Australia: You play around with brain imaging equipment to try and figure out how the brain works and you're innundated with advertising companies. There's a group in the US using the technology to peek inside to heads of religious extremists.
At Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology, one of the many brain research projects has been to understand the biological basis of body language — how the brain responds to gestures and movements, or subtle changes in eyebrow or lip position that reflect different emotions.
Being able to read body language is vital for good social communication and mental health, as well as getting a message across, says David Crewther, director of the university's Brain Sciences Institute. He says brain imaging is likely to provide insights into many strongly held beliefs other than which soft drink is best. And religious conviction could be foremost.
There are interesting developments in the US involving people with strong religious beliefs, and some good neuroscience,he says.
Dubbed neurotheology, research overseas is probing why some forms of epilepsy can induce religious visions and whether meditation leads to a sense of being
one with the universeby disrupting the part of the brain that helps orient us in three-dimensional space.
Science's mind games - The Age, 10th April 2004 (via Die Puny Humans).
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Playing with your btain is something everyone should try. Spend an hour, and just do a couple of exercises, no instructions required. Concentrate, meditate, try accelerating your thinking, or tracking many objects moving in different directions at once (Playing foosball with 4 balls is a good example). Try to predict things, try to react faster. All of these things have uses in everyday life, and I'm sure each would have interesting effects on an analysis of brain activity.