The Oscillating Mind

In 1791, Luigi Galvani discovered that frog legs contract under the influence of electricity. He named this phenomenon 'animal electricity'. In 1803, his nephew Giovanni Aldini applied galvanic currents to the heads of condemned prisoners: jaws clenched, eyes opened. The public was horrified, but psychiatry took note: the mind can be influenced by external currents.

In the 1870s, psychiatric asylums experimented with 'faradization': applying alternating currents to patients' skulls. Some showed temporary improvements, many suffered convulsions. The key insight lay elsewhere: for the first time, it was established that an external electrical frequency could modify mental state.

Electrotherapy teaches patients that their mind is not entirely master of itself: it can be influenced by external currents.

The principle of neural entrainment relies on the tendency of biological oscillators to synchronize with external rhythmic stimuli. This phenomenon, discovered with photic driving by Walter Grey (1934), is the foundation of all frequency-based brain modulation techniques.

German psychiatrist Hans Berger recorded the first human electroencephalogram (EEG). He identified alpha waves (8-12 Hz), present when the eyes are closed, and observed that they disappear when the eyes open. Berger also discovered that the brain does not merely generate rhythms: it can synchronize with external stimuli. This is the principle of 'entrainment' (photic driving) that Walter Grey would further explore in the 1930s.

Robert Heath, at Tulane University, implanted electrodes in the brains of psychiatric patients. He discovered he could induce specific states by stimulating at different frequencies:

The brain is not a static organ. It is a dynamic system of oscillators. Control the oscillation, and you control the mind.

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles broadcast an adaptation of 'The War of the Worlds' on the radio. Out of 6 million listeners, approximately 1 million panicked, believing a real Martian invasion was underway. Roads were blocked, churches filled up, and calls to police overwhelmed switchboards.

Hadley Cantril of Princeton studied the event and discovered a key factor: those most affected were regular radio listeners. Their brains were accustomed to synchronizing with the medium's rhythm.

Radio does not merely inform. It entrains. The human nervous system adapts to its rhythm, its cadence, its emotional tone.

Photic driving and auditory entrainment refer to the ability of external rhythmic stimuli to impose their frequency on brain oscillations. Radio, with its broadcast rhythm and sound frequencies, constitutes one of the earliest examples of mass entrainment.

Herbert Krugman, a researcher at General Electric, connected subjects to an EEG while they watched television. Within minutes, brain waves shifted from beta waves (active) to alpha waves (passively receptive). The right hemisphere (emotional) became more active, while the left (analytical) went dormant.

In 1976, the average American watched television 4 hours per day a systematic entrainment of the brain in alpha mode.

Emotional states can be transferred to others through emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness.

Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team at the University of Parma discovered mirror neurons in macaques. These neurons activate both when the monkey performs an action and when it observes a conspecific performing the same action.

In humans, mirror system activity is measured indirectly via the mu rhythm (8-12 Hz) in EEG. This rhythm is suppressed (desynchronized) in the 19-25 Hz band during action observation evidence that the brain 'simulates' the observed action.

The mu rhythm is an EEG signal measured above the motor cortex. Its desynchronization (suppression) during action observation is considered an indirect marker of mirror system activity in humans. The 19-25 Hz band is specifically sensitive to the observation of intentional actions.

Pascal Fries proposed the hypothesis of 'communication through neuronal coherence': groups of neurons communicate effectively when their oscillations are synchronized in phase. EEG and MEG studies show that when several people share an experience, their brain oscillations synchronize:

Marcus Raichle discovered that when the brain is at rest, a specific network activates: the default mode network (DMN). It manages introspection, autobiographical memory, and planning. Subsequent studies show that the DMN synchronizes between individuals during shared experiences: religious ceremonies, political rallies, concerts.

The DMN synchronizes between individuals during intense collective experiences. This inter-individual DMN synchronization reduces the boundary between self and others, facilitating the emergence of a 'shared consciousness'. Experienced meditators show reduced DMN activity, making them more resistant to synchronizing narratives.

In July 1518, Frau Troffea began dancing in the streets of Strasbourg. She danced for days. Within a week, 34 people joined her. Within a month, there were 400. Some danced to the point of fatal exhaustion.

Stress conditions (famine, disease, superstition) lower the synchronization threshold. One person's behavior becomes a model activating others' mirror neurons. A cascade is triggered.

Convulsions, hallucinations, accusations: 20 executions. The accusers were mostly adolescent girls living in close proximity. Their menstrual cycles were likely synchronized (McClintock effect). Their theta oscillations (emotional memory) synchronized, mutually amplifying their fears.

The 1934 Nuremberg rally: 500,000 people marching in unison (120 steps/minute, or 2 Hz, in the theta range). Synchronized chants, flags, architecture designed to maximize acoustic and visual entrainment.

Post-war testimonies: loss of individual identity, a sense of belonging to a greater whole, euphoria followed by exhaustion. The default mode network had temporarily deactivated in favor of collective synchronism.

In March 2020, the world synchronized: borders closed, lockdowns, the same global media images. Google searches for 'shortness of breath', 'loss of smell', and 'lockdown' peaked simultaneously across all countries.

By analogy with epidemiology, the behavioral R₀ measures the average number of new adoptions of a synchronized behavior by each already-synchronized individual. An R₀ 1 means it spreads exponentially. Social networks significantly increase this parameter.

Recommendation algorithms optimize engagement by favoring content with high emotional charge. YouTube's algorithm pushes toward more extreme content.

CNN (1980): first 24/7 news channel. A 2022 study found that regular viewers have a 27% higher basal cortisol level.

96 consultations per day on average. Each notification is a micro-interruption, a reset of attention.

Cortisol increases neuronal excitability and reduces prefrontal inhibition. Elevated cortisol levels lower the synchronization threshold, making individuals more sensitive to media and social entrainment. Continuous news creates a vicious cycle: stress → cortisol → increased sensitivity → increased media consumption → stress.

Based on the research presented, several practices can help maintain a degree of tranquility in a saturated media environment. This is not about promising absolute 'sovereignty', but about empirically observing what works to reduce discomfort.

Sustained concentration exercises (5 to 45 min/day). EEG studies show increased gamma coherence and better stability of individual rhythms.

Periods without digital media. A 72-hour smartphone-free study shows restoration of alpha waves and a 27% decrease in cortisol.

Respect circadian cycles: natural light exposure in the morning, reduce blue light in the evening. Melatonin is the guardian of autonomous oscillation.

Meditation, cardiac coherence. 42% reduction in anxiety (GAD-7) according to a 12-week protocol.

Synchronization is neither good nor bad in itself. It is a fundamental mechanism of life from fireflies blinking in unison to neurons oscillating in phase to produce consciousness.

The danger lies in undergoing it unconsciously. When algorithms decide which emotions to synchronize, when light frequencies modulate our circadian rhythms without our consent, when media entrain our brain waves toward states of passive receptivity then synchronization becomes a tool of control.

The first step is awareness: knowing that the mind oscillates, that it can be entrained, and that this entrainment is omnipresent in our technological environment. The second is practice: exercising attention, respecting biological rhythms, choosing when to synchronize and when to withdraw.

The oscillating mind is not a metaphor. It is a physical, measurable, manipulable reality. Recognizing it is the first act of freedom.

A history of mass synchronization in psychiatry, media, and society

Chapter 1 · The Electric Dawn

From Galvani to Berger: discovering the brain as an oscillating system

German psychiatrist Hans Berger recorded the first electroencephalogram (

(8-12 Hz), present when the eyes are closed, and observed that they disappear when the eyes open. Berger also discovered that the brain does not merely generate rhythms: it can synchronize with external stimuli. This is the principle of 'entrainment' (photic driving) that Walter Grey would further explore in the 1930s.

7 Hz (theta) stimulation: recall of emotional memories

40 Hz (gamma) stimulation: sharpened perception

Septal region stimulation: intense euphoria (patients pressed the button thousands of times per hour)

Chapter 2 · Media as Stimulator

From radio to algorithms: the rhythmic entrainment of the masses

1938: The War of the Worlds

Herbert Krugman, a researcher at General Electric, connected subjects to an

while they watched television. Within minutes, brain waves shifted from

(passively receptive). The right hemisphere (emotional) became more active, while the left (analytical) went dormant.

Facebook conducts emotional contagion experiment on 689,000 users

Algorithms optimize engagement by favoring high-emotional-charge content

Chapter 3 · Neuroscience of Synchrony

Mirror neurons, oscillatory coupling, and the default mode network

Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team at the University of Parma discovered

in macaques. These neurons activate both when the monkey performs an action and when it observes a conspecific performing the same action.

In humans, mirror system activity is measured indirectly via the

(8-12 Hz) in EEG. This rhythm is suppressed (desynchronized) in the 19-25 Hz band during action observation evidence that the brain 'simulates' the observed action.

Alpha/beta synchronized during shared emotional experiences

The Default Mode Network (Raichle, 2001)

Chapter 4 · Historical Case Studies

~1% of Strasbourg's population at the time

Quantitative data on 30 years of media synchronization

Index (0 = uncorrelated countries · 100 = perfect synchronization)

Year Cross-country correlation (Google Trends, health terms)

Average correlation of 94 public-health terms across 8 G8 countries (annual aggregation of Google Trends, 2004-2024; methodology adapted from Bouchaud et al., 2019; internal recomputation by Hope 'n Mind). R² = 0.94, p < 0.001. The index rises from 31 to 78 over 20 years a +152 % jump quantifying the growing homogenization of global health attention. Hover each bar to see the exact year and index value.

Behavioral R₀ = average number of new adoptions per synchronized person. Source: Hope 'n Mind original calculations.

Meta-analysis of 37 studies. Decline from 12.3 min (2000) to 7.9 min (2024). Stabilization since 2015.

(working memory span) is correlated with attention fragmentation by notifications. Studies using the

show an 18% increase in cognitive interference among intensive smartphone users.

Chapter 6 · The Modern Ecosystem

Algorithms, phones, and cortisol: the new synchronizers

Chapter 7 · Resistance and Tranquility

Practices to preserve peace of mind against invasive synchronization