Through our research affiliations worldwide, we participate in a research across a wide variety of disciplines.

• Non-Symbolic Experience
  
• Bio Stimulation and Feedback Technology
• Augmented Consciousness
• Interpersonal Technology

Fundamental Wellbeing

A new form of wellbeing has been uncovered and researched in the last decade. Clues to it are found in many wisdom, religious, and spiritual traditions throughout the world, but the last decade of research into it has been secular and based in the disciplines of psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.

The human species evolved in an environment of scarcity and uncertainty, and these experiences rightly formed the foundation of our psychological experience so that we could best cope with the world we found ourselves in. That world, however, is not the world most of us live in today.

Today we are more likely to be obese than concerned with starvation. More likely to be contemplating a garage sale or ‘right-sizing’ than concerned we don’t have the basic necessities to survive. Unlikely to be killed by a wild animal or other predator while taking a walk, or relaxing in our home. In short, the foundation of human consciousness has become outdated.

Approximately half a percent of the population appear to have received an upgrade. Rather than the deepest levels of their psychology being grounded in concerns about scarcity, and fear and anxiety – to them things seem fundamentally safe and okay, which of course they are.

The critical voice in their head has lessened or disappeared entirely. Negative emotions pass much more rapidly, when they make an appearance at all. These combine to increase their mental capacity and make them much less reactive. This new more modern psychological baseline dramatically enhances their performance and ability to function.

This way of experiencing the world goes by the academic research terms Ongoing Non-Symbolic Experience(O.N.E.) and Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience (PNSE). Over the last two years our lab founder, Dr. Jeffery A. Martin, has become the first scientist to produce a working protocol that allows for pre- and post- collection of this data in a sizable number of research participants. We’re now working to establish the first in-depth scientific pictures of how O.N.E. and PNSE appear in the brain and body by collecting a wide variety of pre/post data, including: EEG, ECG, GSR, and genetic and other biomarkers.

Using advanced signal processing and machine learning techniques, we hope to identify the correlates that can be translated into technologies to bring this modern form of consciousness to humanity These training tools might, for example, include bio and neurofeedback techniques designed to assist with changing the activity in a key brain region. Other tools might include stimulation technologies that selectively activate or deactivate certain parts of the brain or body in precise ways that weren’t previously possible. Nature has begun the process of providing us with our much needed upgrade, one key mission of TTL is to try to help her accelerate it.

Bio Stimulation and Feedback Technology

New technologies are capable of decreasing stress and increasing well-being using new breakthroughs in sensing and stimulation of the brain and body. The human body is sensitive to a wide range of influences including sound, light, vibration, magnetic, and electromagnetic waves, etc. These forms of stimulation independently or combined with biosensors and intelligent feedback can have a profound impact on the way we feel. A growing body of research has established the safety and efficacy of technologies, and new ones are being formulated and tested all the time. They have been used to successfully treat clinical conditions but very little research has explored how they can be used to increase human well-being. TTL has ongoing work in this area. We work with in-house technologies and assist others with developing and testing their products and concepts.

We’re is also interested in wideband data collection from sensors. Most bio sensors collect data within ranges that have been established for decades. This made sense prior to modern computation and artificial intelligence. Now, though, it is possible to collect much more data from a sensor, and use advanced algorythims to mine it for useful data patterns that no human could possibly find on his or her own. We’re very excited by this possibility, as well as by the using similar analytic technologies to explore and more deeply mine for patterns across different tyes of bio sensors.

Augmented Consciousness

Wearable biosensing technologies have become begun to penetrate the mainstream, with some devices even being found at Wal-Mart. They can be helpful in improving our exercise or dietary habits, but very few address wellbeing in a meaningful way. Nearly all of these wearables operate through a process of recording data, setting goals, and occasionally reporting on the user’s progress. Surprisingly, this can actually decrease our wellbeing by adding additional items to our to-do list, and more data to the existing flood of daily information.

Novel forms of wearable feedback are beginning to emerge that continually monitor our bio-signals and provide us with elegantly designed feedback, precisely when we need it the most. These interventions use real-time data about our bodies and unconsciously, subtly or overtly but skillfully guide us to a more desirable and appropriate state.

Interpersonal

Tools to facilitate deep human connection, empathy and cooperation online and in-person.

An increasing proportion of our social interactions are happening online. But digital communications are often information based, involving the exchange of text, images, updates and other digital artifacts. But the heart of human interaction is much deeper, and at best includes a felt sense of connection, empathy, trust, love, etc. These deeper facets of human connection are what pave the way for successful collaborations, creative exchange, conflict resolution, and meaningful relationships. Ultimately this counteracts the sense of separation we can feel with others, helping us to realize the ways in which we are naturally and fundamentally connected.