate.

The researchers are studying brain activity, specifically what happens when neurons synchronize.

“Are they activating the same parts of their brain when they’re debating?” Fresco asked. “And if they do bring their brains into this harmony or synchrony, are we seeing a more successful resolution to the debate?”

In their first trip to India, researchers put electroencephalogram caps on two monks per session and time-locked their brain activation patterns to see if they were bringing their brains into synchrony.

“Low and behold, there did seem to be a correspondence in the brain activation in the moments where the play-by-play monk thought there was something more harmonious, and less synchrony when the monks were more discordant with what they were saying,” Fresco said.

Fresco and researchers have since returned to Sera Jey Monastery to gather additional data. Learn more about the study in The Times of India.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) caps are helping Kent State University researchers unlock the secrets of the mind.

David Fresco, Ph.D., professor and director of Kent State’s Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation Laboratory (PERL) and co-director of the Kent Electrophysiological Neuroscience Laboratory (KENL), returned to the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to better understand what goes on in the brains of monks as they hold a debate.

The researchers are studying brain activity, specifically what happens when neurons synchronize.

“Are they activating the same parts of their brain when they’re debating?” Fresco asked. “And if they do bring their brains into this harmony or synchrony, are we seeing a more successful resolution to the debate?”

In their first trip to India, researchers put electroencephalogram caps on two monks per session and time-locked their brain activation patterns to see if they were bringing their brains into synchrony.

“Low and behold, there did seem to be a correspondence in the brain activation in the moments where the play-by-play monk thought there was something more harmonious, and less synchrony when the monks were more discordant with what they were saying,” Fresco said.

Fresco and researchers have since returned to Sera Jey Monastery to gather additional data. Learn more about the study in The Times of India.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) caps are helping Kent State University researchers unlock the secrets of the mind.

David Fresco, Ph.D., professor and director of Kent State’s Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation Laboratory (PERL) and co-director of the Kent Electrophysiological Neuroscience Laboratory (KENL), returned to the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to better understand what goes on in the brains of monks as they hold a debate.

The researchers are studying brain activity, specifically what happens when neurons synchronize.

“Are they activating the same parts of their brain when they’re debating?” Fresco asked. “And if they do bring their brains into this harmony or synchrony, are we seeing a more successful resolution to the debate?”

In their first trip to India, researchers put electroencephalogram caps on two monks per session and time-locked their brain activation patterns to see if they were bringing their brains into synchrony.

“Low and behold, there did seem to be a correspondence in the brain activation in the moments where the play-by-play monk thought there was something more harmonious, and less synchrony when the monks were more discordant with what they were saying,” Fresco said.

Fresco and researchers have since returned to Sera Jey Monastery to gather additional data. Learn more about the study in The Times of India.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) caps are helping Kent State University researchers unlock the secrets of the mind.

David Fresco, Ph.D., professor and director of Kent State’s Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation Laboratory (PERL) and co-director of the Kent Electrophysiological Neuroscience Laboratory (KENL), returned to the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to better understand what goes on in the brains of monks as they hold a debate.

The researchers are studying brain activity, specifically what happens when neurons synchronize.

“Are they activating the same parts of their brain when they’re debating?” Fresco asked. “And if they do bring their brains into this harmony or synchrony, are we seeing a more successful resolution to the debate?”

In their first trip to India, researchers put electroencephalogram caps on two monks per session and time-locked their brain activation patterns to see if they were bringing their brains into synchrony.

“Low and behold, there did seem to be a correspondence in the brain activation in the moments where the play-by-play monk thought there was something more harmonious, and less synchrony when the monks were more discordant with what they were saying,” Fresco said.

Fresco and researchers have since returned to Sera Jey Monastery to gather additional data. Learn more about the study in The Times of India.

It’s that nagging question you ask yourself every Thanksgiving after you have piled the food sky-high on your plate and savored every last morsel: “What happened? Were my eyes bigger than my stomach?”

For many years, doctors and dieticians have focused on overeating as part of the reason for the obesity epidemic in America.

There is sound science behind the predisposition to fill our plates with what we think is a reasonable portion, only to find ourselves overeating anyway. However, a new study by Kent State University researchers aims to help us use the tricks that our eyes play on us to combat our over-eating habits.

While the United States Department of Agriculture emphasizes portion control strategies in its dietary guidelines, including the use of portion-control plates, many people still struggle to learn the healthy portion sizes and consistently consume those amounts. Prior to the study, published in the health journal BMC Obesity, little research had evaluated the dishes specifically designed for portion control.

“The goal of the study was to learn if building an optical illusion into a plate would help people choose smaller portions,” said Joel Hughes, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The plate uses two types of optical illusions. The Ebbinghaus illusion gives the impression that something is larger or smaller in contrast to shapes surrounding it; a circle surrounded by smaller circles will look larger than it is.

The Delboeuf illusion is similar, but it skews our perception of an object’s size in relation to its distance from a border; if the gap between the object and border is narrow, we perceive the object larger, but if the gap is wider, we perceive the object as smaller. In combination, these illusions make food look bigger and might help people lose weight over time. Click here to watch a video explaining the concept in greater detail.

“The plate produced smaller self-selected servings in both studies,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the team has conducted a number of studies using the portion control plate, and hopes to pursue manufacturing options to make the plate commercially available. He said future studies using the dish should include a broader age range and clinical trials of portion-control dishes for weight loss.

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Psychological Sciences, visit www.kent.edu/psychology.

It’s that nagging question you ask yourself every Thanksgiving after you have piled the food sky-high on your plate and savored every last morsel: “What happened? Were my eyes bigger than my stomach?”

For many years, doctors and dieticians have focused on overeating as part of the reason for the obesity epidemic in America.

There is sound science behind the predisposition to fill our plates with what we think is a reasonable portion, only to find ourselves overeating anyway. However, a new study by Kent State University researchers aims to help us use the tricks that our eyes play on us to combat our over-eating habits.

While the United States Department of Agriculture emphasizes portion control strategies in its dietary guidelines, including the use of portion-control plates, many people still struggle to learn the healthy portion sizes and consistently consume those amounts. Prior to the study, published in the health journal BMC Obesity, little research had evaluated the dishes specifically designed for portion control.

“The goal of the study was to learn if building an optical illusion into a plate would help people choose smaller portions,” said Joel Hughes, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The plate uses two types of optical illusions. The Ebbinghaus illusion gives the impression that something is larger or smaller in contrast to shapes surrounding it; a circle surrounded by smaller circles will look larger than it is.

The Delboeuf illusion is similar, but it skews our perception of an object’s size in relation to its distance from a border; if the gap between the object and border is narrow, we perceive the object larger, but if the gap is wider, we perceive the object as smaller. In combination, these illusions make food look bigger and might help people lose weight over time. Click here to watch a video explaining the concept in greater detail.

“The plate produced smaller self-selected servings in both studies,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the team has conducted a number of studies using the portion control plate, and hopes to pursue manufacturing options to make the plate commercially available. He said future studies using the dish should include a broader age range and clinical trials of portion-control dishes for weight loss.

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Psychological Sciences, visit www.kent.edu/psychology.

It’s that nagging question you ask yourself every Thanksgiving after you have piled the food sky-high on your plate and savored every last morsel: “What happened? Were my eyes bigger than my stomach?”

For many years, doctors and dieticians have focused on overeating as part of the reason for the obesity epidemic in America.

There is sound science behind the predisposition to fill our plates with what we think is a reasonable portion, only to find ourselves overeating anyway. However, a new study by Kent State University researchers aims to help us use the tricks that our eyes play on us to combat our over-eating habits.

While the United States Department of Agriculture emphasizes portion control strategies in its dietary guidelines, including the use of portion-control plates, many people still struggle to learn the healthy portion sizes and consistently consume those amounts. Prior to the study, published in the health journal BMC Obesity, little research had evaluated the dishes specifically designed for portion control.

“The goal of the study was to learn if building an optical illusion into a plate would help people choose smaller portions,” said Joel Hughes, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The plate uses two types of optical illusions. The Ebbinghaus illusion gives the impression that something is larger or smaller in contrast to shapes surrounding it; a circle surrounded by smaller circles will look larger than it is.

The Delboeuf illusion is similar, but it skews our perception of an object’s size in relation to its distance from a border; if the gap between the object and border is narrow, we perceive the object larger, but if the gap is wider, we perceive the object as smaller. In combination, these illusions make food look bigger and might help people lose weight over time. Click here to watch a video explaining the concept in greater detail.

“The plate produced smaller self-selected servings in both studies,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the team has conducted a number of studies using the portion control plate, and hopes to pursue manufacturing options to make the plate commercially available. He said future studies using the dish should include a broader age range and clinical trials of portion-control dishes for weight loss.

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Psychological Sciences, visit www.kent.edu/psychology.

It’s that nagging question you ask yourself every Thanksgiving after you have piled the food sky-high on your plate and savored every last morsel: “What happened? Were my eyes bigger than my stomach?”

For many years, doctors and dieticians have focused on overeating as part of the reason for the obesity epidemic in America.

There is sound science behind the predisposition to fill our plates with what we think is a reasonable portion, only to find ourselves overeating anyway. However, a new study by Kent State University researchers aims to help us use the tricks that our eyes play on us to combat our over-eating habits.

While the United States Department of Agriculture emphasizes portion control strategies in its dietary guidelines, including the use of portion-control plates, many people still struggle to learn the healthy portion sizes and consistently consume those amounts. Prior to the study, published in the health journal BMC Obesity, little research had evaluated the dishes specifically designed for portion control.

“The goal of the study was to learn if building an optical illusion into a plate would help people choose smaller portions,” said Joel Hughes, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The plate uses two types of optical illusions. The Ebbinghaus illusion gives the impression that something is larger or smaller in contrast to shapes surrounding it; a circle surrounded by smaller circles will look larger than it is.

The Delboeuf illusion is similar, but it skews our perception of an object’s size in relation to its distance from a border; if the gap between the object and border is narrow, we perceive the object larger, but if the gap is wider, we perceive the object as smaller. In combination, these illusions make food look bigger and might help people lose weight over time. Click here to watch a video explaining the concept in greater detail.

“The plate produced smaller self-selected servings in both studies,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the team has conducted a number of studies using the portion control plate, and hopes to pursue manufacturing options to make the plate commercially available. He said future studies using the dish should include a broader age range and clinical trials of portion-control dishes for weight loss.

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Psychological Sciences, visit www.kent.edu/psychology.

It’s that nagging question you ask yourself every Thanksgiving after you have piled the food sky-high on your plate and savored every last morsel: “What happened? Were my eyes bigger than my stomach?”

For many years, doctors and dieticians have focused on overeating as part of the reason for the obesity epidemic in America.

There is sound science behind the predisposition to fill our plates with what we think is a reasonable portion, only to find ourselves overeating anyway. However, a new study by Kent State University researchers aims to help us use the tricks that our eyes play on us to combat our over-eating habits.

While the United States Department of Agriculture emphasizes portion control strategies in its dietary guidelines, including the use of portion-control plates, many people still struggle to learn the healthy portion sizes and consistently consume those amounts. Prior to the study, published in the health journal BMC Obesity, little research had evaluated the dishes specifically designed for portion control.

“The goal of the study was to learn if building an optical illusion into a plate would help people choose smaller portions,” said Joel Hughes, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The plate uses two types of optical illusions. The Ebbinghaus illusion gives the impression that something is larger or smaller in contrast to shapes surrounding it; a circle surrounded by smaller circles will look larger than it is.

The Delboeuf illusion is similar, but it skews our perception of an object’s size in relation to its distance from a border; if the gap between the object and border is narrow, we perceive the object larger, but if the gap is wider, we perceive the object as smaller. In combination, these illusions make food look bigger and might help people lose weight over time. Click here to watch a video explaining the concept in greater detail.

“The plate produced smaller self-selected servings in both studies,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the team has conducted a number of studies using the portion control plate, and hopes to pursue manufacturing options to make the plate commercially available. He said future studies using the dish should include a broader age range and clinical trials of portion-control dishes for weight loss.

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Psychological Sciences, visit www.kent.edu/psychology.