What happens in a medium's head during a session? Dr. Jeffrey Tarrant, a neuropsychologist and neurofeedback expert, has examined the brainwave patterns of mediums. His findings provide a fascinating physiological "audit trail" that goes far beyond subjective experiences.
From Skeptic to Researcher
Jeffrey Tarrant was originally a classic skeptic. As a neuropsychologist, he believed that anything that could not be measured in the lab simply didn't exist. This attitude changed fundamentally when he began mapping the brains of around 20 mediums, healers, and psychics using state-of-the-art qEEG (quantitative EEG) technology. In his book "Becoming Psychic," he documents his journey and discoveries regarding well-known figures like Kim Russo, Laura Lynne Jackson, Travis Holp, and many other, partly anonymous participants.
Hard Facts: Gamma Waves and the "Afterlife Focus"
Tarrant's most important discovery concerns so-called gamma waves. These are high-frequency brainwaves (above 30 Hz) normally associated with intense concentration, information processing, and the "binding" of sensory impressions.
In mediums like Angelina Diana, Janet Mayer, Laura Lynne Jackson and Keira Elizabeth, Tarrant found that this gamma activity increases massively during a reading – specifically in distinct regions of the brain, often in the occipital lobe (back of the head) and the parietal lobe.
Laura Lynne Jackson & Joanne Gerber: Perception in Focus
Laura Lynne Jackson and Joanne Gerber are among the most prominent mediums in the U.S. Tarrant studied them while they received both psychic information (about living people) and mediumistic messages (from the deceased).
Particularly with Laura Lynne Jackson, the EEG data confirmed her subjective experience of an "inner screen": depending on the type of information, different areas of her brain were activated. Joanne Gerber and Jeannine Kim showed similar consistent patterns, which Tarrant interprets as a physiological signature for switching between different states of consciousness. This suggests that mediumistic communication and intuitive-psychic perception are distinct processes at a neurobiological level.
Angelina Diana: Visual Evidence in the Brain
Angelina Diana often reports perceiving information for psychic readings (future/present) in her left visual field, while seeing information from the deceased (mediumship) in her right visual field. Tarrant was able to objectively confirm this subjective perception: during the respective phases, corresponding activations appeared in the opposite hemispheres of the occipital lobe – exactly where the brain processes visual information. The brain acts as if it is actually "seeing" a real image.
Janet Mayer & Keira Elizabeth: The Mystery of Indigenous Languages
One particularly spectacular case is Janet Mayer. Without any prior knowledge, she spontaneously began to speak the languages of indigenous peoples from the Amazon rainforest. Tarrant accompanied her for two and a half years and mapped her brain during these states. Similar linguistic "download" phenomena were also observed in Keira Elizabeth. The results showed extreme activation in the right parietal and occipital regions (often associated with spiritual experiences), while the frontal lobes – the seat of logical thinking and the ego – remained strikingly quiet. It seems as if the brain lowers the "filter" of the ego to receive information from the outside or from deeper layers of consciousness.
Other Studied Mediums: Keira Elizabeth, Travis Holp & Jeannine Kim
In addition to the cases mentioned above, data from other mediums in the HeavenConnect network was also included in Tarrant's analyses. Keira Elizabeth, Travis Holp and Jeannine Kim also showed the characteristic gamma signatures and the deactivation of the "ego filter" in the frontal lobes typical of mediumistic states in the tests. This consistency across different individuals is a strong indication that mediumship has a universal physiological foundation.
Anchored in Science
Tarrant's work fits seamlessly into the research of Dr. Gary Schwartz (Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health) and Dr. Julie Beischel (Windbridge Research Center). While Schwartz and Beischel primarily test the accuracy of information (blind readings), Tarrant provides the physiological how. When a medium provides information they couldn't possibly know, and at the same time their brain shows a pattern that is hard to reproduce in a normal waking state, the skeptics' arguments (cold reading or fraud) become increasingly difficult to maintain.
Conclusion
Jeffrey Tarrant's research shows that mediumship is not a mere product of imagination. It is a measurable neurobiological state. Mediums apparently learn to configure their brains in such a way that they become receptive to information beyond our ordinary senses.
Learn more:
• Jeffrey Tarrant – NeuroMeditation Institute: neuromeditationinstitute.com
• Book: Becoming Psychic: Lessons from the Minds of Mediums, Healers, and Psychics (Jeff Tarrant, PhD)