by Jeshi » May 5th, 2012, 1:01 am
I actually made direct references to [url=http://youtu.be/cF6owTRGmWs]this video[/url] in my original post. Also, yes, wikipedia has lots of sources.
Really though, the burden of proof is on the one making the claim, not the one speaking against a claim. When you think about the concept of subliminal messages, it doesn't really make sense that they would be able to do anything like hypnosis does. The idea that the brain can comprehend things inaudible or incomprehensible to the conscious mind, so that they aren't processed but are accepted, it doesn't make sense. The conscious mind processes things in order to assign meaning to them. If subliminal messages actually did make it past the conscious mind, then they'd just be sounds, and not suggestions. Plus, if it's so quiet or incomprehensible that the conscious mind didn't pick up on them at all, then why would the brain that works in the background be any better at understanding them?
Flashing words faster than someone can really register them completely, but still see them, will insert those words into their thoughts. Not the way their brain works, but into their thoughts. They see the word, and the word ends up in their inner narrative, because when you read a word it shows up in your inner narrative. That can reroute someone's thoughts to something else. But that wouldn't implant suggestions, it would just make them think about them. "This movie is pretty good so far EAT man I'm kind of hungry" makes sense why that would work. "This movie is pretty good, so far BUY COCA COLA FOR $3.50 IN THE LOUNGE AFTER THE MOVIE" how could anyone even read that fast enough.
With audio, you can overhear things without thinking or focusing on them, but they have to be audible. And once again, it makes sense that they would affect your thoughts at the time, but why would they implant permanent suggestions? If anything you heard that you weren't paying attention to went past your consciousness and was taken as a hypnotic suggestion, then it would difficult not to sit in a crowded room and not accidentally take in hundreds of unintended suggestions from other people's conversations.
Hypnosis and subliminal messages just work on entirely different fields and levels; and they have entirely different effects. Trying to make hypnotic suggestions with subliminal messages is like trying to fry eggs in a pot of water. Yes, the tools you're using have similar purposes and methods, but they aren't the same.