Scientific Research

Media and the Mind: In 1999, Dr. John Murray launched the Foundation’s Scientist-in- Residence program with the study of television violence on young minds. In collaboration with Dr. Peter Fox, director of the Research Imaging Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio, Dr. Murray mapped the brains of children while they watched TV violence. Initial results from the neuroimaging study of 9- to 13-year-old boys and girls suggest that viewing televised violence activates right hemisphere emotional arousal and control, and enhances long-term memory of the emotional content associated with the violent video actions.

Brainmapping: Advanced technology now allows us to look inside the brain, tracing thoughts, memories, depression, and human abilities like speech and problem solving. MSF collaborated with Dr. Peter Fox, director of the Research Imaging Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center, whose international BrainMap Database is compiling new information in this exciting field from laboratories around the world.

Education and Creativity:The Foundation's Systems Thinking Project, which was funded by the SBC Foundation, applied down-to-earth thinking skills (developed by Dr. Peter Senge at MIT for use in business) to schools. Can our educational system produce the learning organizations we'll need to meet the challenges of a new century? Studies of Imagineers have provided new information about the roots of creativity and innovative thinking skills.

Mind-Made Health: In-house research, and collaborations with The Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health and The Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research have probed the mysterious links between our mental attitudes, spirituality, and our physical health. Dr. Larry Dossey (Healing Words: The Power of Prayer), former co-director of the National Institutes of Health Department of Alternative Medicine, and the late Norman Cousins (Anatomy of an Illness; The Biology of Hope) have collaborated on MSF projects in this field.

Mental Fitness: Eight internationally known "thinkers" examined creative strategies for success in the fast approaching new century; proceedings were published in the Mind Science Foundation News and in a one-hour documentary on KLRN-TV, entitled Mental Fitness for the 21st Century.